You've had an offer accepted, you're adding up what you need on completion day, and you've seen three different stamp duty figures on three different websites. At least one of them was written before April 2025.
Here's the plain version. If you're a first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland, you pay nothing up to £300,000, and 5% on the part between £300,001 and £500,000. Above £500,000 you get no relief at all: not on the first £300,000, not on anything. You pay the standard rates on the whole price. Rates as at October 2026.
Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales has Land Transaction Tax, with their own rates. This post is about Stamp Duty Land Tax only.
What it actually is
It's banded, not a single rate. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band, like income tax. A first-time buyer on £400,000 doesn't pay 5% of £400,000. They pay 5% of the £100,000 above £300,000.
The old thresholds are gone. For purchases from 23 September 2022 to 31 March 2025, first-time buyers paid nothing up to £425,000 and could claim relief up to £625,000. That was temporary, and it ended. Plenty of pages online still quote it.
"First-time buyer" is stricter than it sounds. HMRC's test is that you must never have acquired "a major interest in a dwelling or an equivalent interest in land situated anywhere in the world". That includes property you inherited or were given, and a part share counts. Every buyer on the purchase has to pass it, and you all have to intend to live there as your only or main home. If you're buying with a partner who's owned before, neither of you gets the relief.
The rates, as at October 2026
From GOV.UK, for a residential purchase in England or Northern Ireland.
| Portion of the price | First-time buyer, price £500,000 or less | Standard rates |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £125,000 | 0% | 0% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 0% | 2% |
| £250,001 to £300,000 | 0% | 5% |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | 5% | 5% |
| £500,001 to £925,000 | relief not available | 5% |
| £925,001 to £1.5 million | relief not available | 10% |
| Above £1.5 million | relief not available | 12% |
Two surcharges sit on top, neither of which normally applies to a first-time buyer: 5% if the purchase means you'll own more than one residential property, and 2% if you're not UK resident.
Worked examples
| Price | First-time buyer | Standard rates | Relief worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 |
| £450,000 | £7,500 | £12,500 | £5,000 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £5,000 |
| £500,001 | £15,000 | £15,000 | £0 |
| £535,000 | £16,750 | £16,750 | £0 |
Work one through so you can check a calculator. £450,000 as a first-time buyer: nothing on the first £300,000, then 5% of the remaining £150,000, which is £7,500. The same £450,000 at standard rates: nothing on the first £125,000, 2% of the next £125,000 (£2,500), then 5% of the last £200,000 (£10,000), which is £12,500.
Notice the last column. Anywhere between £300,000 and £500,000, the relief is worth exactly £5,000. It isn't a percentage of your price. It's a flat £5,000, and it vanishes completely one pound past £500,000.
The £500,000 cliff
Put the two numbers side by side.
- £500,000, first-time buyer: £10,000.
- £500,001, first-time buyer: £15,000, near enough. The extra pound adds 5p.
One pound more on the price, £5,000 more in tax. GOV.UK puts it in one line: "If the price is over £500,000, you cannot claim the relief."
Which is why the cliff matters more in London than anywhere else. Across active listings in and around London in October 2026, the median asking price is £535,000, and 52.6 per cent of listings are priced above £500,000. Only 17.0 per cent are at or under £300,000, the level where a first-time buyer pays nothing. So for a London first-time buyer, the relief more often than not doesn't apply, and when it does, it's usually worth the flat £5,000 rather than the full price going untaxed. Asking prices, not sold prices: the price you agree may land either side of the line.
If the price is just over £500,000
Negotiating down to £500,000 saves you twice: the drop in price, and the £5,000 relief coming back. On a £510,000 asking price, getting to £500,000 is worth £10,000 off the price and £5,500 off the tax, because standard rates on £510,000 come to £15,500.
What you can't do is quietly move part of the price onto the curtains. Paying separately for genuine chattels, the movable items rather than the fixtures, is allowed, but HMRC requires the split to be "just and reasonable", says an apportionment written into the contract "will not be correct unless it was arrived at on a just and reasonable basis", and values the items at open market value including depreciation. A sofa worth £300 second-hand doesn't become £10,000 because it's convenient, and HMRC can open an enquiry into exactly this.
Shared ownership
If you're buying a share, first-time buyer relief can still apply. GOV.UK's condition is that you intend to live there as your main home and "the market value of the shared ownership property is £500,000 or less". That's the full market value, not the value of your share. We've covered how the rest of it works in shared ownership, the honest version.
What to do about it
In the order you'd do it.
- Check you actually qualify. Every buyer on the purchase must never have owned a home anywhere in the world, including one inherited or a part share. If one of you has, budget at standard rates.
- Work out the tax at the price you'll offer, not the asking price. Use the table above, or HMRC's own Stamp Duty Land Tax calculator on GOV.UK. Check the date on any other calculator you use.
- Treat £500,000 as a hard line in your search. A flat at £505,000 costs a first-time buyer £5,250 more in tax than one at £500,000. Filter accordingly, and put that number in your offer if a property sits just above it.
- Know when it's due, and budget it as cash. The return goes to HMRC and the tax is paid within 14 days of completion. GOV.UK says your solicitor or conveyancer will usually file and pay it on your behalf on completion day, so they'll need the money from you before then. Count it separately from the deposit.
Council tax and energy bills are the other numbers you'll live with every month. We've written on why council tax bands are often wrong and what an EPC rating means for your bills.
The honest summary
First-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the slice up to £500,000. Between those two prices the relief is worth a flat £5,000, and above £500,000 it's worth nothing at all. In and around London, more than half of what's for sale is priced over the line.
One pound over £500,000 costs you £5,000. Price your search, and your offer, around it.
This is general information, not tax advice. Rates and reliefs are for Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, as at October 2026, and change at Budgets. Check GOV.UK or ask your conveyancer for your own purchase.