Stamp Duty Compared: SDLT, LBTT and LTT
The UK has three separate property purchase taxes, and reading across from one to another is how buyers get the number wrong. Here they are side by side at twenty price points — SDLT in England and Northern Ireland, LBTT in Scotland and LTT in Wales — for a mover, a first-time buyer and someone buying an additional property.
The three taxes
Stamp duty stopped applying in Scotland in 2015 and in Wales in 2018. All three are charged in slices — each rate applies only to the portion of the price inside its band — but the thresholds, the reliefs and the treatment of second homes all differ.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
First-time buyers: First £300,000 free on purchases up to £500,000 — worth up to £5,000, and withdrawn entirely above £500,000.
Additional property: +5 points on every band. Non-UK resident: +2 points on every band.
Open the Stamp Duty Calculator →Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)
First-time buyers: Nil-rate band lifted to £175,000, at any price — worth at most £600.
Additional Dwelling Supplement: a flat 8% of the whole price at £40,000 or more. No non-resident surcharge.
Open the LBTT Calculator →Land Transaction Tax (LTT)
First-time buyers: None. The £225,000 nil-rate band — the highest in the UK — is the Welsh Government’s answer instead.
Additional property: a separate band table starting at 5%, not a surcharge. No non-resident surcharge.
Open the LTT Calculator →Side by side at twenty price points
Every figure below is computed from the statutory band tables at the moment this page was built, using the same code the three calculators run. Pick the buyer type that matches you.
Buying a main or only home
The ordinary case: you are moving house, or buying your first home is not in question. Wales is cheapest up to £350,000; above it England and Northern Ireland are.
| Purchase price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | England & NI / Scotland / Wales |
| £150,000 | £500 | £100 | £0 | Wales |
| £175,000 | £1,000 | £600 | £0 | Wales |
| £200,000 | £1,500 | £1,100 | £0 | Wales |
| £225,000 | £2,000 | £1,600 | £0 | Wales |
| £250,000 | £2,500 | £2,100 | £1,500 | Wales |
| £275,000 | £3,750 | £3,350 | £3,000 | Wales |
| £300,000 | £5,000 | £4,600 | £4,500 | Wales |
| £350,000 | £7,500 | £8,350 | £7,500 | England & NI / Wales |
| £400,000 | £10,000 | £13,350 | £10,500 | England & NI |
| £450,000 | £12,500 | £18,350 | £14,250 | England & NI |
| £500,000 | £15,000 | £23,350 | £18,000 | England & NI |
| £600,000 | £20,000 | £33,350 | £25,500 | England & NI |
| £700,000 | £25,000 | £43,350 | £33,000 | England & NI |
| £800,000 | £30,000 | £54,350 | £41,750 | England & NI |
| £925,000 | £36,250 | £69,350 | £54,250 | England & NI |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £78,350 | £61,750 | England & NI |
| £1,250,000 | £68,750 | £108,350 | £86,750 | England & NI |
| £1,500,000 | £93,750 | £138,350 | £111,750 | England & NI |
| £2,000,000 | £153,750 | £198,350 | £171,750 | England & NI |
First-time buyer
England and Northern Ireland have by far the most valuable relief, Scotland a token one, Wales none at all — but Wales has the highest nil-rate band in the UK, which does the same job at lower prices.
