Your situation
Stamp duty when you buy with someone else
The tax is charged on the whole price once, and the least favourable buyer decides which table is used.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
When two or more people buy together, the tax is assessed once on the whole price, not share by share, and the position of a single buyer can change the rate for all of them. First-time buyer relief needs every purchaser to qualify: two friends buying a £350,000 flat in England pay £2,500 if neither has ever owned a home, and £7,500 if one of them once did. If any buyer will still own another dwelling at the end of completion day, the whole purchase goes onto the surcharge: £25,000 in England, £36,350 with the ADS in Scotland, £24,950 at the Welsh higher rates. Spouses and civil partners living together are treated as one buyer, so a husband’s rental flat counts even if he is not on the new title. The tool below tests up to four buyers and shows who decides the rate.
Stamp Duty Land Tax for the whole purchase
£25,000
Rule applied: Higher rates for additional dwellings (+5% on every band)
- At least one buyer will own another home at the end of completion day, so the surcharge applies to the whole purchase, not to that buyer’s share.
If buyer 1 bought alone: £2,500 (£22,500 less).
One purchase, one rate
The authorities look at the transaction, not at each name on it. The tax is calculated on the full price, then the strictest situation among the buyers chooses the table. A 1% owner who keeps a buy-to-let has the same effect as a 99% owner who does.
| Buyers | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two first-time buyers | £2,500 | £7,750 | £7,500 |
| One of them owned a home before, neither owns one now | £7,500 | £8,350 | £7,500 |
| One of them keeps a flat or a share of a home | £25,000 | £36,350 | £24,950 |
The middle row explains a frequent surprise. A buyer who sold a flat years ago no longer owns anything, so there is no surcharge, but the past ownership still removes first-time buyer relief for the couple. In Wales the first two rows are identical, because Wales has no first-time buyer relief at all.
Married couples and civil partners
Spouses and civil partners who are not separated count as one unit. In England and Wales, a property owned by one of them counts as owned by both for the surcharge, even if only the other signs the purchase. Scotland’s economic unit is wider still and includes unmarried partners who live together as if married. The rule cuts both ways for the relief in England: when one spouse buys alone, HMRC does not test the other spouse’s past ownership for first-time buyer relief (SDLTM29845), but it does count the other spouse’s current home for the higher rates.
Parents, friends and siblings
A parent added to the title to support the mortgage is the case the Welsh Revenue Authority uses as its own example of the higher rates applying. The alternative it describes, a joint borrower, sole proprietor mortgage, keeps the parent off the title and the purchase on main rates. Friends and siblings face the same logic: if one of them keeps a home elsewhere, the higher rates apply to everybody, and the extra cost is shared however the buyers agree between themselves.
Non-resident co-buyers
In England and Northern Ireland, one buyer who spent fewer than 183 days in the UK during the year before completion adds 2% to every band for the whole purchase, £7,000 at £350,000. The only exception is a married couple or civil partners living together where the other partner is UK resident. Scotland and Wales have no surcharge of this kind.
Later changes in ownership between co-owners, such as one partner buying out the other, are taxed as a transfer of equity.