When an employer buys your home after a job move: LTT relief
Employer relocation home-purchase relief
An employer may get full or partial Welsh LTT relief when buying an employee’s home after a qualifying job relocation.
- The employee must have used the home as a main home within two years.
- The move must mainly be to allow a reasonable commute to the new workplace.
- The price and land area must meet the statutory limits.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
When an employer buys your home after a job move: LTT relief
When an employer buys your home after a job move: LTT relief
An employer may not have to pay Land Transaction Tax when it buys an employee’s home following a job move. LTT is the Welsh version of stamp duty. Relief may remove LTT; every condition matters.
What this rule is about
A new or existing employer may agree to buy an employee’s old home. It helps employees move nearer to work. They may be unable to sell normally.
This relief applies only in that narrow situation. Job changes alone do not qualify. Nor does an employer’s agreement to buy the property.
Was a workable daily commute impossible without moving?
What the official source says
Where the sale is connected with a job relocation, Welsh Government’s technical guidance says relief can be available to an employer, including a future employer, when its purchase is linked to a new job. Legislation gives the full test.
- The employer must buy the employee’s home from that employee, alone or with other individual owners.
- The employee must have lived there as their only or main home at some point in the two years before the purchase.
- The job move must result from starting with a new employer, changed duties, or a changed normal workplace.
- The employee must move wholly or mainly to live within a reasonable daily travelling distance of the new workplace.
- The former home must not itself be within a reasonable daily travelling distance of that workplace.
- The price paid must not be more than the home’s market value.
- The land included must not exceed the permitted area if full relief is to apply.
That final commuting point is easy to miss. Focus on the employee’s former home, rather than on whether the employer could use the home.
What this means in practice
When every condition is met, the employer’s purchase receives relief from LTT. It must claim relief in its first LTT return, or in an amendment to that return.
A larger plot does not automatically lose the relief. Partial relief may be available instead. LTT can then still apply to part of the amount paid.
- Keep the job offer, relocation letter, or records of changed duties.
- Record the employee’s normal new workplace after the move.
- Keep evidence that the old home was their main home during the two-year period.
- Obtain evidence supporting the market value and agreed price.
- Check the title plan and the amount of garden or other land included.
How to analyse it
Consider the facts in order. Do not begin with the price or plot size. First consider the job move and the reason for moving.
- Who is buying the home: the current employer or a prospective employer?
- Did the employee live in the home as their main home within the last two years?
- What changed at work: employer, duties, or normal workplace?
- Where will the employee normally work after that change?
- Was the move made mainly to allow a reasonable daily commute?
- Could the employee reasonably have made that commute from their former home?
- Does the agreed price exceed market value?
- Does the land stay within the permitted area, or is partial relief needed?
Usually, the permitted area is up to 0.5 hectare, including the building. Extra land can count for reasonable enjoyment when the home’s size and character require it. Only the most suitable land counts.
Example
Illustration: Beth accepts a job in another part of Wales. Her new employer agrees to buy her current home for £275,000. A valuation supports that figure. Beth lived there as her main home last year, and the old home is not within a reasonable daily commute of her new normal workplace.
Her move is mainly to live near that workplace. If the land included is within the permitted area, the employer can claim full LTT relief. If the plot is too large, the employer may instead get partial relief on the part that falls within the permitted area.
Why this can be difficult in practice
No set number of miles or minutes decides a reasonable daily commute. A route suitable for one job may not suit another. Working patterns and the normal workplace matter.
Any job-related move might seem enough. It is not. The former home must be too far away for a reasonable daily trip, and the move must mainly be about getting closer to the new workplace.
- A change in job title alone may not show a real change in duties or workplace.
- Hybrid working may make it harder to identify the normal place of work.
- A price above market value prevents full relief.
- Extra fields, woodland, or land used separately may fall outside the permitted area.
- The official guidance uses the term property trader in its final partial-relief sentence, but the statutory employer rule applies to the employer.
Key takeaways
- This is an LTT relief for an employer buying an employee’s former main home after a genuine job relocation.
- The former home must not be within a reasonable daily commute of the employee’s new normal workplace.
- Check the price, land area, and evidence before the employer claims relief.
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
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 7 — relief when an employer buys an employee’s home; conditions for the employer relocation relief; partial relief where land exceeds the permitted area; prospective employers included within the employer definition
- LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 9 — meaning of a new place of employment; meaning and limits of the permitted area; meaning of relocation of employment; when a house move results from relocation
- LTTA 2017 section 30 — when relief must be claimed in a return
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority 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. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- Whether a journey is a reasonable daily commute depends on the employee’s real travel circumstances.
- Land above 0.5 hectare may still be within the permitted area where a larger area is needed for reasonable enjoyment of the home because of its size and character.
- The supplied statutory bundle has no stated consolidation date or currency notice, so the current text should be checked before publication.
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.
- Documents showing the job offer, changed duties or changed workplace
- Evidence of where the employee normally works after the move
- Evidence that the former home was an only or main home within two years
- Travel evidence showing why the former home is not a reasonable daily commute
- A market valuation supporting the price paid
- Plans or title documents showing the land included in the sale
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 Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION When an employer buys your home after a job move: LTT relief [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 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 7 - relief when an employer buys an employee’s home https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/7 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 7 - conditions for the employer relocation relief https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/7 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 7 - partial relief where land exceeds the permitted area https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/7 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 7 - prospective employers included within the employer definition https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/7 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 9 - meaning of a new place of employment https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/9 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 9 - meaning and limits of the permitted area https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/9 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 9 - meaning of relocation of employment https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/9 - LTTA 2017 Schedule 14 para 9 - when a house move results from relocation https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/schedule/14/paragraph/9 - LTTA 2017 section 30 - when relief must be claimed in a return https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/30 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-relief-certain-acquisitions-dwellings-technical-guidance#5790 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority 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 - Whether a journey is a reasonable daily commute depends on the employee’s real travel circumstances. - Land above 0.5 hectare may still be within the permitted area where a larger area is needed for reasonable enjoyment of the home because of its size and character. - The supplied statutory bundle has no stated consolidation date or currency notice, so the current text should be checked before publication. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 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 3 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: When an employer buys your home after a job move: LTT relief
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