When public access to part of a home can affect SDLT
At a glance
For this SDLT relief, public access must extend to a significant part of the inside of the home. Gardens and toilet access alone are not enough on HMRC’s view.
- There is no fixed floor-area percentage.
- Size, nature and function all matter.
- Important public rooms can outweigh a simple room count.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
When public access to part of a home can affect SDLT
Opening a home’s gardens to visitors does not, by itself, avoid the special higher stamp duty charge for some company buyers. The key issue is whether visitors can also enjoy a significant part of the interior. A brief walk to the toilets will not usually do it.
What this rule is about
This rule forms part of a relief for certain businesses that make homes available to the public. It may matter when a company or similar buyer purchases a high-value home and would otherwise face the special higher SDLT charge.
The relief targets a genuine commercial visitor trade. Calling a private home an attraction is not enough. Genuine interior use or enjoyment is required.
What the official source says
The legislation requires the visitor opportunity to include a significant part of the home’s interior. It says that size, nature and function all matter when deciding whether an area is significant.
HMRC’s manual gives useful detail about its reading of that test. Although HMRC says the whole home need not be open, it also says that a smaller area can still be significant when it is important to the visitor experience. Importance matters.
- The home must be intended to produce income through a qualifying trade.
- The trade must be commercial and run with a view to profit.
- Public access needs 28 calendar days yearly.
- Visitors must have the chance to use, stay in or enjoy a significant interior area.
- Size is judged against the size of the whole home.
- The area’s nature and function matter as well as its floor area.
- HMRC says main state rooms in a large historic house are likely to be significant, even if they are less than half the rooms or floor area.
- HMRC says gardens open to visitors, with inside access only for toilets, are not enough.
What this means in practice
Do not rely only on a plan or a room count when asking whether a grand reception room, gallery or main historic room is central to why people visit. Private bedrooms can matter less.
What actually decides the point? Visitor areas and their role decide. That is where people can go wrong.
- Opening important public rooms can support the relief.
- Keeping the main visitor spaces behind closed doors can weaken the position.
- Garden entry does not turn a home into a public interior attraction.
- Toilet access is an incidental facility, not an interior experience.
- Keep records that show what visitors can access in practice.
How to analyse it
Because the public-access test is only one element of the full relief, begin with the relief as a whole and then compare the visitor areas with the home as a whole. Do not isolate the interior point.
- Check whether the buyer and the property fall within the special higher-charge rules.
- Check whether the planned activity is a commercial trade run for profit.
- Check that the public offer will normally meet the 28-day requirement.
- Identify every room or internal area visitors may use or enjoy.
- Compare those areas with the whole home by size.
- Ask what each area does for the visitor experience.
- Separate genuine visitor rooms from routes, entrances and toilets.
- Record the plans that existed when the property was bought.
Example
Imagine a company buys a large historic house and plans paid public visits in which guests can tour its main entrance hall, gallery, dining room and drawing room. The bedrooms and service areas stay private. HMRC’s manual says rooms of that kind may form a significant interior part, even where they are a minority of the building.
Change one fact. Visitors can walk around the gardens but enter only a small lobby to reach toilets. HMRC says no significant interior access exists.
Why this can be difficult in practice
There is no simple percentage test. No room count or floor share decides. The home’s character matters.
A room may be small but vital to the visit. Another may be large but have little visitor purpose. That distinction can decide the result.
- Do not assume that less than half the building can never be significant.
- Do not assume that public gardens make the inside significant.
- Do not count toilets, corridors or access routes as though they were visitor attractions.
- Do not treat HMRC’s manual as the law itself.
- Check the legislation in force on the purchase date, especially for a later transaction.
Key takeaways
- Visitors need access to a significant part of the inside, not just the gardens.
- Importance and purpose matter as much as physical size.
- HMRC says important public rooms may qualify even when they are a minority of the home.
Technical analysis
For advisers, and for anyone who wants to check the law behind this page. You do not need this section to understand the guidance above.
Legislation
- FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 1 — defines an interest above the higher value threshold
- FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 3 — sets the higher SDLT charge for certain buyers
- FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 5B — relief for trades making homes available to visitors
Official guidance
The pages below are HMRC’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how HMRC reads the legislation, and it is not binding on you, on a tribunal or on a court. Where guidance and the legislation differ, the legislation wins. HMRC can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- There is no stated minimum percentage of floor area, rooms or visitor days that makes an interior area significant.
- Whether rooms are important enough will depend on the character of the particular home and how visitors use them.
- The supplied statutory text is current only to 17 November 2025. The law for a later purchase needs checking against the current legislation.
Evidence you would need
This kind of case is decided on the facts of the individual property. These are the records that usually settle it, and the ones an adviser would ask you for.
- Plans and measurements showing the whole home and the visitor areas
- Visitor routes, opening arrangements and descriptions of each room’s use
- Marketing material, tickets, booking records and opening-day records
- Business plans showing the intended commercial use from the purchase date
Explore this with an AI
Readers often want to test their own situation. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It hands the model the actual legislation for this page rather than letting it answer from memory, and tells it to be explicit about what is uncertain. What comes back is information, not advice – check it against the links above.
I am researching UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), which applies in England and Northern Ireland. MY QUESTION When public access to part of a home can affect SDLT [Replace this with your own situation: what you are buying, the price, the dates, who the buyer is, and what you plan to do with the property.] THE LAW THIS TURNS ON - FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 1 - defines an interest above the higher value threshold https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/4A/paragraph/1/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 3 - sets the higher SDLT charge for certain buyers https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/4A/paragraph/3/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 4A para 5B - relief for trades making homes available to visitors https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/4A/paragraph/5B/2025-11-17 Guidance page from HMRC on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm09600 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from HMRC is its view of the law, not the law, and does not bind a tribunal or a court. 2. Tell me what the rule actually requires, in plain English. 3. Tell me which facts decide the answer, and which facts would change it. 4. Tell me what evidence I would need to support the position. 5. Be explicit about anything unsettled or fact-sensitive. Do not guess. 6. Your training data has a cutoff and SDLT rates and reliefs change at fiscal events. Say so if you are not sure the law is current. POINTS ALREADY KNOWN TO BE UNCERTAIN ON THIS TOPIC - There is no stated minimum percentage of floor area, rooms or visitor days that makes an interior area significant. - Whether rooms are important enough will depend on the character of the particular home and how visitors use them. - The supplied statutory text is current only to 17 November 2025. The law for a later purchase needs checking against the current legislation. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show Finance Act 2003 as it stood on 2025-11-17. The law may have changed since, and the rules that apply are those in force on the date of your transaction. The official guidance this page is based on is here.
This page was last updated on 31 August 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: When public access to part of a home can affect SDLT
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