How much stamp duty do I need to pay?

In England and Northern Ireland, stamp duty must be paid within 14 days of completing your property purchase. In Scotland and Wales, you have 30 days.

Your solicitor usually handles this payment, often immediately after completion. You’ll need to transfer the funds to them (normally at the same time you transfer your deposit) and they will want you to do this before completion.

First-time buyer relief applies if you've never owned a residential property in the UK or abroad. This includes owning a share of a property or inheriting one, even if it was immediately sold. All buyers on the property deed must meet these criteria.

Additionally, the property must cost £625,000 or less and it will be your primary residence. Non-UK residents can qualify for first-time buyer relief but must still pay the additional 2% non-UK resident surcharge.

You can’t add stamp duty directly to your mortgage, but what you can do is reduce your deposit and use that money to pay stamp duty. However, if you do this you will need to borrow more to make up the shortfall.

Here are some potential issues with doing this:

• Mortgage Approval: Your mortgage lender will assess whether you can afford to borrow the additional amount needed to cover stamp duty. If you already have a small deposit and therefore a high loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, the lender might not approve the extra borrowing.
• Paying interest: By adding stamp duty to your mortgage, you're spreading the cost over the life of the loan. While this reduces the immediate financial burden, it significantly increases the total amount you pay due to the interest charged on the additional borrowed amount. For instance, if you added £1,000 of stamp duty to your 25 year mortgage at a 4% interest rate, you would end up paying an extra £1,666 in interest.
• Interest rates: If you have a smaller deposit and are borrowing more, you might be pushed into a higher LTV bracket, which could result in less favourable interest rates.

It’s possible, but we recommend against taking out loans or additional financing for stamp duty, especially after your mortgage offer has been accepted. Your lender may perform a credit check before releasing the mortgage funds, and an additional loan could jeopardise your mortgage approval and risk the mortgage offer being withdrawn.

No, the Lifetime ISA (LISA) bonus cannot be directly used to pay stamp duty. The bonus must be transferred to your solicitor and used as part of your deposit. Withdrawing your LISA to pay stamp duty directly would result in the loss of the 25% government bonus.

Non-UK residents pay a stamp duty surcharge of 2% on property purchases in England and Northern Ireland. A buyer is considered a non-UK resident if they have not spent at least 183 days in the UK during the 12 months before the purchase is completed.

For joint purchases, if you are married then only one person needs to be a UK resident to avoid the surcharge. If you are not married then if any co-buyers are non-UK residents, the surcharge applies.

You can apply for a refund if you become a UK resident after the purchase (see next question).

If you move to the UK and live in the home you purchased, you may qualify for a refund of the non-UK resident surcharge. You must spend at least 183 days in the UK within a 365-day period that overlaps with the 12 months before and after your purchase completion date. For more details and to apply for a refund, visit the government website.

If you purchase a property as your primary residence but still own another property at completion, you must pay the additional property surcharge (3% of the purchase price). However, if you then sell your other property within three years of buying the new one, you can apply for a refund of the surcharge. To apply, visit the government website.