UK Stamp Duty Calculator for Landlords

Work out SDLT, LBTT or LTT across England & NI, Scotland and Wales, including the additional-property surcharge

Triggers the additional-property surcharge (applies to purchases of £40,000+).

Company purchases normally pay the additional-property rates regardless.

First-time buyer relief only applies to a home you will live in as your main residence. It does not apply to a buy to let, in Wales, or to an additional property.

A 2% non-resident surcharge applies in England & NI only.

If you already know your exact liability, enter it here and it will be used instead.

Results

Enter a property price to see your estimated stamp duty

Important, not tax advice: This calculator gives estimates based on standard published rates (verified June 2026) and does not account for every relief, exemption or special case (such as multiple-dwellings relief, mixed-use property, linked transactions, or certain corporate purchases). Rates can change at any Budget. It is your responsibility to confirm the figure, always check HMRC, Revenue Scotland or the Welsh Revenue Authority, and consult a qualified tax adviser or solicitor before relying on any number.

Understanding Stamp Duty for Landlords

Three Different Taxes Across the UK

"Stamp duty" is not one tax, each nation runs its own system, with its own thresholds and rates. The tax on an identically priced property can differ by thousands of pounds depending on where it is.

The three systems:

  • England & Northern Ireland: Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), collected by HMRC.
  • Scotland: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), collected by Revenue Scotland.
  • Wales: Land Transaction Tax (LTT), collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority.

All three are tiered (or "progressive") taxes: you pay each rate only on the slice of the price that falls inside that band, not the whole price at one rate. That is exactly how this calculator works it out.

The Additional-Property Surcharge

This is the part that matters most to landlords. If you will own more than one residential property after the purchase, an extra charge usually applies on top of the standard rates, and the three nations handle it very differently:

  • England & NI: a flat 5% surcharge added to every SDLT band.
  • Scotland: the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) of 8% charged on the whole purchase price, on top of LBTT.
  • Wales: a separate set of higher residential rate bands (rather than a flat add-on).

The surcharge normally applies to purchases of £40,000 or more, and it applies whether you buy in your personal name or through a company.

When the Surcharge Does Not Apply

You generally avoid the extra charge if you are simply replacing your only or main residence, selling your old home and buying a new one to live in.

If you have not sold your previous main residence by the day you complete, you will usually have to pay the surcharge because you temporarily own two properties. In England/NI and Scotland you may be able to reclaim it if you sell the old home within the relevant time limit (36 months in England). The rules and deadlines differ by nation, so check carefully.

Buying Through a Limited Company

Many landlords now buy through a limited company for tax-planning reasons. A common myth is that a company, or a "first-time buyer" buying through a company, escapes stamp duty. That is not how it works. HMRC is explicit: a company must pay the higher additional-property rates on any residential property it buys for £40,000 or more, even if it is the company's first and only property. There is no first-time buyer relief for companies, because that relief is only for individuals buying a home to live in.

So a standard residential buy to let bought through a company of £40,000 or more does pay stamp duty, from the first pound. The only times little or no tax is due are specific cases: the property is under £40,000, it is genuinely non-residential or mixed-use (taxed at the lower commercial rates), or six or more dwellings are bought in one transaction. If you have been told otherwise for a normal residential let, get it confirmed in writing before completing.

Note too that separate, even higher charges can apply to some high-value corporate purchases (for example the flat 17% SDLT rate on certain company purchases of dwellings over £500,000). These edge cases sit outside this calculator, so always confirm with your accountant or tax adviser.

First-Time Buyer Relief

If you have never owned a property before and are buying your only home, you may pay less:

  • England & NI: no SDLT up to £300,000, then 5% on the portion to £500,000 (no relief above £500,000).
  • Scotland: the nil-rate band rises to £175,000.
  • Wales: no first-time buyer relief.

First-time buyer relief never applies to an additional property, so it is rarely relevant to a buy-to-let purchase, but the option is included here for completeness.

Warning: Buying a Buy to Let as Your First Property

If a buy to let is the first property you ever buy, it can cost you twice over later, when you come to buy a home to actually live in:

  • You lose first-time buyer relief for good. To count as a first-time buyer you must never have owned any property anywhere in the world. Once you own a buy to let you no longer qualify, so you will pay full stamp duty on your own future home.
  • You may pay the extra surcharge on your own home too. When you buy your home while still owning the buy to let, you will own two properties on completion, and you are not replacing a main residence because you never had one. So the additional-property rates can apply to your home as well.

This catches a lot of first-time investors by surprise. Always speak to a qualified tax adviser before buying a buy to let as your very first purchase.

Why It Matters for Your Returns

Stamp duty is one of the largest one-off costs of a property purchase, and the additional-property charge can easily add several thousand pounds to a buy-to-let deal. Because it is part of your total cash invested, it directly reduces your return on investment.

Always factor the full stamp duty figure into your numbers before you commit, our BTL Profit Calculator includes it automatically when working out your true ROI, and the Affordability Calculator helps you size the mortgage.

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