Stamp duty is a land tax that you pay when you buy a property or land over a certain price that varies dependant on the price of a property and is an important financial factor to consider when buying a house. Recently, the government changed the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) thresholds impacting house buyers in England and Northern Ireland. We are here to guide you through the changes so that you can understand the impact on your situation. 

Essentially, the new measure means that some individuals purchasing a residential property on or after 23 September 2022 will pay less or no stamp duty, potentially freeing up funds for alternative use.

The nil-rate threshold before stamp duty is raised to £250,000 from £125,000. This means that if you now buy a house for less than £250,000, there’s no stamp duty to pay.
There are various thresholds and lots of dependant factors. You can read more about how the changes will affect you HERE.
To work out how much tax you’ll pay, refer to the latest guidance for calculating SDLT on the Gov.UK website HERE.

The nil-rate threshold is increased from £300,000 to £425,000 and 5% SDLT is on the portion from £425,001 to £625,000. The maximum amount that an individual can pay while remaining eligible for First Time Buyers’ Relief is increased to £625,000.

Increasing the stamp duty threshold raises the amount the purchaser can pay for a residential property before they become liable to stamp duty. This encourages home ownership and supports first time buyers take their first step on the property ladder.

In Scotland, there’s a slightly different policy, but the concept is the same – it’s known as Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, or Land Transaction Tax in Wales.