How much stamp duty will I actually pay?

On £500,000 as an overseas buyer of an additional dwelling: £15,000 standard, plus £10,000 non-resident surcharge, plus £25,000 additional-dwelling surcharge. The surcharges apply to the whole price, not a slice.

Do I need a solicitor or a notary?

A solicitor or licensed conveyancer. England has no continental notaire; the Land Registry entry, not a deed reading, is what completes the transfer.

United Kingdom · GBP

Buyin London

An offer in London binds nobody. Until exchange of contracts either side can walk, which is why gazumping is legal and why the survey and the searches happen before the celebration, not after.

Manchester Birmingham Edinburgh Glasgow Leeds

Land Registry path

Leasehold term checked

3D map

+2%non-resident SDLT surcharge in England

+5%additional-dwelling surcharge on the whole price

Exchangethe moment an offer becomes a contract

Leaseholdmost flats — term, ground rent, service charge

What a purchase really costs

£500,000 home in London

Stamp duty (slice bands) — SDLT: £15,000
Non-resident surcharge (+2%): £10,000
Legal, searches & Land Registry (≈0.4%): £2,000
Survey (≈0.2%): £1,000
Cash needed at completion: £528,000

≈ +5.6% over the price. Scotland is a different tax and a different contract: LBTT with 8% ADS, and missives that bind earlier than an English exchange. In England and Wales an offer binds nobody until exchange — gazumping is legal, which is why the survey and the searches come before the celebration. A second or additional dwelling adds 5% SDLT on the whole price.

Rentals run on rules

The let side, in three lines

A tenant deposit must sit in a government-approved protection scheme within 30 days — unprotected deposits cost the landlord up to three times the sum.
The Renters’ Rights Act ends assured shorthold fixed terms and section 21 no-fault eviction; possession now runs through stated statutory grounds.
An EPC of E or better is required to let, and a leasehold flat carries ground rent, service charge and a term that shortens every year.

Yield on a leasehold flat is service charge minus optimism. Read the last three years of accounts and the cladding/EWS1 file.

Cities

Six metros, two tax systems

England and Northern Ireland pay SDLT; Scotland pays LBTT on its own bands and binds at missives, not exchange. Edinburgh and London are not the same transaction with different weather.

SDLT is charged in slices: nothing to £125,000, then 2%, 5%, 10% and 12%. A non-resident buyer adds 2% on the whole price, and an additional dwelling adds a further 5%. On £500,000 the standard bill is £15,000 before either surcharge.

Most London flats are leasehold. The remaining term, the ground rent and the service charge decide the price as much as the postcode does, and below roughly eighty years an extension starts costing real money that grows every year you wait.

Since 2017 cladding and the EWS1 form have repriced whole buildings, and lenders treat the building safety pack as underwriting. Ask for it before the offer, not during the mortgage application.

FAQ

How much stamp duty will I actually pay?: On £500,000 as an overseas buyer of an additional dwelling: £15,000 standard, plus £10,000 non-resident surcharge, plus £25,000 additional-dwelling surcharge. The surcharges apply to the whole price, not a slice.
Do I need a solicitor or a notary?: A solicitor or licensed conveyancer. England has no continental notaire; the Land Registry entry, not a deed reading, is what completes the transfer.

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