Stamp Duty Calculator — Second Homes & Buy-to-Let (2026)
England's 5% surcharge (+2% non-resident), Scotland's 8% ADS and Wales's separate higher-rate table — all three systems, verified against the primary sources.
Purchase tax, estimated
Rates verified 29 Aug 2026 against gov.uk, revenue.scot and gov.wales (both Welsh tables read verbatim). Assumes freehold residential purchase. Not advice.
Three nations, three systems — one honest calculator
“Stamp duty on a second home” means a different computation depending on where the property sits, and most calculators quietly do England only:
- England & NI (SDLT): standard bands (0% to £125k, then 2/5/10/12%) plus a flat 5% surcharge on every band for additional dwellings over £40,000 — raised from 3% on 31 Oct 2024. Non-UK residents add a further 2%, and yes, the two stack: an overseas buy-to-let buyer pays +7% over standard.
- Scotland (LBTT): its own bands (0% to £145k, then 2/5/10/12%) plus the Additional Dwelling Supplement at 8% of the whole price — not banded — since 5 Dec 2024, confirmed unchanged for 2026/27. Scotland’s surcharge is the UK’s harshest.
- Wales (LTT): no surcharge at all — instead an entirely separate higher-rates band table starting at 5% from the first pound (5/8.5/10/12.5/15/17% since 11 Dec 2024). Wales also has no first-time-buyer relief.
The rules around the rates
- “Replacing your main home” escapes the surcharge — and if you pay it because the old home hasn’t sold yet, selling within 36 months claims it back (England & Scotland both run 36-month windows).
- The £40,000 de-minimis means surcharges don’t touch genuinely cheap purchases — relevant for parking spaces and the odd auction lot, not much else.
- First-time-buyer relief dies on contact with a rental purchase — it requires intending to live there, and owning any other residential property anywhere in the world kills it.
- Companies: a company buying residential over £500,000 faces the flat 17% higher rate (with relief back to normal+5% for genuine rental businesses) — a different regime this calculator deliberately doesn’t model; take advice before buying through a company.
gov.uk SDLT residential rates · gov.uk non-resident surcharge guidance · revenue.scot LBTT + ADS pages · gov.wales LTT rates (both tables read verbatim). Checked 29 Aug 2026.
Asked constantly
England & NI: standard SDLT bands plus a flat 5% surcharge on the whole price (e.g. £14,500 total on a £250,000 buy-to-let — a 5.8% effective rate). Scotland: LBTT plus 8% ADS on the full price. Wales: the separate higher-rates table, 5% from the first pound rising to 17%. The calculator shows the band-by-band breakdown.
In England & NI, yes: a 2% non-resident surcharge (under 183 days in the UK in the 12 months before completion) — and it stacks with the 5% additional-property surcharge, so a non-resident landlord pays +7% over the standard bands. Scotland and Wales have no equivalent non-resident surcharge in their systems.
If you paid it only because you bought your new main home before selling the old one — yes: sell the old main residence within 36 months and reclaim. Pure buy-to-let purchases have nothing to reclaim; the surcharge is the price of the second property.
Not against income — but don't lose it: SDLT/LBTT/LTT joins your capital cost base and reduces the capital gain when you eventually sell. Keep the completion statement with your CGT records, not your expenses file.