Non-UK resident stamp duty: the 2% SDLT surcharge explained
Non-UK resident SDLT surcharge
HMRC says a 2% SDLT surcharge can apply when a non-UK resident buys residential property in England or Northern Ireland. It is separate from nationality and immigration status.
- For individuals, count UK days in the 12 months before the relevant date.
- Joint buyers, companies and trusts have special rules.
- Keep travel and property records that support the SDLT return.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
Non-UK resident stamp duty: the 2% SDLT surcharge explained
If you buy a home in England or Northern Ireland and do not meet the SDLT UK-residence test, stamp duty can be 2 percentage points higher. This is the non-UK resident surcharge. It can apply even if this will be your only home.
What this rule is about
Stamp Duty Land Tax, usually called stamp duty or SDLT, applies to land and property purchases in England and Northern Ireland. Since 1 April 2021, there has been an extra rate for some home purchases by people and businesses treated as non-UK resident.
This is not an immigration test. Your passport, nationality, visa and right to live in the UK do not decide it. The test looks instead at the type of buyer and, for an individual, days spent in the UK.
That sounds simple. It can change the bill by a large amount.
The law adds 2 percentage points to each relevant residential SDLT rate for a non-resident transaction. It can also increase SDLT on the rent under a new residential lease.
What the official source says
HMRC says the surcharge applies to a non-resident transaction involving residential property in England or Northern Ireland. It applies whether you are buying freehold ownership, a qualifying leasehold interest, or a share of one.
- A freehold home must cost at least £40,000 for the source’s stated rule to apply.
- For a leasehold home, the premium must be at least £40,000 or the relevant rent at least £1,000.
- A lease with seven years or less left to run when granted is outside this rule.
- The test applies even if you plan to live in the property.
- It also applies whether or not you own another home.
- The home’s garden, grounds and buildings such as a detached garage can be included with it.
- Land or a building bought without the home itself does not fall within that part of the guidance.
HMRC says that wholly non-residential property, and property that is mixed residential and non-residential, falls outside this surcharge under its guidance. That includes a shop with a flat above it. The source notes a different result where multiple dwellings relief is claimed.
Scotland and Wales have their own land taxes. This SDLT surcharge does not apply to property bought there.
What this means in practice
Start with the property. Then work out who is buying it. Finally, apply the SDLT residence test that fits that buyer. Do not use a visa status as a shortcut.
For an individual, HMRC says you are non-UK resident for this purpose if you were in the UK for fewer than 183 days in the 12 months before the effective date. A day counts if you are in the UK at the end of that day.
- Days anywhere in the UK count, not only days in England or Northern Ireland.
- The relevant date will usually be completion day.
- Sometimes it is earlier, where the contract has been substantially performed before completion.
- Substantial performance is a technical term. It can include taking possession or paying most of the price before the legal transfer completes.
- If any joint buyer is non-UK resident, HMRC says all joint buyers are normally treated that way.
- If married or civil partners buy together and are living together, HMRC says one UK-resident partner can make both UK resident for this test.
Companies follow a different route: HMRC treats a company as non-UK resident where it is not UK resident for corporation tax on the relevant date. The relevant date matters. Some UK-resident close companies controlled by non-UK residents can also be treated as non-UK resident.
Partnerships and trusts need care. HMRC says partners buying for a partnership are treated as joint buyers. For many trusts, the trustees’ status matters. For a bare trust, or a trust where a beneficiary has specified life or income rights, the beneficiary’s status is used instead.
How to analyse it
Work through the questions in this order. Skipping the first two is a common mistake.
- Is the property in England or Northern Ireland?
- Is it residential property, rather than wholly non-residential or mixed property?
- What exactly is being bought: freehold, leasehold, a share, or land without a home?
- Does the price or, for a lease, the premium or rent meet the source’s stated limits?
- What is the effective date: completion, or an earlier date because the contract was substantially performed?
- Who are all the buyers?
- For each individual, how many days were spent in the UK during the 12 months before that date?
- Are two buyers married or civil partners, buying together and living together?
- Is a company, partnership, trust, collective scheme or finance arrangement involved?
- Does a stated exclusion, transitional rule or relief apply?
Count the days before you submit the SDLT return. HMRC may ask for proof later. A rough estimate is a poor basis for a tax return.
The normal filing deadline is 14 days after the effective date. The return includes an assessment of the tax due.
Example
Tunde buys a freehold home in England on 1 June 2025 for £800,000. During the 12 months from 2 June 2024 to 1 June 2025, he spent 200 days in the UK, putting him above the 183-day threshold. HMRC’s published example treats Tunde as UK resident for this SDLT test.
Change one fact: if Tunde had spent 182 days in the UK during the 12 months before the effective date, he would not meet that individual test. He would fall short. Assuming the other conditions applied, the 2% non-UK resident surcharge would be added to the relevant SDLT rates.
