Stamp duty when you move: three taxes and the buy-before-you-sell surcharge

SDLT, LBTT and LTT side by side at 2026/27 rates, worked figures for a £300,000 home in each nation, why the additional-property surcharge catches ordinary movers, and the refund window if the old home sells later.

One lever among many. Optimising your plan shows every lever, which ones apply to you and how they interact.

Stamp duty is the one large tax most people pay only a handful of times, always in a hurry, and always alongside bigger numbers that make it feel small. It is not small: on a £300,000 home it ranges from nothing to nearly £30,000 depending on where you are buying and whether you already own a home.

Three nations, three taxes

England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax: nothing on the first £125,000, then 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5m and 12% above. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax: nothing to £145,000, then 2%, 5% (from £250,000), 10% (from £325,000), and 12% (above £750,000). Wales charges Land Transaction Tax: nothing to £225,000, then 6%, 7.5%, 10% and 12%. All three are progressive, each slice is taxed at its own rate, so the same £300,000 home costs £4,750 in England, £4,600 in Scotland and £4,500 in Wales. None of the three 2026/27 budgets changed these schedules; the stamp duty calculator shows the slices for any price.

First-time buyers

In England the relief is generous but has a cliff: nothing to £300,000 and 5% to £500,000 (a £400,000 first home pays £5,000), but a penny over £500,000 loses the relief entirely and the standard rates apply to the whole price. Scotland lifts the nil-rate slice to £175,000, worth at most £600. Wales has no relief at all; its higher starting threshold is the compensation. Everyone on the purchase must be a first-time buyer, anywhere in the world.

The surcharge that catches movers

The higher rates for additional properties (5 percentage points on every SDLT slice, an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement on the whole price in Scotland, and a separate 5–17% schedule in Wales) are written for landlords and second-home owners but land on anyone who completes on the new home before the old one has sold. That £300,000 home then costs £20,000 in England, £28,600 in Scotland or £19,950 in Wales, payable within 14 days of completion (30 in Scotland). The surcharge is refundable if the previous main home sells within 36 months (England and Scotland) or three years (Wales), but the cash must be found first, and the bridging period is exactly when most movers are stretched. Non-UK residents pay a further 2 points in England.

Putting it in the plan

Stamp duty is a lump the plan should see in the year it is paid, not an afterthought in a mortgage quote. In Hundred Summers a move is a financed-purchase event with the tax, agents’ and legal fees alongside the new mortgage, so the year’s cashflow shows the real dent; the downsizing calculator nets it off what a smaller home frees, and the mortgage repayment calculator prices the loan that pays for the rest.

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