How the residential SDLT bands work
Stamp Duty Land Tax is the tax on buying property in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax. Those are different statutes with different bands, and this page does not calculate them. The figures below are the residential SDLT rates on GOV.UK, which have applied since 1 April 2025 and were still the rates on that page when it was read on 19 October 2026.
SDLT on a home is charged in slices, not as one rate on the whole price. For a purchase that leaves you with a single residential property, the slice up to £125,000 is at zero, the next £125,000 is at 2 percent, the next £675,000 (the part from £250,001 to £925,000) is at 5 percent, the next £575,000 (up to £1.5 million) is at 10 percent, and the rest is at 12 percent. GOV.UK's own example is a house bought for £295,000: nothing on the first £125,000, £2,500 on the next £125,000, and £2,250 on the last £45,000. The total is £4,750. This page returns that total.
First-time buyer relief is narrower than the headline. You and anyone you buy with must be first-time buyers. If the price is £500,000 or less, the slice to £300,000 is at zero and the slice from £300,001 to £500,000 is at 5 percent. GOV.UK's example of a £500,000 first home is £10,000. If the price is over £500,000 the relief is refused and the ordinary bands apply to the whole price. A price of £500,001 is therefore not a penny over a relieved bill. It is the ordinary calculation, which comes to £15,000.05. The page says when it has refused the relief.
Buying an additional residential property usually adds 5 percentage points to each residential band, and only when the price is £40,000 or more. From 1 April 2025 the higher-rate table itself is 5 percent to £125,000, 7 percent on the next £125,000, 10 percent on the next £675,000, 15 percent up to £1.5 million, and 17 percent above that. GOV.UK's example is an additional property bought for £300,000 on 1 April 2025: £6,250, plus £8,750, plus £5,000, which is £20,000. Below £40,000 the higher rates do not apply. A £39,000 additional purchase is inside the nil-rate band and the tax is zero, unless the non-resident surcharge applies.
The higher rates are about what you own at the end of the day, not only about the house you are standing in. They can apply if you, your spouse, or a joint buyer still owns another residential property worth £40,000 or more anywhere in the world. They do not apply if the purchase replaces your main home and the old main home is sold on the same day, or if it was already sold. If you have not sold yet, the higher rates are due and a refund can be claimed when the old home is sold within 36 months. This form cannot know that history. Choose additional property only when the higher rates actually apply.
A buyer who is not a UK resident for SDLT usually pays an extra 2 percent on top of every other residential rate, including the higher rates and including first-time buyer relief. Residence here is not the statutory residence test used for Income Tax. GOV.UK describes it as not being present in the UK for at least 183 days during the 12 months before the purchase. The surcharge has applied since 1 April 2021. On the £300,000 additional-property example, adding 2 points makes the bands 7, 9 and 12 percent and the tax £26,000. Some transactions and some buyers are outside the surcharge. The checkbox assumes you have already decided that it applies.
Two further charges are deliberately missing. On a new residential lease, SDLT can also be due at 1 percent on the net present value of the rent above £125,000. An existing lease that is assigned does not get that rent charge. Mixed-use property, such as a shop with a flat, uses the non-residential table. Multiple dwellings relief has its own history and is not a switch on this page. Companies and some trusts pay the higher rates under further rules. The number here is the slice calculation for a straightforward residential price, which you can compare with HMRC's own SDLT calculator before a return is filed.