Three taxes, one name
"Stamp duty" is used across the UK, but there are actually three different taxes with different rules:
- Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland, collected by HMRC.
- Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland, collected by Revenue Scotland.
- Land Transaction Tax (LTT) in Wales, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority.
All three are charged in slices, like income tax. Each rate applies only to the part of the price within that band, not to the whole price. The difference is in where the bands sit and how first-time buyers are treated.
England and Northern Ireland
Since 1 April 2025, standard SDLT rates for a main home have been:
- 0% up to £125,000
- 2% on £125,001 to £250,000
- 5% on £250,001 to £925,000
- 10% on £925,001 to £1.5 million
- 12% above £1.5 million
First-time buyer relief replaces those bands with 0% up to £300,000 and 5% from £300,001 to £500,000. It only applies if the price is £500,000 or less. That limit is a cliff, not a taper: a pound over and you pay standard rates on the whole price.
SDLT in England and NI, 2026/27
| Price | First-time buyer / standard |
| £250,000 | £0 / £2,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 / £5,000 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 / £7,500 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 / £10,000 |
| £450,000 | £7,500 / £12,500 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 / £15,000 |
| £510,000 (no relief available) | £15,500 / £15,500 |
From £300,000 to £500,000 the first-time buyer saving is a flat £5,000, because both scales charge 5% on everything between £300,000 and £500,000. Below £300,000 the saving is whatever a standard buyer would have paid.
The £500,000 cliff
The cliff edge makes a big difference to negotiation near the limit. A first-time buyer offering £500,000 pays £10,000. Offering £505,000 means paying £15,250. That extra £5,000 on the price costs £10,250 in total. If you're buying close to £500,000, every pound you can negotiate off a price just above the line is worth about two.
Before April 2025
Older articles may say first-time buyers pay nothing up to £425,000 and can claim relief up to £625,000. Those were temporary thresholds that ended on 31 March 2025. If you're comparing advice, check the date.
Scotland: LBTT
LBTT standard residential bands for 2026/27 are:
- 0% up to £145,000
- 2% on £145,001 to £250,000
- 5% on £250,001 to £325,000
- 10% on £325,001 to £750,000
- 12% above £750,000
First-time buyer relief raises the nil-rate band to £175,000. That takes £30,000 out of the 2% band, so the maximum saving is £600. Unlike England, there's no price cap: a first-time buyer saves £600 whether the home costs £200,000 or £800,000.
LBTT in Scotland, 2026/27
| Price | First-time buyer / standard |
| £175,000 | £0 / £600 |
| £200,000 | £500 / £1,100 |
| £250,000 | £1,500 / £2,100 |
| £300,000 | £4,000 / £4,600 |
| £400,000 | £12,750 / £13,350 |
Scottish rates climb more steeply above £325,000 than English ones, so a first-time buyer pays more on a mid-priced home in Scotland than in England. At £250,000 a Scottish first-time buyer pays £1,500 against nothing in England. At £400,000 it's £12,750 against £5,000.
Wales: LTT
Wales has no first-time buyer relief. Instead, its starting threshold is the highest in the UK, and it applies to every buyer of a main home:
- 0% up to £225,000
- 6% on £225,001 to £400,000
- 7.5% on £400,001 to £750,000
- 10% on £750,001 to £1.5 million
- 12% above £1.5 million
LTT in Wales, 2026/27 (all main-home buyers)
| £200,000 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £4,500 |
| £400,000 | £10,500 |
For a first-time buyer, Wales matches England up to £225,000, where both charge nothing, and costs more above it. The 6% rate starts biting quickly: a £300,000 first home costs £4,500 in tax in Wales but nothing in England.
Side by side
First-time buyer tax on the same price, 2026/27
| Price | England / Scotland / Wales |
| £200,000 | £0 / £500 / £0 |
| £250,000 | £0 / £1,500 / £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 / £4,000 / £4,500 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 / £12,750 / £10,500 |
Who qualifies, and common traps
To claim first-time buyer relief in England, Northern Ireland or Scotland:
- Every buyer must be a first-time buyer. If you buy with a partner who has owned a home before, even abroad or many years ago, nobody on the purchase gets the relief.
- Inherited property counts as ownership. If you once inherited a share of a house, you may not be a first-time buyer, even if you never lived there.
- It must be your main home. Buying a property to let out doesn't qualify.
- Shared ownership purchases can qualify, but the rules depend on whether you pay tax on the full market value or on each share as you buy it. Ask your conveyancer before exchange.
In England, the rule that matters most is the price cap. If your budget is close to £500,000, decide early whether you can stay below it, and remember that fixtures and fittings bought separately can legitimately be excluded from the chargeable price if they're genuinely moveable and fairly valued.
Situations that change the bill
Buying with someone who has owned before
If you're buying with a partner who has owned a home before, nobody on the purchase gets first-time buyer relief, even if your partner sold years ago. You pay standard rates instead. If your partner still owns another property when you buy, it can be worse. In England and Northern Ireland, the 5% surcharge on additional homes may apply to the whole price, and Scotland's Additional Dwelling Supplement works in a similar way at 8%. Married couples and civil partners are treated as one unit for these rules, so a property owned by just one of you counts for both.
Sometimes it is worth one partner buying alone, so the first-time buyer can claim relief. That has knock-on effects on ownership, the mortgage and what happens if you separate, so take legal advice before arranging a purchase around the tax.
Non-UK residents
In England and Northern Ireland, buyers who are not UK resident for SDLT purposes pay an extra 2% on top of the normal rates, and that includes first-time buyers. Residence for this test depends on how many days you've spent in the UK in the year before buying, so people moving to the UK for work can be caught. In some cases the extra 2% can be reclaimed if you become resident within a year.
New-build incentives
Developers sometimes offer cashback, paid fees or free extras. Stamp duty is charged on the full consideration, so a cash incentive doesn't reduce the tax. A genuine price reduction does. If you're buying a new-build near a threshold, especially England's £500,000 limit, ask whether the incentive can be taken as a lower price instead.
Timing and paperwork
Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer files the return and pays the tax for you, usually from money you send before completion. Deadlines are short: 14 days after completion for SDLT, and 30 days for LBTT and LTT. Late returns attract penalties and interest, so make sure the funds are with your conveyancer in good time.
The relief is claimed on the return itself. There's no separate application, but your conveyancer will ask you to confirm in writing that every buyer is a first-time buyer and that you intend to live in the home. Answer carefully. If HMRC, Revenue Scotland or the Welsh Revenue Authority later finds relief was claimed wrongly, you'll have to pay the full tax, plus interest and possibly penalties.
Budgeting for the rest
Stamp duty is only one of the costs of buying. Expect to pay for a survey, conveyancing, searches, mortgage arrangement fees and removals too. Together these often come to a few thousand pounds before any tax.
If you're using a Lifetime ISA, check the price cap of £450,000. That's lower than England's £500,000 relief limit, so a first-time buyer purchasing between those figures could get stamp duty relief but face the 25% LISA withdrawal charge.
Work out the tax for your own purchase with the stamp duty calculator, then check what you can borrow with the mortgage affordability calculator.