Changes to stamp duty, September 2022: On 23 September, Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced a change to stamp duty rates. The starting threshold for paying stamp duty will be raised to £250,000 (from its current starting point of £125,000). This means that house buyers will not have to pay stamp duty on the first £250,000 of any property purchase (a tiered tax will still apply on amounts over that). So if the property you’re buying costs less than £250,000, there is no stamp duty to pay at all. For first-time buyers, the starting threshold for paying stamp duty will be raised even further to £450,000 (providing the property being purchased does not cost more than £625,000). These stamp duty changes apply to England and Northern Ireland only. It has not yet been confirmed by the government how long these amended stamp duty rates will apply for.
Think carefully before securing debts against your home. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Stamp duty is a tax paid on property purchases, but it can be confusing.
The amount you pay is based on the purchase price. The system is tiered, meaning you’ll pay a different percentage of tax on different portions of the price. It’s calculated the same in Northern Ireland as it is in England. The tax is calculated differently in Scotland and Wales.
Your stamp duty bill will differ depending on whether the property is your main residence or a second home.
Buying a new main home in Northern Ireland
Here’s how stamp duty in Northern Ireland will be calculated:
Portion costing between £0 and £125,000: 0%
Portion costing between £125,001 and £500,000: usually 2% – currently 0%
Portion costing between £500,001 and £925,000: 5%
Portion costing between £925,001 and £1,500,000: 10%
Portion costing over £1,500,000: 12%
So if you’re buying a home for £1 million, you’ll pay:
0% of £500,000 = £0
5% of £425,000 = £21,250
10% of £75,000 = £7,500
TOTAL: £28,750
Buying a second home in Northern Ireland
If you’re buying a second home in Northern Ireland, you’ll pay a 3% surcharge on each of the stamp duty tiers.
Here are the rates:
Portion costing between £0 and £125,000: 3%
Portion costing between £125,001 and £500,000: 5%
Portion costing between £500,001 and £925,000: 8%
Portion costing between £925,001 and £1,500,000: 13%
Portion costing over £1,500,000: 15%
So if you’re buying a home for £1 million, you’ll pay:
3% of £500,000 = £15,000
8% of £425,000 = £34,000
13% of £75,000 = £9,750
TOTAL: £58,750
How and when do I pay stamp duty?
Your stamp duty bill is due no more than 30 days after you complete the purchase of a property. Your conveyancer will usually send your stamp duty payment to HMRC on your behalf on completion day.
It is sometimes possible to borrow more from your mortgage lender to fund your stamp duty bill. However, this should be avoided as it means you’ll be paying interest on it for the entirety of your mortgage term.
There is a small list of cases where you’ll be exempt from stamp duty, including with inherited properties, zero-carbon home purchases under £500,000, some Right To Buy transactions and charity purchases. The full list is available on theHMRC website.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Matthew Boyle is a banking and mortgages publisher at Finder. He has a 7-year history of publishing helpful guides to assist consumers in making better decisions. In his spare time, you will find him walking in the Norfolk countryside admiring the local wildlife. See full bio
Matthew's expertise
Matthew has written 284 Finder guides across topics including:
Helping first-time buyers apply for a mortgage
Comparing bank accounts and highlighting useful features
How do property prices in the UK compare to the rest of the world? We estimated the cost of a city centre 2-bed flat in 106 countries to find out.
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Advertiser disclosure
Finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Finder receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. Finder compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
