Stamp duty land tax — with the 5% surcharge refund check

The surcharge applies to the full price, not a band. Unlike standard SDLT, which applies different rates to different portions of the price, the 5% additional-dwelling surcharge applies to the entire purchase price in a single calculation. A £400,000 second home pays an extra £20,000 — not a banded figure.

Replacing your main home: surcharge paid upfront, reclaimed later. If you buy a new main home before selling the old one, you pay the surcharge at completion and reclaim it from HMRC after the old home sells — provided the sale completes within 36 months of the new purchase. The reclaim is made via the HMRC online service.

First-time buyer relief has strict conditions. You must never have owned a property — anywhere in the world — at any time. The property must be your only residence. Relief is denied entirely on purchases above £500,000; standard rates apply. Joint purchases require all purchasers to be first-time buyers.

Companies always pay the surcharge. Any company acquisition of residential property attracts the 5% surcharge regardless of whether the company owns other property. First-time buyer relief never applies to company purchases. The bare trust structure (where an adult child is the sole beneficial owner) is a legitimate route to avoid the surcharge on family purchases — but it must be in place before exchange.

Connected-party transfers between individuals. SDLT on individual-to-individual connected-party transfers is charged on chargeable consideration, not market value (section 53 market-value substitution applies only to company purchasers). But assumption of mortgage debt by the transferee counts as chargeable consideration, which frequently pushes the SDLT figure above what families expect.