Stamp duty refund: eligibility and estimator
Sold your old home after paying the higher rates on a new one? See whether you qualify and roughly what comes back, then claim it free, direct.
Rates taken from the official source and last checked on 14 September 2026.
Who actually gets a refund
One situation produces nearly all legitimate stamp duty refunds: you bought a new main home before selling the old one, paid the higher rates on the overlap, and then sold the old home within the time limit. Sell in time and the surcharge element comes back in full.
The windows differ by nation and each has its own conditions, verified against the tax authorities' own guidance on the dates shown below:
- England and Northern Ireland: sell within 3 years of buying the new home, then claim within 12 months of the sale (or of the new home's SDLT return filing date, whichever is later). An extension exists where exceptional circumstances beyond your control prevented the sale.
- Scotland: sell within 36 months for purchases from 1 April 2024 (18 months for earlier ones), and at least one buyer must have lived in the new property as their only or main residence.
- Wales: sell within 3 years; the WRA allows longer in certain situations set out in its technical guidance.
What comes back
The difference between the higher-rate bill you paid and the standard bill on the same purchase. In England, Northern Ireland and Scotland that nets out to the flat surcharge on the whole price; in Wales the higher rates are a separate table, so the difference has to be computed properly, which the estimator above does. On a £300,000 purchase the refund is £15,000 in England or Northern Ireland, £24,000 in Scotland, and £15,450 in Wales.
You do not need a claims company
Claiming is free, on a form, direct with the tax authority: HMRC for England and Northern Ireland, Revenue Scotland for ADS, the WRA for Wales. Companies offering to "unlock" stamp duty refunds for a cut of 30% or more mostly file the same free form, and the aggressive end of that industry files speculative claims (uninhabitable property, mixed use) that HMRC later reverses, leaving you repaying the refund with interest after the company's fee is long gone. The Chartered Institute of Taxation has been warning about exactly this. If you are eligible, claim it yourself and keep all of it.
Related
Facing the surcharge now rather than reclaiming it? The second home calculator shows the bill, and the main calculator handles every nation and situation together.
Common questions
Am I entitled to a stamp duty refund?
Most likely if you paid the higher rates when buying a new main home while still owning the old one, and have now sold the old one within the window: 3 years in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, 36 months in Scotland. Outside that situation, genuine refunds are rare and usually involve an error in the original return.
What is the 3 year rule?
Sell your previous main residence within 3 years of completing on the new one and the higher rates you paid on the overlap become reclaimable. Miss the window and the surcharge stays paid, unless exceptional circumstances outside your control prevented the sale.
How long does the refund take?
The tax authorities aim to process straightforward claims within a few weeks of a complete application. The claim itself is a short form with the details of both transactions; the conveyancer's completion statements carry everything it asks for.
Can I claim if I sold my second home?
Selling a second home does not by itself create a refund: the surcharge you paid when you bought it was correctly charged. The refund exists for the overlap case, where the property you sold was your previous main residence and the surcharge was paid on your new main home.