SDLT is self-assessed at completion, usually in a hurry, often by someone who never saw the whole picture. When the figure is wrong, HMRC does not write to tell you — you have to claim it back, and the clock is already running.
Three questions. An honest indication of whether your purchase is worth reviewing — including when it isn't.
HMRC will not remind you. Once a deadline passes, an otherwise valid overpayment is simply gone. If you completed on a property in the last four years, it costs nothing to have the figure checked.
SDLT is deceptively complex. The rate depends on what you bought, its condition on the day of completion, what else you own, and where you live — and the return is filed within 14 days, long before anyone stops to think about it.
The additional-property surcharge is charged when you complete on the new place before the old one sells. Sell the previous main residence within three years and the surcharge is reclaimable — but only if you claim in time.
A building that was not suitable for use as a dwelling on the day of completion — no safe water, no working services, structural failure — may not attract residential rates at all. The bar is high and the evidence must be contemporaneous.
Paddocks with a grazing licence, a let commercial unit, agricultural land, a shop below the flat. Genuine mixed use is taxed at non-residential rates, which are markedly lower at the top end.
Purchases before 1 June 2024 may still qualify for Multiple Dwellings Relief, which was abolished for later transactions. Historic claims remain open inside the four-year window.
Carpets, curtains, free-standing furniture and appliances are not part of the land, so the money paid for them is not chargeable consideration. On a purchase in a 10% band, a genuine £50,000 of chattels is £5,000 of tax.
First-time buyer relief overlooked on a rushed return. The 2% non-resident surcharge paid by someone who has since met the SDLT residence test. Both are recoverable, each on its own deadline.
Two quick estimates, using the current residential SDLT bands for England and Northern Ireland. Your actual position depends on the facts and documents of the transaction — which is exactly what the free review looks at.
Stamp duty is charged on the consideration given for the land. Money properly attributable to genuine loose chattels is not part of that consideration — but the apportionment must be just and reasonable, reflect what the items were actually worth second-hand on the day, and be supported by an itemised schedule agreed between the parties.
Inflated or invented chattels figures are one of the things HMRC looks for hardest, and the buyer signs the return. We will help you make this claim where the items and the values are real and evidenced — and we will tell you when they are not.
No pressure, no obligation and no cost until there is a claim worth making.
A short call or form: the address, the completion date, the price, and what the property was actually like on the day. Ten minutes is usually enough.
We read the SDLT return, the contract, the completion statement and the searches, and set the facts against the legislation and current HMRC practice.
Either there is a claim we are prepared to put our name to, and we tell you the basis and the likely amount — or there isn't, and we tell you that instead. Free either way.
We prepare and submit the amendment or repayment claim with the supporting evidence, deal with any HMRC correspondence, and keep you updated until it concludes.
The SDLT refund market attracted a wave of unregulated introducers making aggressive claims on facts that did not support them. HMRC has responded with enquiries, clawbacks and penalties — and it is the buyer, not the agent, who signs the return and carries the liability.
That is the whole argument for using a qualified, regulated professional. A claim is worth making only if it would survive an enquiry. If yours would not, the most valuable thing we can do is tell you.
Qualified, regulated and bound by the ICAEW Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation.
Years of hands-on tax and property transaction work behind every file — not a template and a postcode lookup.
If the evidence does not support the position, we will not submit it. Turning work away is part of the service.
Written terms, a stated fee basis and no automatic renewals or hidden deductions from your refund.
It depends on the route. An SDLT return can generally be amended within 12 months of its filing date. Where that window has closed, an overpayment relief claim generally runs for four years from the effective date of the transaction. Reclaiming the additional-property surcharge after selling a previous main home has its own deadline: the later of 12 months after the sale or 12 months after the filing date of the return for the new home.
Because the routes and deadlines differ, the first thing we establish is which one applies to you.
The initial review is free. On refund claims we work on a success fee — an agreed percentage of what is actually recovered, so there is nothing to pay if nothing comes back. Consultancy and advisory work is charged on a fixed fee or hourly basis, agreed in writing before we start.
Whichever applies, you get written terms with the fee stated in cash or percentage terms before any work begins.
No, and the difference matters. Unregulated introducers have submitted large volumes of speculative claims on facts that did not support them; HMRC has been recovering those repayments with interest and, in some cases, penalties. The buyer signs the return, so the buyer carries the risk.
Your file here is reviewed by an ICAEW Chartered Accountant, and we decline claims we would not be prepared to defend at enquiry.
HMRC can open an enquiry into an amended return or a repayment claim. We prepare every claim with that possibility in mind — the evidence is assembled at the outset rather than scrambled for later — and we handle the correspondence. Our terms of business set out exactly what is and is not included if an enquiry is opened.
Usually the SDLT return (SDLT1) and its UTRN, the completion statement, the sale contract and transfer, the estate agent's particulars, and the searches. Photographs, surveys and builders' quotes matter enormously where the claim rests on the condition of the property. If you do not have everything, your conveyancer normally still holds the file.
No. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property in England and Northern Ireland. Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales has Land Transaction Tax, each with its own rates, reliefs and time limits. If your property is in Scotland or Wales we will tell you at the outset rather than take you through a review that cannot help.
Yes, and it is usually the cheaper conversation. Getting the SDLT position right before exchange — on an annexe, a mixed-use title, a portfolio purchase, or a company acquisition — avoids the cost and delay of unpicking it afterwards. Get in touch well before you are due to exchange rather than after completion.
Send us the purchase details and we will tell you honestly whether there is a claim — and whether it is one we would be willing to sign our name to.