First-time buyer stamp duty: calculator and the £500,000 limit

First-time buyers at a glance

How much stamp duty will I pay on my first home?

You pay nothing on the first £300,000. On the part of the price from £300,001 to £500,000 you pay 5%. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band.

Three examples, worked out by the same code as the calculator:

At £425,000, band by band: 0% on £300,000 = £0; 5% on £125,000 = £6,250.

Why does £1 over £500,000 cost a first-time buyer £5,000?

The relief has a hard limit. If the price is £500,000 or less, you get it. If the price is even £1 more, you lose all of it. The standard rates then apply to the whole price: £10,000 at £500,000, but £15,000 at £500,001.

If you buy anything else from the same seller (or someone connected to them) as part of the same deal, you lose the relief, unless it is garden, grounds or rights that go with the home. If it is, its price is added to the home’s price for the £500,000 test. For shared ownership, the test is the full market value of the home, not your share.

If your offer is close to £500,000, put both figures in the calculator before you agree a price.

Am I a first-time buyer? Check 12 situations

HMRC’s test is stricter than most people expect. You must never have owned a home, or a share of one, anywhere in the world, by any route, including a gift or an inheritance. Everyone buying must pass the test, and everyone must plan to live in the home.

• Moving in later, for example after building work: you can still claim if you clearly intend to make it your main home (SDLTM29831).
• If the home has an annexe that counts as a separate dwelling, the purchase is of two dwellings and no first-time buyer relief is due. Whether it counts is a question of fact; tell us early (SDLTM29821).
• No relief if you are buying a lease with under 21 years left, or if the purchase includes a shop or other non-residential land (SDLTM29821, SDLTM29811).

Buying a share from your partner is a transfer of equity; buying with a home purchase plan is tested on you, not the bank.

HMRC can charge a penalty if you claim relief you are not entitled to. Tell us at the start about any home any buyer has ever owned, here or abroad, by any route.

One of us has owned a home before. What do we pay?

If anyone buying has owned a home before, nobody gets the relief, even if the others never have. The standard rates apply to the whole price. If that person will still own their old home after completion, the higher rates for additional homes usually apply instead. That is 5% on top of every band, from £40,000.

At £350,000 that is £2,500 with the relief, £7,500 at the standard rates, or £25,000 at the higher rates. The second home stamp duty calculator covers the higher rates in full.

Who pays the difference between you is for you to agree, and it can be written into a declaration of trust.

Do the £450,000 Lifetime ISA limit and the £500,000 relief limit work the same way?

No. They are two different limits, set by two different rules.

• Stamp duty relief: the price must be £500,000 or less.
• Lifetime ISA: you can take your savings out without a charge only if the price is £450,000 or less. Above £450,000, a withdrawal is not charge-free. GOV.UK sets out the charge.

So between £450,001 and £500,000 you still get stamp duty relief, but a Lifetime ISA withdrawal is not charge-free. Our quote form asks about a Lifetime ISA only when the price is £450,000 or less.

78 of the 377 first-time buyers we asked said they had a Lifetime ISA (website quote requests, 2 Sep–29 Oct 2026). We ask only first-time buyers with a mortgage, buying a home to live in, at £450,000 or less.

What do first-time buyers pay in Wales?

Wales has Land Transaction Tax, not stamp duty, and it has no relief for first-time buyers. Anyone buying their only home pays the main rates, first-time buyer or not: nothing up to £225,000, then 6% up to £400,000 and 7.5% up to £750,000. The tax and the return go to the Welsh Revenue Authority. For a Welsh purchase use our Land Transaction Tax calculator.

43 of the 670 purchase quote requests we received were for a home in Wales (website quote requests, 2 Sep–29 Oct 2026).

Shared ownership: is the relief based on my share?

No. The £500,000 test uses the full market value of the home. If it is £500,000 or less, you can claim the relief whether you pay in stages or make a market value election. The relief also covers the rent. Example: a 25% share of a £400,000 home: £0 now, or £5,000 once. More on shared ownership conveyancing; our fee line for it is “Shared Ownership”, £250 + VAT (see our fees).

Who claims the relief, and when?

You do not apply for the relief separately. It is claimed on the Stamp Duty Land Tax return with relief code 32. The return must still be filed, even when there is nothing to pay. The return is due, and any tax must be paid, within 14 days of completion.

When we act on your purchase in England, we file the Stamp Duty return and pay HMRC from the money you send us. Our line for this is “Preparation of SDLT forms”, part of our standard purchase price.

Which of our fees apply to a first-time buyer?

Buying a residential property: our fee range is in the box below. It includes our legal fee plus Preparation of SDLT forms, Application for Registration, File Opening Fee (Non-refundable), Telegraphic Transfer Fee (Per Transfer), Mortgage Handling/Admin Fee and Lender Portal Management Fee. Typical disbursements are £46 – £78 on a sale and £319 – £341 on a purchase, for one or two people, including VAT where it applies, itemised in your quotation.

Only if they apply: “Dealing with Leasehold”, £150 + VAT, “New Build Property”, £250 + VAT, “Shared Ownership”, £250 + VAT. See all our fees.

Stamp Duty Land Tax and the HM Land Registry fee are government charges: they sit in their own box and are never added to our fees. We give you a written, itemised quote before you instruct us.

An estimate for an individual buying a home in England or Northern Ireland. This is not tax advice: HMRC is the authority on what you owe. Rates checked on GOV.UK on 20 October 2026.

What happens next

• Conveyancing for first-time buyers
• Stamp duty calculator for every buyer
• Buying in Wales: Land Transaction Tax calculator
• More free tools, explained