By A landlord asked us this week: "I've decided to buy in the North East, what's this surcharge going to cost me?" On a typical £150,000 purchase, £8,000, and it catches out first time landlords more than any other cost in the whole transaction.
Buying an additional property means paying a 5% surcharge on top of standard stamp duty, and that 5% applies to the entire purchase price, not just the amount above the standard threshold.
How the surcharge actually works
Standard stamp duty in England is charged in bands: 0% up to £125,000, 2% from £125,001 to £250,000, 5% from £250,001 to £925,000, then higher still above that. If you're buying an additional property, whether that's a second home or a buy-to-let, you pay an extra 5% surcharge on the whole price, from the very first pound. It was raised from 3% to 5% in October 2024, and it applies whether you're a first-time landlord or adding your tenth property.
A worked example
Take a typical Newcastle buy-to-let, bought for £150,000:
| £150,000 additional property purchase | |
|---|---|
| Standard SDLT (0% to £125k, 2% above) | £500 |
| 5% additional property surcharge | £7,500 |
| Total stamp duty due | £8,000 |
£8,000 on top of the purchase price, before legal fees, survey costs, or a single pound of refurbishment.
The bottom line
Factor this in at the offer stage, not after the mortgage is agreed, since it changes what a deal actually needs to return to make sense. It's exactly the kind of number we run for every landlord before they commit to a purchase.
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