Reclaiming the second-home stamp duty surcharge
If you paid the higher rates because you had not yet sold your previous main home, you can reclaim them once you sell it, provided the sale happens within 3 years of the new purchase and the new home became your main residence. The amount is the higher-rate part of the bill, which is 5 percentage points of the price. Rates in force from 1 April 2025, checked 12 September 2026.
What you can reclaim
Put in the price you paid for the new property. The headline figure is the higher-rate part of the bill, which comes back once your previous main residence sells.
Selling the home you live in as part of this purchase removes the higher rates.
Reclaimable higher-rate part
£20,000
Part of the £30,000 stamp duty paid on this purchase
- Purchase price
- £400,000
- Stamp duty (additional property)
- £30,000
- Of which higher rates
- £20,000
- Total to find
- £430,000
The reclaimable amount at every price
What you paid with the higher rates, what a home mover would have paid, and the difference that comes back.
| Purchase price | Paid with higher rates | Home mover | Reclaimable |
|---|---|---|---|
| £40,000 | £2,000 | £0 | £2,000 |
| £125,000 | £6,250 | £0 | £6,250 |
| £250,000 | £15,000 | £2,500 | £12,500 |
| £300,000 | £20,000 | £5,000 | £15,000 |
| £400,000 | £30,000 | £10,000 | £20,000 |
| £500,000 | £40,000 | £15,000 | £25,000 |
| £925,000 | £82,500 | £36,250 | £46,250 |
| £1,500,000 | £168,750 | £93,750 | £75,000 |
Making the claim
Who is owed a refund
The common case is buying before selling. You completed on the new home while you still owned the old one, so the higher rates applied, and then the old home sold. Once that sale happens the higher-rate part of the bill comes back.
- You paid the higher rates on the new purchase.
- The new property became your only or main residence.
- You have sold or given away your previous main residence.
- That sale happened within 3 years of buying the new property, or later where exceptional circumstances outside your control delayed it.
How much comes back
The refund is the higher-rate part of the bill: the difference between what you paid and what the ordinary rates would have been on the same price. Because the charge is 5 percentage points on every band, that difference is a fixed share of the purchase price. Put your price into the calculator above and the reclaimable figure is the headline number.
The ordinary stamp duty on the purchase is not refundable. Only the surcharge is.
The deadline, which is the part people miss
The claim has to reach HMRC by the later of two dates: 12 months after the sale of your previous main residence, or 12 months after the filing date of the stamp duty return on the new home. For a sale on or before 28 October 2018 the first of those is 3 months rather than 12.
Nothing about this is automatic. HMRC does not notice that your old home has sold and send the money back, and a conveyancer who has finished the purchase is usually no longer acting for you. Somebody has to make the claim, and in practice that somebody is you.
How to claim
The claim goes in online or by post using HMRC's repayment form. Have the stamp duty return's Unique Transaction Reference Number, the completion date and the amount paid on the new property, the address and sale date of the old one, and the bank details for the repayment.
If you are claiming outside the 3-year window on exceptional circumstances, the claim has to explain what prevented the sale; HMRC decides each of those on its facts.
Where to go next
- First-time buyers
The relief, the cliff edge and who counts as a first-time buyer.
- Second home and buy-to-let
The higher rates, the floor and when they do not apply.
- Reclaiming the surcharge
What comes back when you sell the old home, and by when.
- All stamp duty rates
The bands, the thresholds and every price page in one place.
- Full stamp duty calculator
Any price, with the band breakdown and the worked detail.
- Rental income calculator
What a rental property earns you after tax.
- Capital gains calculator
The tax when you sell a property that is not your main home.
Refund questions
Who can reclaim the higher rates?
Someone who paid them because they still owned their previous main home on the day of completion, and then sold or gave that home away within 3 years of buying the new one. The new property has to have become your main residence. A sale delayed beyond 3 years by exceptional circumstances outside your control can still qualify.
How much comes back?
The whole higher-rate part of the bill: the difference between what you paid and what the ordinary rates would have been, which is 5 percentage points of the price. Work out your own figure with the calculator on this page.
What is the deadline to claim?
The later of 12 months after the sale of the old home and 12 months after the filing date of the return on the new one. Nothing is automatic: if nobody makes the claim, HMRC keeps the money. See "Apply for a refund of the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax" on GOV.UK for the form and the reference numbers it asks for.
Does this cover Scotland and Wales?
No. These are Stamp Duty Land Tax rules, which apply in England and Northern Ireland only. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, both with their own bands and their own additional-property charge.
Where these figures come from
SDLT rates in force from 1 April 2025, checked against GOV.UK on 12 September 2026.
These figures are estimates for a straightforward residential purchase, and your own circumstances decide the final bill. Your conveyancer files the return, and GOV.UK publishes the official rates and calculator.