2% Stamp Duty Land Tax Surcharge For Non-Residents

Published: 01/04/2021

From today, 1 April 2021, non-residents purchasing residential property in the UK will pay different rates of SDLT to UK residents. Non-residents will be subject to a 2% surcharge on each SDLT rate band for purchases of freehold and leasehold residential property.

The government’s website states that you are treated as non-UK resident for the purposes of SDLT if you are not present in the UK for 183 days or more during the 12 months before your purchase.

The surcharge will also apply to certain UK resident companies which are controlled by non-UK residents.

Transitional rules provide that the surcharge does not apply where a purchase contract has been:

    • “substantially performed” (in effect, completed) before 1 April 2021

    • entered into before 11 March 2020.

Please note that the 3% surcharge payable by any purchaser who already owns a property, whether in the UK or elsewhere in the world, will apply in addition to this new 2% surcharge.

If you purchase a property for a price exceeding £1.5m, your top rate of SDLT (on any amount over £1.5m) could be as much as 17% if at completion you will own more than one property anywhere in the world.