| Purchase price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | England & NI / Scotland / Wales |
| £150,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | England & NI / Scotland / Wales |
| £175,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | England & NI / Scotland / Wales |
| £200,000 | £0 | £500 | £0 | England & NI / Wales |
| £225,000 | £0 | £1,000 | £0 | England & NI / Wales |
| £250,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £1,500 | England & NI |
| £275,000 | £0 | £2,750 | £3,000 | England & NI |
| £300,000 | £0 | £4,000 | £4,500 | England & NI |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,750 | £7,500 | England & NI |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £12,750 | £10,500 | England & NI |
| £450,000 | £7,500 | £17,750 | £14,250 | England & NI |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £22,750 | £18,000 | England & NI |
| £600,000 | £20,000 | £32,750 | £25,500 | England & NI |
| £700,000 | £25,000 | £42,750 | £33,000 | England & NI |
| £800,000 | £30,000 | £53,750 | £41,750 | England & NI |
| £925,000 | £36,250 | £68,750 | £54,250 | England & NI |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £77,750 | £61,750 | England & NI |
| £1,250,000 | £68,750 | £107,750 | £86,750 | England & NI |
| £1,500,000 | £93,750 | £137,750 | £111,750 | England & NI |
| £2,000,000 | £153,750 | £197,750 | £171,750 | England & NI |
Additional property (second home or buy-to-let)
Where the three systems diverge most. Scotland is the most expensive at every price in this table, because its 8% supplement is charged on the whole purchase price rather than band by band.
| Purchase price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100,000 | £5,000 | £8,000 | £5,000 | England & NI / Wales |
| £150,000 | £8,000 | £12,100 | £7,500 | Wales |
| £175,000 | £9,750 | £14,600 | £8,750 | Wales |
| £200,000 | £11,500 | £17,100 | £10,700 | Wales |
| £225,000 | £13,250 | £19,600 | £12,825 | Wales |
| £250,000 | £15,000 | £22,100 | £14,950 | Wales |
| £275,000 | £17,500 | £25,350 | £17,450 | Wales |
| £300,000 | £20,000 | £28,600 | £19,950 | Wales |
| £350,000 | £25,000 | £36,350 | £24,950 | Wales |
| £400,000 | £30,000 | £45,350 | £29,950 | Wales |
| £450,000 | £35,000 | £54,350 | £36,200 | England & NI |
| £500,000 | £40,000 | £63,350 | £42,450 | England & NI |
| £600,000 | £50,000 | £81,350 | £54,950 | England & NI |
| £700,000 | £60,000 | £99,350 | £67,450 | England & NI |
| £800,000 | £70,000 | £118,350 | £81,200 | England & NI |
| £925,000 | £82,500 | £143,350 | £99,950 | England & NI |
| £1,000,000 | £93,750 | £158,350 | £111,200 | England & NI |
| £1,250,000 | £131,250 | £208,350 | £148,700 | England & NI |
| £1,500,000 | £168,750 | £258,350 | £186,200 | England & NI |
| £2,000,000 | £253,750 | £358,350 | £271,200 | England & NI |
Key differences at a glance
Where each nation is cheapest, and why
For a main residence the ordering is driven almost entirely by the nil-rate band at the bottom and by how quickly the rate climbs above it. Wales starts charging nothing until £225,000, so it is the cheapest of the three at every price below £350,000 — at £200,000 a Welsh buyer pays nothing where an English one pays £1,500 and a Scottish one £1,100. But the Welsh rate above the threshold is 6% against England’s 2%, so the advantage erodes fast: the two draw level at exactly £350,000, where both charge £7,500, and above that England and Northern Ireland are cheapest all the way up. Scotland sits between the two at the bottom and becomes the most expensive of the three from £333,000, where its 10% band starts biting a full £600,000 earlier than England’s does.
The additional-property picture is a different shape entirely
Second homes and buy-to-let are where the three systems stop resembling each other. England adds five percentage points to each band, Wales swaps in a separate table starting at 5%, and Scotland bolts a flat 8% of the whole purchase price onto ordinary LBTT. That last mechanism is why Scotland is the most expensive of the three at every price in the table above — often by a wide margin. A £300,000 second home costs £20,000 in England, £19,950 in Wales and £28,600 in Scotland. Wales holds a narrow lead until £402,000, where it and England draw exactly level at £30,200, and England is cheapest above that.
First-time buyer relief is not comparable across the UK
The three nations have taken three different views. England and Northern Ireland offer the only substantial relief — the first £300,000 free on a purchase up to £500,000, worth up to £5,000 — but it is withdrawn in full rather than tapered, so a first-time buyer at £500,000 pays £10,000 and one at £500,001 pays £15,000. Scotland’s relief lifts the nil-rate band by £30,000, which caps its value at £600 no matter what you pay. Wales offers nothing targeted at first-time buyers and argues that its £225,000 threshold does more for them than a relief would. On the numbers, that holds below about £225,000 and fails above it: at £300,000 an English first-time buyer pays nothing and a Welsh one pays £4,500.
