Stamp Duty Land Tax in England & Northern Ireland
Stamp Duty Land Tax is charged in slices on residential purchases in England and Northern Ireland, and collected by HM Revenue & Customs. Rates shown are for 2026-27, verified on 9 August 2026.
Stamp Duty Land Tax is the property transaction tax for England and Northern Ireland. HM Revenue & Customs collects it, the buyer pays it, and in practice a conveyancer files and settles it out of completion funds. SDLT is a slice tax. The price is cut into bands and each band is charged at its own rate, so a single high rate never lands on the whole purchase. Three things then change the total: whether every buyer is a first-time buyer, whether the purchase leaves you owning more than one dwelling, and whether you are non-UK resident. England and Northern Ireland use identical rates, so every figure here applies to both.
Bands are charged in slices, not all at one rate
SDLT is not one rate applied to the whole price. The price is divided into bands and each band carries its own rate, so crossing a threshold only affects the money above it. Nothing is charged below £125,000 on a standard purchase. That structure is why the effective rate, the tax measured as a share of the price, is always lower than the top band rate a purchase reaches. Two places break the slice logic, and both are set out below: the first-time buyer cap and the additional-dwellings threshold.
First-time buyer relief stops dead at the cap
A qualifying first-time buyer pays nothing up to £300,000 and a reduced rate on the portion above it, but only while the price stays at or below £500,000. Above that cap the relief is not tapered, scaled or partly kept. It is withdrawn in full and the buyer falls back to the standard table from the first band up. That makes the cap a cliff rather than a slope, so a very small increase in price can add several thousand pounds of tax. HM Revenue & Customs also sets the qualifying conditions, including prior property ownership anywhere in the world.
Higher rates where you end up with more than one dwelling
If the purchase leaves you owning an additional dwelling, a surcharge of 5 percentage points is added to every band of the standard table. It applies where the price is £40,000 or more, and once it applies it applies from the first pound rather than only to the amount above that figure. Second homes, buy-to-let purchases and most company and trust purchases are caught. A buyer replacing their only or main residence is not, provided the previous home is sold inside the window HMRC allows.
The non-UK resident surcharge, unique to this regime
England and Northern Ireland are the only parts of the UK that charge extra to non-UK residents. The surcharge adds 2 percentage points to every band, and HMRC applies it on top of all other residential rates, including zero-rate bands and the first-time buyer table. A non-resident first-time buyer therefore pays something on a slice a UK-resident first-time buyer pays nothing on. Residence for this purpose is settled by a day count in the twelve months before the purchase, not by nationality, visa or domicile.
Work out your SDLT
SDLT on a £300,000 property in England & Northern Ireland. That is an effective rate of 1.7%.
Stamp Duty Land Tax rates (standard)
| Portion of the price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% |
| £125,000 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,000 to £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,000 to £1,500,000 | 10% |
| Above £1,500,000 | 12% |
Higher rates for additional properties
| Portion of the price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 5% |
| £125,000 to £250,000 | 7% |
| £250,000 to £925,000 | 10% |
| £925,000 to £1,500,000 | 15% |
| Above £1,500,000 | 17% |
England & Northern Ireland stamp duty by price
Pick a price to see the full band-by-band breakdown for a home mover, a first-time buyer, an additional property and a non-UK resident.
- £100,000
- £110,000
- £120,000
- £130,000
- £140,000
- £150,000
- £160,000
- £170,000
- £180,000
- £190,000
- £200,000
- £210,000
- £220,000
- £230,000
- £240,000
- £250,000
- £260,000
- £270,000
- £280,000
- £290,000
- £300,000
- £310,000
- £320,000
- £330,000
- £340,000
- £350,000
- £360,000
- £370,000
- £380,000
- £390,000
- £400,000
- £410,000
- £420,000
- £430,000
- £440,000
- £450,000
- £460,000
- £470,000
- £480,000
- £490,000
- £500,000
- £520,000
- £540,000
- £560,000
- £580,000
- £600,000
- £650,000
- £700,000
- £750,000
- £800,000
- £850,000
- £900,000
- £950,000
- £1,000,000
- £1,100,000
- £1,200,000
- £1,300,000
- £1,400,000
- £1,500,000
- £1,600,000
- £1,700,000
- £1,800,000
- £1,900,000
- £2,000,000
- £2,250,000
- £2,500,000
- £3,000,000
First-time buyers
See what relief is available in England & Northern Ireland and where it stops.
First-time buyers in EnglandSecond homes and buy-to-let
How the additional-property surcharge works in England & Northern Ireland, and when it does not apply.
Additional property in EnglandCommon questions
Does Northern Ireland have different stamp duty rates?
No. Northern Ireland uses Stamp Duty Land Tax at the same rates as England, administered by HM Revenue & Customs. Every rate, threshold and relief on these pages applies in Northern Ireland exactly as it does in England.
Do first-time buyers pay stamp duty in England?
Not on the portion up to £300,000, provided the price is at or below £500,000 and every buyer meets the HMRC conditions. Above that cap the relief is lost in full and the standard rates apply to the whole price.
Who pays SDLT, and when is it due?
The buyer pays. A return goes to HM Revenue & Customs within the statutory filing window after the effective date of the transaction, and a conveyancer normally files and pays on the buyer's behalf from completion funds. A return can be required even where no tax is due.
What do these figures not cover?
They assume a standard residential freehold purchase of a single dwelling by an individual. Linked transactions, multiple dwellings relief, mixed-use property, leasehold premiums and the flat rate charged on certain company purchases each work differently. HM Revenue & Customs is the authority on those cases, and a conveyancer confirms the tax actually due.
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.