First-time buyers can now take advantage of a permanent exemption from stamp duty land tax (SDLT) when purchasing a property which they intend to occupy as their main home.
The exemption removes the SDLT charge for the first £300,000 of the purchase price, for deals completed on and after 22 November 2017. If the purchase price is more than £500,000 the exemption doesn’t apply and the normal SDLT rates will be charged.
All the buyers must qualify as first-time buyers, so none of them can have owned a residential property or any interest in a home, located anywhere in the world. Parents who help their children fund the purchase of a property must not let their names be included on the deeds, as that will block the SDLT exemption if the funding parent has previously owned a home.
This exemption doesn’t apply to properties in Scotland, which are subject to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. It will only apply to purchases of homes in Wales until 31 March 2018, as the Welsh Land Transaction Tax applies from 1 April 2018.
