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First-time buyers
What a first-time buyer actually pays
The stamp duty reliefs across the three nations, and the parts of the bill that are the same for everyone.
Being a first-time buyer changes exactly one line of the bill: the tax. The stamp duty a first-time buyer pays is lower, and up to a threshold sometimes nothing at all. Every other cost, the legal fee, the searches and the Land Registry fee, is the same as it is for any other buyer. So an honest first-time buyer guide is short: here is the relief, nation by nation, and here is what it does not change.
England and Northern Ireland
No SDLT up to £300,000, then 5% from £300,001 to £500,000, and no relief at all above £500,000. If this is the first home for everyone buying it, you pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the slice between £300,001 and £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief does not shrink, it disappears, and you are back on the ordinary rates from the first pound over. If one of you has owned a home before, nobody gets the relief.
Scotland
Nil-rate band raised to £175,000, worth up to £600. Scotland's first-time buyer relief lifts the nil-rate band to £175,000, which Revenue Scotland says is worth up to £600. That is real money and it is also a good deal less than the English relief. Two different taxes, two different reliefs, and no reason to expect them to match.
Wales
Wales has no first-time buyer relief. It does not need one in the same way, because its starting threshold is the highest of the three at £225,000, so a first home under that pays nothing anyway. If a national guide tells you to claim first-time buyer relief on a Welsh purchase, it was written for England and nobody checked.
The bands for all three nations, with a calculator that works the relief out in your browser and collects nothing, are on the stamp duty page.
What being a first-time buyer does not change
The rest of the bill is the same for a first-time buyer as for anyone. There is no first-time buyer discount on the legal fee, the searches or the Land Registry fee.
- The legal fee. A firm charges a first-time buyer the same as any other buyer. The published fees, side by side, are on the firms comparison page.
- The searches. The local authority search is priced by the council, not by whether you have bought before, and it is the same postcode lottery for everyone. The council-by-council table is on the local authority search page.
- The Land Registry fee. Set by an order of Parliament and the same at every firm, on the Land Registry fees page.
See the whole bill
Put together, a first-time purchase is the relief above plus the same legal fee, searches and Land Registry fee as any other buyer. The full breakdown, every figure sourced, is on the conveyancing fees page.
Questions people ask
How much stamp duty does a first-time buyer pay?
It depends on the nation and the price. England and Northern Ireland give first-time buyers a raised nil-rate band up to a cap, Scotland gives a smaller relief, and Wales gives none but starts its ordinary threshold higher instead. The stamp duty page has the exact bands and a calculator that works it out.
Do first-time buyers get cheaper conveyancing?
No. The legal fee, the searches and the Land Registry fee are the same for a first-time buyer as for anyone else. Only the tax is lower, through first-time buyer relief where it applies.
Who counts as a first-time buyer?
Broadly, someone who has never owned a home anywhere before, and everyone buying the property together has to qualify. If one person buying has owned a home before, the relief is usually lost for the whole purchase. Check the current rules on the revenue body's own page before you rely on it.