By price
Stamp duty on a £500,000 property
Two English rules switch on at the same pound: the end of first-time buyer relief and the 17% rate for companies.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
At exactly £500,000, a first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland pays £10,000 of Stamp Duty Land Tax, the figure HMRC itself gives as an example: nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the next £200,000. One pound more and the relief is withdrawn entirely, so a £500,001 purchase costs £15,000, the same as for any buyer of an only home. A buyer who has owned before pays £15,000 at £500,000. The same pound decides the treatment of companies buying a dwelling: up to £500,000 they pay the higher rates, £40,000 here; above it, a flat 17% of the whole price applies unless a relief such as a property rental business is claimed, which turns £500,001 into £85,000. Scotland and Wales have no cliff at this price: £23,350 of LBTT and £18,000 of Land Transaction Tax, rising smoothly above it.
More options: commercial property, company relief
Stamp Duty Land Tax · England and Northern Ireland
£15,000
3% of £500,000 · rule applied: Standard residential rates
| Portion | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 0% | £0 |
| £125,000 to £250,000 | 2% | £2,500 |
| £250,000 to £925,000 | 5% | £12,500 |
Return and payment due within 14 days of completion.
Same purchase elsewhere in the UK
One pound over: the first-time buyer cliff
Most of the SDLT system works in slices, so a slightly higher price only adds tax on the extra amount. First-time buyer relief is the exception. It is available only when the price is £500,000 or less; above that, the buyer is taxed as if the relief never existed, on the standard table, from the first pound (HMRC, SDLTM29845). At £500,000 the bill is £10,000; at £500,001 it is £15,000, a jump of £5,000.
Neither Scotland nor Wales has a cliff of this kind. The Scottish relief has no price limit and is claimed on any purchase, while Wales gives no relief at all, so the first-time buyer columns below rise steadily through the line.
| Price | England & NI | Scotland | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| £490,000 | £9,500 | £21,750 | £17,250 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £22,750 | £18,000 |
| £500,001 | £15,000 | £22,750 | £18,000 |
| £510,000 | £15,500 | £23,750 | £18,750 |
| £550,000 | £17,500 | £27,750 | £21,750 |
The cliff was higher before 1 April 2025, when the limit was £625,000; the page on £600,000 looks at buyers caught between the two limits.
Companies meet the 17% rate at the same pound
A company buying a residential property for more than £500,000 pays 17% of the entire price (HMRC guidance). There are no slices: the rate applies from the first pound. At or below the threshold, the company pays the higher rates for additional dwellings instead, because a company is charged them even on its first property.
The flat rate is avoided where a relief applies: a property rental business, property developers and traders, homes open to the public, homes for employees and farmhouses among them. The company then pays the higher rates. A non-resident company adds the 2% surcharge in either case. A company holding a dwelling may also have to file for the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings, a separate tax.
| Price | 17% rate, no relief | With a relief (higher rates) | Non-resident company, no relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| £500,000 | £40,000 | £40,000 | £50,000 |
| £500,001 | £85,000 | £40,000 | £95,000 |
| £600,000 | £102,000 | £50,000 | £114,000 |
The company purchase guide lists the reliefs and the conditions that keep them.
Landlords and movers in the three nations
For an individual, nothing special happens at this price. A buyer moving home pays £15,000 in England, £23,350 of LBTT in Scotland and £18,000 in Wales. An individual landlord adding a £500,000 property to a portfolio pays £40,000 in England, £42,450 at the Welsh higher rates and £63,350 in Scotland, where the supplement alone is £40,000. In both devolved nations a company pays those same surcharged figures; neither has a flat corporate rate.