If you are a first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland, you pay no stamp duty on the first £300,000 of the price and 5% on the part from £300,001 to £500,000. A £400,000 first home costs £5,000 in stamp duty. Above £500,000 the relief disappears completely, and you pay standard rates on the whole price.
Here is how the bill is built, band by band, with the numbers for the prices first-time buyers actually pay — and the one price line worth negotiating around.
How is stamp duty worked out?
Stamp duty — Stamp Duty Land Tax, or SDLT — is charged in bands, like income tax. Each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside its band, never to the whole price.
So a 5% band does not mean 5% of what you paid. It means 5% of the part of the price that falls in that band.
stamp duty = (slice in band 1 × rate 1) + (slice in band 2 × rate 2) + …These are the rates in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales have their own taxes with different bands: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax.
What are the first-time buyer rates?
| Portion of the price | First-time buyer rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £300,000 | 0% |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | 5% |
| Price over £500,000 | No relief — standard rates on the whole price |
You qualify if you, and everyone you are buying with, are first-time buyers, and you intend to live in the property as your main home.
For comparison, the standard rates — what anyone who has owned a home before pays — start charging much earlier: 0% up to £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000, 5% up to £925,000, then 10% and 12% above that.
A worked example: a £400,000 first home
- The first £300,000 is taxed at 0% = £0.
- The remaining £100,000 is taxed at 5% = £5,000.
- Total stamp duty: £5,000 — an effective rate of 1.25% of the price.
A buyer who has owned a home before would pay £10,000 on the same house: £0 on the first £125,000, £2,500 on the next £125,000 and £7,500 on the last £150,000. So the relief saves you £5,000.
How much does relief save at each price?
| Price | First-time buyer | Standard rates | Relief saves |
|---|---|---|---|
| £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,500 | £5,000 |
| £400,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £5,000 |
| £450,000 | £7,500 | £12,500 | £5,000 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £15,000 | £5,000 |
From £300,000 to £500,000 the saving is a flat £5,000 — it never grows beyond that, however close to the limit you buy.
Check your own price
The calculator below works out the bill band by band. It opens on a £300,000 home bought by someone moving home, which is £5,000 — switch the buyer type to First-time buyer and the same price drops to £0. Then type in the price you are looking at.
Uses 2026–27 rates, last reviewed 30 August 2026.
- First £125,000 at 0%
- £0
- Next £125,000 at 2%
- £2,500
- Next £50,000 at 5%
- £2,500
- Total SDLT
- £5,000
- Effective rate
- 1.67%
- Rate basis
- Standard residential rates
- Note
- Standard residential rates apply to this purchase.
Why is £500,000 a cliff edge?
Because the relief is all-or-nothing. At £500,000 you pay £10,000. At £500,001 you lose the relief on the whole price and pay standard rates: £15,000.05. One extra pound on the price costs about £5,000 in tax.
Stamp duty is charged on what GOV.UK calls the consideration — usually just the price, but it can include other payments for the property, such as goods or works. If anything besides the price is changing hands, ask your conveyancer what counts towards the £500,000.
Who counts as a first-time buyer?
You count only if everyone on the purchase is buying their first home and will live in it as their main residence.
- Buying alone and you have never owned a home? You qualify.
- Buying with a partner who has owned a home before? Neither of you gets the relief — the purchase is taxed at standard rates.
- Your co-buyer will still own another home after completion? The purchase can be charged at the higher rates for additional properties, which add 5 percentage points to every standard band.
- Buying to let it out, not to live in? No relief, because it will not be your main residence.
When and how is stamp duty paid?
It is due within 14 days of completion. In practice your solicitor or conveyancer files the SDLT return and pays the tax on completion day, then adds it to their bill — so it needs to be in your budget alongside the deposit, not after it.
A return is needed to claim first-time buyer relief even when there is nothing to pay, so expect your conveyancer to file one on a £250,000 purchase too.
What to do next
Put your target price into the stamp duty calculator with First-time buyer selected, and add the result to your moving costs. Then check how much you could borrow with the UK mortgage affordability calculator, and what the monthly payment would be with the mortgage repayment calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Do first-time buyers pay stamp duty?
How much stamp duty will I pay on a £400,000 house as a first-time buyer?
What happens if the house costs more than £500,000?
Can I get first-time buyer relief if I buy with someone who has owned a home?
When do I pay stamp duty?
Sources: GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax residential property rates, GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax overview, HMRC: Stamp Duty Land Tax relief for land or property transactions.
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