UK First-Time Buyer SDLT relief.
SDLT with FTB relief
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Standard SDLT
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Saving from FTB relief
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Your breakdown
Updates live as you type| Band of the £350,000 price | FTB | Standard |
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The relief that rewards never having owned
First-time buyer relief is the government's way of trimming the upfront tax on your first home. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases in England and Northern Ireland, and for most buyers it starts biting above £125,000. First-time buyers get a more generous deal: nothing at all up to £300,000, then 5 percent on the slice between £300,000 and £500,000. This calculator compares the relief against the standard rates so you can see exactly what qualifying saves, and warns you at the point where the relief vanishes.
The crucial design feature is the cliff edge at £500,000. Below that ceiling the relief is valuable. The moment your purchase price tips over £500,000, the relief is withdrawn completely and standard SDLT applies to the whole price, not just the excess. There is no tapering. A buyer at £500,000 and one at £500,001 face very different bills, which is why this single threshold is the most important number on the page.
Buying a £350,000 first home
Take a first-time buyer purchasing at £350,000. With relief, the first £300,000 is free and 5 percent applies to the remaining £50,000, giving £2,500. A buyer who did not qualify would pay standard rates: nothing on the first £125,000, 2 percent on the next £125,000, and 5 percent on the final £100,000, which comes to £7,500. The relief is therefore worth £5,000.
The bars put the two bills side by side. The relief roughly thirds the SDLT on this purchase, freeing up £5,000 that most buyers would rather spend on the move itself.
Who actually counts as a first-time buyer
The test is stricter than people expect. You must never have owned a freehold or leasehold interest in a residential property anywhere in the world, which includes property you inherited or were gifted, and property held jointly. If you are buying with someone else, every buyer must meet the test; one disqualified partner loses the relief for the whole purchase. The property must be your only or main residence, so it cannot be used for a buy-to-let. These rules catch out couples where one person previously owned a flat, and adult children who were left a share of a family home, so check both buyers carefully before assuming the relief applies.
When the SDLT actually falls due
One practical point that trips up first-time buyers: SDLT is not paid at offer or at exchange, it is due on completion. You have 14 days from completion to file the SDLT return and pay, and in practice your conveyancing solicitor handles both, collecting the money from you shortly before completion and remitting it to HMRC. Because the tax is a cash sum on top of your deposit and legal fees, it needs to be budgeted as part of your upfront costs rather than rolled into the mortgage. On the £350,000 example, that means having the £2,500 ready in cash alongside everything else, which is exactly why the £5,000 the relief saves matters so much to a stretched first purchase.
Is the relief the same across the whole UK?
No. SDLT and this relief apply only in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland runs Land and Buildings Transaction Tax with its own first-time buyer relief and thresholds, and Wales uses Land Transaction Tax, which currently has no specific first-time buyer relief at all. If you are buying in Scotland or Wales, this calculator's figures will not match your bill.
What happens right at the £500,000 line?
This is the trap to watch. At exactly £500,000 you still get the relief and pay £10,000, being 5 percent on the £200,000 above £300,000. One pound more and the relief is lost entirely, so standard rates apply to the full price and the bill jumps to around £15,000. If you are negotiating near that ceiling, keeping the agreed price at or below £500,000 can be worth several thousand pounds, so it is a number worth defending hard in the offer.