What is stamp duty?
Stamp duty land tax is a lump-sum tax that anyone buying a property or land costing more than a set amount has to pay. The rate you'll pay the tax at varies based on the price of the property.
What rate will I have to pay?
As the price you pay for a new property increases, so do the rates of stamp duty. You pay a percentage of the cost, and the rate payable increases at a set of thresholds - but, you only pay the proportion of the purchase price that's actually above the thresholds at the higher rate.
People buying an additional property (ie in addition to any they already own) will be penalised in the form of an extra 3% stamp duty surcharge on any property costing more than £40,000.
Non-UK residents will be charged an extra 2% surcharge on the rates below.
Under stamp duty rules that took effect in 2014 you pay different rates for different proportions of the property price. This will mean that the following additional property stamp duty rates will apply on each portion of the purchase price on buy-to-let and second homes.
What stamp duty will I pay?
|Stamp duty rate on first property (1)||Stamp duty rate for additional properties (1)|
| Up to £125,000
| The next £125,000 (the portion from £125,000.01 - £250,000)
| The next £675,000 (the portion from £250,000.01 - £925,000)
| The next £575,000 (the portion from £925,000.01 - £1.5 million)
| The remaining amount (the portion above £1.5 million)
(1) Rate applies to that portion of the purchase price (2) Properties up to £40,000 are exempt from stamp duty. Properties between £40,000.01 & £125,000 will be charged stamp duty on the full purchase price.
NEW! How it works for first-time buyers buying a property worth up to £500,000
However, the system's different if you're a first-time buyer buying a property worth up to £500,000. This comes after the Chancellor announced in 2017's Autumn Budget that, with immediate effect, first-time buyers will pay zero stamp duty on the first £300,000 of any home costing up to £500,000 (and only 5% on any proportion between £300,000 and £500,000).