First-Time Buyer Stamp Duty in England & Northern Ireland
A qualifying first-time buyer pays nothing up to a raised threshold, but the relief is capped, and the cap is a cliff rather than a taper.
Stamp Duty Land Tax has a relief for first-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland. It lifts the nil-rate band to £300,000 and charges a reduced rate on the portion above that, up to a hard price cap of £500,000. The relief is all or nothing. A purchase at the cap keeps it in full. A purchase a single pound above the cap loses it completely and is taxed on the standard table from the first band up. To qualify, every buyer named on the purchase must be a first-time buyer, the property must be intended as their only or main residence, and no buyer can have owned a dwelling anywhere in the world before.
How the relief is applied
The relief does not work as a discount subtracted at the end. It swaps the standard band table for a first-time buyer table, with nothing charged up to £300,000 and a reduced rate on the slice between that point and £500,000. The buyer claims it on the SDLT return, which a conveyancer normally files. Where the price sits below £300,000 the relief makes no difference to the total, because a standard purchase at that price would already fall inside the nil-rate band.
The cap is a cliff, and it has a dead zone above it
Because the relief is withdrawn in full rather than tapered, the tax jumps at the cap instead of rising smoothly. A purchase agreed just above £500,000 can cost a first-time buyer more in total than the same purchase agreed at the cap, since the extra tax is larger than the extra price. That creates a dead zone immediately above the cap where paying more leaves the buyer worse off. Where a negotiation is sitting close to £500,000, the exact agreed figure, not the valuation or the mortgage, decides which side of the cliff the purchase lands on.
Who qualifies, and what disqualifies
Every buyer on the transaction has to be a first-time buyer. One buyer who has owned before removes the relief for the whole purchase, including for a partner who has never owned. Prior ownership counts wherever in the world it happened, and it counts whether the property was bought, inherited or received as a gift. A non-UK resident first-time buyer can still claim the relief, but the non-resident surcharge is then added on top of it. HM Revenue & Customs sets the full conditions.
What a first-time buyer actually pays in England & Northern Ireland
| Price | First-time buyer | Home mover | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| £200,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,500 | £5,000 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 |
| £450,000 | £7,500 | £12,500 | £5,000 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £5,000 |
| £600,000 | £20,000 | £20,000 | None |
Check your own price
SDLT on a £300,000 property in England & Northern Ireland for a first-time buyer. That is an effective rate of 0%.
First-time buyers elsewhere in the UK
Scotland
LBTT offers first-time buyer relief on different terms.
Wales
Wales offers no first-time buyer relief at all.
Common questions
What happens if I go one pound over the cap?
The relief is withdrawn entirely and the standard rates apply to the whole price from the first band up. There is no partial or tapered relief above £500,000, which is why a very small increase in price can produce a step change of several thousand pounds in tax.
My partner has owned a home before. Can I still claim?
No. Every buyer named on the purchase must be a first-time buyer. If one buyer has previously owned or part-owned a dwelling anywhere in the world, the relief is unavailable on that transaction for all of the buyers.
Does the relief apply in Northern Ireland?
Yes. Northern Ireland uses SDLT at rates identical to England, so the first-time buyer relief and the cap apply there on exactly the same terms. HM Revenue & Customs administers it in both.
Source: HMRC. Rates effective from 1 April 2025, verified 9 August 2026. Figures are computed from the published rate tables and checked against HMRC’s own calculator.