Updated to 1 April 2025 SDLT rates
First-Time Buyer Stamp Duty Calculator
First-time buyer Stamp Duty in England and Northern Ireland: zero on the first £300,000 of a purchase costing £500,000 or less. See the relief, worth up to £5,000, the cliff above £500,000, and how the saving compares to the standard rates.
- Purchase price (99.3%)
- SDLT (0.7%)
SDLT adds about 0.7% on top of the purchase price.
| Purchase price | £350,000 |
|---|---|
| FTB: Nil rate | |
| £300,000 at 0% | £0 |
| FTB: 5% band | |
| £50,000 at 5% | £2,500 |
| Total SDLT | £2,500 |
| Total cash required | £352,500 |
Information
As a first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland, you pay no SDLT on the first £300,000 of a purchase, provided the price is £500,000 or less. The relief is worth up to £5,000 against what a non-first-time buyer pays at the same price, and it reaches that full £5,000 on any purchase from £300,000 up to the cap. Above £500,000 the relief disappears completely, and you pay standard rates on the entire purchase.
What's modelled. Standard residential rates, first-time buyer relief (when applicable), the +5% additional-property surcharge, the corporate flat rate (17% on residential purchases over £500,000 by limited companies and other non-natural persons), and the date-dependent rate changes since the September 2022 mini-budget.
The cliff. The cap is unforgiving: one pound over £500,000 forfeits the entire relief, so you would pay the standard £15,000 rather than the first-time buyer £10,000. This is one of the reasons completion negotiations sometimes settle just under round numbers. The calculator surfaces the cliff via the "First-time buyer saving" pill; tick FTB and try prices just under and just over £500,000 to see it.
Pre-April-2025 purchases. Both the nil-band ceiling and the price cap were higher between 23 September 2022 and 31 March 2025, so the relief was worth more then. Every figure above follows the completion date you have set, so it already shows the rates that applied on that day.
What's not. Scotland (LBTT) and Wales (LTT) have their own taxes and their own first-time buyer reliefs; dedicated calculators coming soon. Mixed-use / non-residential property has a different rate schedule. The non-UK resident +2% surcharge is out of scope for this calc.
FAQ
- What counts as a first-time buyer?
HMRC treats you as a first-time buyer if you've never owned freehold or leasehold residential property anywhere in the world. The relief applies even if you're buying jointly with a partner who's also an FTB; if either of you has owned property before, neither qualifies. Inherited property counts as previous ownership.
- How much is first-time buyer relief actually worth?
Up to £5,000, and it reaches that full amount on any purchase from £300,000 up to the £500,000 cap. Below £300,000 the relief is worth less, because the standard rates you are being spared have not yet built up to it. Above £500,000 it is worth nothing at all: a purchase one pound over the cap pays the standard £15,000 rather than the first-time buyer £10,000.
- What if I'm a first-time buyer?
If your purchase price is £500,000 or less and neither you nor any joint buyer has ever owned residential property anywhere in the world, you pay 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on the slice between that and £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief disappears completely: you pay the standard rates on the whole amount, which is £15,000 at the cap against the first-time buyer £10,000. For purchases between 23 Sep 2022 and 31 Mar 2025 the thresholds were £425,000 and £625,000, worth up to £8,750; change the completion date to see.
- What counts as an "additional property"?
Any residential property you'll own at completion that isn't your main residence: buy-to-let, holiday homes, and accidental-landlord cases (you're keeping your old flat while moving). The +5% surcharge applies to every band of the standard schedule. Two separate £40,000 tests apply and this calculator runs only one of them: the price must reach that figure, which the answer above prices, and the interest you keep in the other property must be worth at least as much, which this page never asks about and therefore assumes. A retained interest below the floor means no surcharge at all. That second test is for individual buyers; a company is tested on the price alone. The surcharge does NOT apply when you're genuinely replacing your only main residence and selling the previous one within 3 years; you can claim a refund if the sale completes after the new purchase.
- Do I pay SDLT in Scotland or Wales?
No. Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT); Wales has Land Transaction Tax (LTT). Use the region selector at the top of this page to switch between them. All three are tiered like SDLT but with different bands, rates, and reliefs.
- Why is the corporate rate so high?
When a limited company (or any "non-natural person" such as a partnership with corporate members, or a collective investment scheme) buys residential property worth more than £500,000, HMRC applies a flat 17% rate on the entire purchase price. The rate exists to discourage owning residential property through corporate structures, previously a tactic for avoiding SDLT on subsequent share transfers. Genuine property-rental, property-development and employee-accommodation providers can claim exemption and pay normal rates plus the additional-property surcharge, but those tests are not modelled in this calc.
Recent changes
-
Thresholds reverted to pre-2022 levels. Residential nil-rate band dropped from £250,000 back to £125,000, with a new 2% band added to £250,000. First-time buyer relief tightened: nil-rate ceiling reverted to £300,000 and the property-price cap to £500,000 (down from £425,000 / £625,000).
-
Autumn Budget: additional-property surcharge raised from +3% to +5% on every band of the standard residential schedule (second homes, buy-to-let, and any purchase where the buyer owns two or more residential properties at completion), and in the same measure the corporate flat rate for residential purchases over £500,000 raised from 15% to 17%.
-
Mini-budget: residential nil-rate band raised from £125,000 to £250,000. First-time buyer relief expanded: nil-rate ceiling raised to £425,000 with the property-price cap raised to £625,000 (from £300,000 / £500,000). The corporate flat rate stayed at 15% and the additional-property surcharge stayed at +3%; both rose later.
Sources
Disclaimer
Not financial or legal advice. Figures are computed from the legislative tables published by HMRC and do not account for personal circumstances such as joint-buyer FTB status, replacement-of-main-residence rules, multiple-dwellings relief, or linked transactions. Consult a conveyancer or qualified adviser for the authoritative figure on your specific purchase.