What this comparison does not tell you
These tables compare one line of a purchase against another. They say nothing about the things that usually dominate the decision — house prices themselves, which differ far more between the four nations than the tax does; conveyancing and survey costs; council tax and the Welsh and Scottish premiums some local authorities apply to second homes; or the mortgage you can actually get. Nor do they cover non-residential and mixed-use purchases, leasehold premiums, company and trust buyers, or any of the reliefs beyond first-time buyer relief. Treat them as the purchase-tax component and nothing more.
Frequently asked questions
Which UK nation has the lowest property purchase tax?＋
It depends on the price and the buyer. For a main residence Wales is cheapest up to £350,000, where it draws level with England and Northern Ireland; above that England and Northern Ireland are cheapest. For a first-time buyer England and Northern Ireland are cheapest at every price from £250,000 upward. For an additional property Wales is cheapest below £402,000 and England and Northern Ireland above it. Scotland is never the cheapest of the three above £100,000.
Why is Scotland so much more expensive for a second home?＋
Because the Additional Dwelling Supplement is charged at 8% of the entire purchase price, not added to each band. England adds five percentage points band by band, so its surcharge on a £300,000 purchase is £15,000; Scotland charges 8% of the whole £300,000, which is £24,000, on top of the ordinary LBTT.
Do first-time buyers get relief everywhere in the UK?＋
No. England and Northern Ireland exempt the first £300,000 on purchases up to £500,000, worth up to £5,000. Scotland lifts its nil-rate band from £145,000 to £175,000, worth at most £600. Wales has no first-time buyer relief at all, though its £225,000 nil-rate band is the highest in the UK, so most Welsh first-time buyers pay nothing anyway.
Is there a surcharge for non-UK residents?＋
Only in England and Northern Ireland, where SDLT adds two percentage points to every band for a non-UK-resident buyer. Neither Scotland nor Wales charges a non-resident surcharge, so the figures in these tables apply to resident and non-resident buyers alike in those two nations.
How long do I have to pay?＋
Fourteen days from completion in England and Northern Ireland, and thirty days in both Scotland and Wales. In every case the solicitor or conveyancer files the return and settles it from completion funds, so the money has to be with them before completion day rather than after it.
Cite this page
You are welcome to quote these figures in an article, a forum answer or a client note. A link back is all we ask — it lets your reader check the figure and see the date it was computed, which is the point of the page.
Tool Corner, “Stamp Duty Compared: SDLT, LBTT and LTT”. Updated 2 August 2026. https://toolcorner.net/uk-property-tax-comparison
Assumptions & limitations
- Residential freehold purchases of a single dwelling. Non-residential, mixed-use and lease-premium transactions use different tables in all three systems.
- Rates in force at 2 August 2026. All three are set by different governments on different timetables, so any one of them can move at a Budget without the others.
- The additional-property figures assume the surcharge applies. Whether you are in fact replacing a main residence, and so can reclaim it later, is a question of fact no table can answer.
- No relief beyond first-time buyer relief is modelled, and the England and Northern Ireland columns assume a UK-resident buyer.
Sources & references
Three statutory regimes, three tax authorities. Every band on this page traces to one of these. This is general guidance, not tax advice:
- HMRC — SDLT residential rates — the England and Northern Ireland bands, first-time buyer relief and both surcharges
- Revenue Scotland — LBTT residential property — the Scottish bands and first-time buyer relief
- Revenue Scotland — Additional Dwelling Supplement — the 8% rate, the £40,000 floor and the reclaim window
- Welsh Government — LTT rates and bands — the Welsh main and higher residential band tables
- MoneyHelper — Buying a home — government-backed guidance on when each tax is paid and by whom