Buying a second home or buy-to-let means an extra stamp duty surcharge, but it is often calculated wrongly, and refunds are frequently missed. We make sure your SDLT is right and reclaim anything you are owed.
Second-Home Stamp Duty
When you buy an additional residential property, a second home, a buy-to-let, or a new main home before selling your old one, you pay a Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge on top of the standard rates. The surcharge is significant, and the rules around what counts as an additional property, and when you can reclaim it, are widely misunderstood.
Your Tax Help Accountants checks that your stamp duty was calculated correctly, identifies where reliefs apply, and, crucially, reclaims the surcharge where you were replacing your main residence and have since sold the old one, a refund many buyers never claim within the time limit. We make sure you neither overpay nor miss what you are owed.
If you paid the surcharge because you bought your new main home before selling the old one, you can usually reclaim it once the old home sells, but only within a strict time limit. Many people simply never claim it back.
The Detail That Matters
Buying an additional residential property usually means paying a Stamp Duty surcharge on top of the standard rates, which can add thousands. But there are exceptions, reliefs and refund routes that are frequently missed, and getting the calculation right matters.
A surcharge (5% in England from late 2024) applies on top of standard Stamp Duty Land Tax rates when you buy an additional residential property, a second home or buy-to-let, and it applies to the whole price, not just the top slice.
If you are replacing your main residence, the surcharge should not apply, even if there is a brief overlap owning two homes. Where it is charged on a replacement, a refund can usually be claimed within set time limits.
Sell your previous main home within 36 months of buying the new one and you can reclaim the surcharge. Multiple-dwellings and mixed-use treatments, and purchases of certain low-value or non-residential property, can also reduce the charge.
Conveyancers sometimes apply the surcharge incorrectly, or miss a relief, so overpayments are common. We check the SDLT position before completion, and review recent purchases for reclaimable overpayments.
The commonest, and most expensive, errors are the surcharge being charged when you were simply replacing your main home, and missing the 36-month window to reclaim it after selling the old one.
Key Figures
How We Help
We check your Stamp Duty calculation, including the surcharge and any multiple-dwellings or mixed-use reliefs, so you pay the correct amount, not a penny more.
If you paid the surcharge replacing a main home and have since sold the old one, we reclaim it from HMRC within the time limit, a refund many buyers miss.
Annexes, mixed-use property, first-time buyer relief and other situations can change the SDLT significantly. We identify where a relief applies to you.
All the forms, calculations and correspondence handled on your behalf, so you never have to decode HMRC's rules or sit on hold.
A clear fixed fee quoted after a free call, your position explained in plain English, and never a surprise bill.
We act quickly, and where earlier years are involved we put those right too, reclaiming refunds or minimising penalties.
Stamp duty is often overpaid, through the surcharge being applied when it should not be, reliefs being missed, or refunds never claimed after replacing a main home. The amounts are large and the time limits strict. We check your position and reclaim what you are owed.
Recent Client Outcome
A client bought a new main home before selling their old one, and the conveyancer applied the 5% surcharge on the full £450,000 price, over £22,000 extra.
What we did. We confirmed the purchase was a replacement of their main residence, and once the old home sold within the 36-month window, prepared and submitted the surcharge refund claim to HMRC.
The outcome. The full surcharge of over £22,000 was refunded, as it should never have been a permanent charge on a genuine main-home replacement.
Knowing the replacement rules and the refund window recovered a very large sum that would otherwise have been lost.
Why People Come to Us
Questions Answered
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