What if Tunde is buying with someone else? The answer may change again. HMRC says a non-UK resident joint buyer can bring the whole purchase within the surcharge, unless a special spouse or civil partner rule applies.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Most disputes start with records, not arithmetic. Buyers may know they travelled often but lack a reliable count of days. Because HMRC asks where you were at the end of the day, a trip crossing midnight can affect the result even where travel began earlier that day. Timing matters.
You might think a UK passport settles it. It does not.
Property classification can also matter. A property with farmland, a workshop, a shop, a let building or separate land may be wholly residential, mixed, or non-residential. The answer turns on the interest bought and the facts at the time.
- Sales particulars may describe land as part of a home, but title plans can show separate parcels and rights.
- Council tax and business rates are useful evidence, not a final answer by themselves.
- A later lease, licence or business use may not show what was bought on completion.
- For a company, ownership and control records may matter as much as its registered office.
- For a trust, read the trust deed rather than relying on its informal name.
- For a refund, every buyer must meet HMRC’s stated conditions where there is more than one buyer.
HMRC says an individual may be able to obtain a refund after buying. They must be present in the UK for at least 183 days in a continuous 365-day period within the stated two-year window around the effective date. Once that condition is met, the claim is made by amending the SDLT return within two years after that date. The deadline still applies.
Keep the evidence as you go. Rebuilding a travel history two years later is much harder.
Key takeaways
- The surcharge is 2 percentage points on top of relevant residential SDLT rates.
- Your nationality, visa and immigration status do not decide this SDLT test.
- For individuals, the published test focuses on 183 UK days in the prior 12 months.
- One joint buyer can affect the SDLT result for everybody buying.
- Check the property type, buyer type, dates and records before filing.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- FA 2003 section 55 — residential and non-residential SDLT rate tables
- FA 2003 section 75ZA — adds two percentage points for non-resident transactions
- FA 2003 section 76 — fourteen-day deadline for an SDLT return
- FA 2003 section 116 — what counts as residential and non-residential property
- FA 2003 section 119 — the date used for an SDLT transaction
- FA 2003 Schedule 5 para 2 — rent rates for residential lease transactions
Official guidance
The pages below are HMRC’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how HMRC reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. HMRC can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- The supplied statutory library does not contain the text of Finance Act 2003 Schedule 9A, which sets out the detailed non-resident transaction rules. The detailed buyer tests in this article therefore reflect HMRC’s official guidance and need primary-law verification before publication.
- Whether land is wholly residential or mixed can depend on the property and rights bought at completion. Labels in sales particulars or tax records do not settle it.
- The official source includes examples with dates after the currency date of most supplied statutory materials. Current law must be checked for a transaction after 17 November 2025.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- A dated travel diary, passport records and booking confirmations — where each individual buyer was at the end of each day
- Bank and credit-card statements — day-by-day spending that may support presence in the UK
- Work calendars, timesheets, rotas and employer records — where a buyer worked and whether Crown employment rules may matter
- Mobile-phone bills and usage records — evidence pointing to a buyer’s location on particular days
- The signed contract, transfer or lease and completion statement — the property bought, the price and the relevant transaction date
- Land Registry title registers and filed plans for every parcel — whether the sale included separate land, rights, gardens or buildings
- Planning history, council tax records and business-rates records — how each part of the property was described and used around completion
- Dated sales particulars, photographs, surveys and aerial images — the physical extent and character of the property at the time of purchase
- Company accounts, ownership records and control documents — whether a corporate buyer may be controlled by non-UK residents
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), which applies in England and Northern Ireland. MY QUESTION Non-UK resident stamp duty: the 2% SDLT surcharge explained [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - FA 2003 section 55 - residential and non-residential SDLT rate tables https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/55/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 75ZA - adds two percentage points for non-resident transactions https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/75ZA/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 76 - fourteen-day deadline for an SDLT return https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/76/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 116 - what counts as residential and non-residential property https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/116/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 119 - the date used for an SDLT transaction https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/119/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 5 para 2 - rent rates for residential lease transactions https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/5/paragraph/2/2025-11-17 Guidance page from HMRC on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-stamp-duty-land-tax-for-non-uk-residents HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from HMRC is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - The supplied statutory library does not contain the text of Finance Act 2003 Schedule 9A, which sets out the detailed non-resident transaction rules. The detailed buyer tests in this article therefore reflect HMRC's official guidance and need primary-law verification before publication. - Whether land is wholly residential or mixed can depend on the property and rights bought at completion. Labels in sales particulars or tax records do not settle it. - The official source includes examples with dates after the currency date of most supplied statutory materials. Current law must be checked for a transaction after 17 November 2025. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show Finance Act 2003 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 31 August 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Non-UK resident stamp duty: the 2% SDLT surcharge explained
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