Stamp duty and stamp duty land tax (SDLT) can add significant extra burdens to property and share purchase costs.

We can help you navigate the rules, to ensure that all available SDLT and stamp duty reliefs are claimed and that there are no nasty surprises. SDLT rules have changed many times in recent years, so up to date advice is key.

We advise regularly on the stamp duty and SDLT treatments of a wide range of different transactions, including purchases of English commercial and residential properties.

Our team includes a member of the Chartered Instititute of Taxation’s (CIOT’s) Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group, so you can be sure that you are getting advice from an expert in this area.

Our clients

We advise businesses of all sizes, from well-known names to start-ups and small to medium sized businesses.

We advise individuals buying new homes for personal use, as well as property investors and developers.

Many of our regular clients are professional advisers, from law firms or accountancy practices which lack the specific stamp duty and SDLT expertise that we can offer. We are happy to work alongside other firms of advisers to offer a seamless service to your clients.

How we can help

We provide practical, commercial stamp duty and SDLT advice. We always explain the rules, however complex, in an accessible and understandable way.

We can work with your other advisers to ensure you pay the right amount of stamp duty and SDLT, including advising on:

• whether the 3% additional rate of SDLT on second homes applies

• whether the lower rate of SDLT for commercial property applies

• claims for SDLT multiple dwellings relief

• group relief claims for stamp duty and SDLT

• stamp duty and SDLT reliefs for business reorganisations

Get in touch to discuss your stamp duty or SDLT needs with us:

SDLT Case Studies

Surcharge

Surcharge and replacing a main residence

I own a BTL property and another house that I live in. I will be selling my main residence while retaining the BTL property. Would I be liable to pay additional SDLT if I buy a new main residence?

While a 3% surcharge applies above the normal rate of SDLT for a purchase of a residential property where the purchaser owns more than one property at the end of the date of purchase, there is an exception where the purchaser has, within the past three years, disposed of a property which was their main residence during that period.

Therefore, so long as you have completed the transfer of your current main residence before your purchase goes through, that you should qualify for that exemption.

If your purchase precedes your sale you would need to pay the additional 3% SDLT, but could then claim it back provided you sell your previous main residence during the three years following your purchase.

Surcharge on buying a main residence when you own a holiday home

My husband and I do not currently own a property in the UK; we rent our current home. However, we do have a small holiday apartment in France (worth around £100,000). We have decided to buy a home in England to live in. Will we have to pay the 3% surcharge?

If you own more than one residential property at the end of the date of purchase, you are liable to pay the normal rate of SDLT plus an additional 3% of the purchase price (unless you have at the same time or within the previous three years disposed of a main residence, which appears not to apply in your situation). Unless you can sell or otherwise dispose of your French apartment before your purchase, the additional 3% rate will apply to your purchase.

I own part of a house in Italy (one sixth of a property; the whole property is valued at €200,000). That is the only house I own currently. Will I have to pay the 3% surcharge if I buy an English residential property.

The 3% surcharge is payable on top of the normal rate of SDLT on a purchase if a purchaser owns an interest in another property, where that interest is worth £40,000 or more at the time of purchase.

If the market value of your interest in your Italian property is less than £40,000, then it does not need to be taken into account when determining whether the SDLT surcharge applies on your purchase, and so it would make no difference to your SDLT liability on your UK purchase. The market value is the price that a willing buyer would pay for the property, not, if different, the purchase value or the amount taken into account for other tax purposes.

It may provide you with some comfort as regards your SDLT liability to obtain a current professional valuation of the Italian property so that you can provide this to HM Revenue & Customs if they ask any questions.

Surcharge and 1st time buyer’s relief – spouses buying alone

My husband has never owned property outright and is considering buying a house as sole owner (we would live in it together). I have owned a residential property since 2014. We understood he was a first time buyer and would have first time buyer status for SDLT and would not need to pay higher rates. Is this right?

Although your husband is a first-time buyer, whether he will qualify for first time buyer relief will depend on whether the 3% surcharge for additional dwellings applies due to your ownership of another property.

For the purposes of the 3% surcharge, spouses are treated as buying jointly even if one of them in fact buys on their own. Because you own another property, the 3% surcharge will apply to your husband’s purchase unless either of you has, within the past three years sold a property which was your sole or main residence without acquiring another one in the meantime. If the 3% surcharge applies, that disqualifies a claim for first time buyer’s relief.

If you were to dispose of your other property (other than to your husband) prior to your husband’s purchase, the 3% surcharge would not apply and so your husband would be entitled to claim first time buyer’s relief.

Surcharge and 1st time buyer’s relief – non-spouses buying alone

I live with my partner but we are not married. My partner has never owned property outright and is considering buying a house as sole owner (we would live in it together). I have owned a residential property since 2014. We understood he was a first time buyer and would have first time buyer status for SDLT and would not need to pay higher rates. Is this right?

This is correct, provided it is clear that you will not acquire any beneficial interest in the property which your partner buys. Unlike the situation for spouses, unmarried couples are not treated automatically as buying jointly. Therefore provided your partner is the sole purchaser, the 3% surcharge for additional properties will not apply and he should qualify for first time buyer’s relief provided the purchase price is less than £500,000 and he intends the property to be his sole or main residence.

It will be important to be clear that you are not acquiring any beneficial interest in the property, especially if you and your partner are using a joint borrower/sole proprietor mortgage. We recommend that you and your partner enter into some formal documentation to make clear that you have no rights to the property of any sort.

You should note that this means that if you split up you would have no right to the property, and if your partner dies, the property would pass under his will or intestacy.

Additional homes surcharge and non-resident’s surcharge

My husband and I have had an offer accepted for a flat in London. We will be moving to the UK on skilled worker visas. We own two properties abroad, each worth over £40,000, and will be keeping both of them as investments. What surcharges will we pay, as the London flat will be our primary residence?

There are two types of surcharges which apply in addition to the normal rate of SDLT for residential property:

(a) a 2% surcharge for purchasers who have not been in the UK for at least 183 days out of the 365 days preceding a purchase; and

(b) a 3% surcharge for purchasers who own more than one residential property and are not replacing their main residence.

Based on the description you gave, both these surcharges may apply to you.

The 2% surcharge will apply unless you have been in the UK for the necessary number of days in the 365 days before the purchase completes. Only days when you were in the UK at midnight at the end of the day count towards this total. However, you should be able to claim a refund of the 2% surcharge once you have been in the UK for 183 days out of a period of 365 provided this happens no later than 1 year after your purchase.

The 3% surcharge could apply to you unless you have sold or otherwise disposed of a property (anywhere in the world) which was your main residence within the past three years without acquiring another main residence since that disposal.

However, if one of your overseas properties was your main residence within the 3 years prior to your purchase of the London flat and you sell that overseas property within 3 years of the date of your purchase, you should also be able to reclaim the 3% surcharge.