# SDLT on a house purchase in 2026: the standard bands, first-time buyer relief and the £500,000 cliff worked on one client's figures

> Residential SDLT worked on three purchases: £450,000 standard and first-time buyer, the £1 that adds £5,000 at £500,001, and the 5% extra for a second home.

- Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sdlt-rates-first-time-buyer-500000-cliff-additional-dwelling-worked/
- Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/)
- Section: Solicitors, Conveyancing, updates and chasing
- Published 6 October 2026
- Key fact: On a £450,000 purchase, standard SDLT is 0 + (£125,000 x 2%) + (£200,000 x 5%) = £2,500 + £10,000 = £12,500, and with first-time buyer relief it is £150,000 x 5% = £7,500, a saving of £5,000. At £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000; at £500,001 relief is lost and the bill is £15,000, so £1 of price costs £5,000. For a £300,000 additional home, £5,000 plus a 5% surcharge of £15,000 is £20,000. Our arithmetic from the published bands.
- Sources: GOV.UK "Stamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates", read on 2026-10-06. The three purchases are invented examples and every total is our arithmetic. The page showed no effective dates or last-updated date to our reader.

Stamp Duty Land Tax on a home in England and Northern Ireland is worked in slices, not on the whole price. A client who hears "five per cent" and multiplies the price by 0.05 will overstate the bill, and a first-time buyer who nudges the price past £500,000 can find the relief gone altogether. This page works three invented purchases through the published bands so a fee earner can check a quote quickly. It does not replace the HMRC calculator, and it does not cover Scotland or Wales.

## What GOV.UK says

From the GOV.UK residential rates page, read on 6 October 2026:

- Standard rates: nothing up to £125,000, 2% on the portion from £125,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £925,000, 10% from £925,001 to £1.5 million and 12% above that.
- First-time buyers pay "no tax" up to £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. The relief is not available if the price is over £500,000.
- Buying an additional residential property adds 5% on top of the rates, with an exception where the new home replaces a main residence that was sold within 36 months.
- A 2% surcharge applies to buyers who were not in the UK for at least 183 days in the preceding 12 months.

## Purchase one: £450,000 at standard rates

| Slice | Amount in slice | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | £125,000 | 0% | £0 |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | £125,000 | 2% | £2,500 |
| £250,001 to £450,000 | £200,000 | 5% | £10,000 |
| Total | £450,000 | | £12,500 |

## Purchase two: the same £450,000, a first-time buyer

Nothing on the first £300,000, then 5% on £150,000, which is £7,500. The relief is worth £12,500 less £7,500, a saving of £5,000.

## The cliff at £500,000

| Price | Treatment | SDLT |
|---|---|---|
| £500,000 | First-time buyer: 5% x £200,000 | £10,000 |
| £500,001 | Relief lost, standard rates: £2,500 + 5% x £250,001 | £15,000 (to the nearest pound) |

An extra £1 on the price adds £5,000 to the bill. This matters when a price is negotiated at £500,000 and a chattel or fixture sum is later moved around: the figures on the contract and the transfer need to agree before the return is filed, as the [late SDLT return guide](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/sdlt-return-late-penalty-interest-14-day-deadline-worked/) shows is the point where mistakes cost money.

## Purchase three: a £300,000 additional home

Standard rates on £300,000: 2% x £125,000 = £2,500 and 5% x £50,000 = £2,500, so £5,000. The 5% surcharge applies to the whole price, 5% x £300,000 = £15,000. Total £20,000, four times the standard bill.

## What we could not confirm

- The page showed no effective dates or last-updated date, so we cannot say when the current bands began or whether they are due to change. Check the HMRC calculator on the day of the quote.
- It did not set out the full conditions for first-time buyer relief, such as joint buyers where one has owned before. Take those from the relevant HMRC guidance.
- It did not give the full test for the 36-month replacement exception or how a surcharge refund works. We have not stated either.
- We did not check mixed-use, non-residential or leasehold rent rules.

## Putting it in the file

1. Record the price, buyer status and whether the property is an additional dwelling on the file at instruction, in the [client care letter checklist](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/client-care-letter-checklist-new-matter/) stage.
2. Quote SDLT as a separate line from the firm's fee and Land Registry fee; the [Land Registry fees guide](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/land-registry-fees-2026-purchase-remortgage-completion-statement/) covers the completion statement.
3. Ask for the money for tax before completion, and diarise the return deadline in the [residential purchase checklist](https://aeolookup.com/solicitors/residential-purchase-checklist-instruction-to-land-registry-registration/).
4. Re-run the figure if the price changes at all, especially near £500,000.

## Where Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) fits

Overlyft can set up an AI assistant to draft the SDLT line of a quote from the price and buyer answers, flag any price within £5,000 of the £500,000 line and add the return deadline to the diary. A fee earner checks every figure against the HMRC calculator and a supervising solicitor remains responsible for the file. This page is general information, not legal advice.

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General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.