Updated September 2022.
When you are buying a house in the UK, you need to pay Stamp Duty on the purchase price of the house. This amount is paid to HMRC when the purchase goes through (or shortly afterwards) and is calculated on the price that you pay for the house.
So let’s say you are buying a house and you are checking out the costs involved and you want to know how much stamp duty you need to pay for a £150,000 house.
Main residence
There are two different scenarios here. Firstly there is a straightforward cost when the house is your main residence. For a house or property worth £150,000 the amount of stamp duty you need to pay after September 2022 is nil. This is because the starting point for stamp duty was changed to £250,000 in September 2022. previously you would have paid £500.
Second Property
However, if you already own a property and this is your second property (and you are not replacing your main residence), then you will need to pay a premium of 3% of the total purchase price. This means that for a second (or subsequent) property purchase you will need to pay £4,500.
This large difference is because for main property purchases you only pay stamp duty on the portion of the purchase price over £250,000. But for a second property you pay 3% on the whole purchase price – i.e. 3% of £150,000 which is £4,500.
So as you can see, there is a significant difference in Stamp Duty costs between a first/main property and second property purchase at this level.
Other Factors
If you are a first time buyer then you may be entitled to a reduced (or zero) rate of stamp duty on your property purchase – you can find details of that here.