Stamp duty when you stay after your lease ends
Holding over and SDLT
Staying after a fixed lease ends can change the SDLT treatment. The outcome depends on the lease terms, continued occupation and any later lease.
- Check the old lease end date
- Compare any new lease and premises
- Keep clear rent and occupation records
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
Stamp duty when you stay after your lease ends
If you stay after a fixed lease ends, stamp duty may change. SDLT can treat the lease as lasting another year. HMRC has archived the page that once covered this point, so it is not current guidance.
What this rule is about
Holding over describes a tenant who remains in the property after the lease’s stated end date, whether the lease terms allow continued occupation or the law permits it. The reason matters.
What actually decides the result? The wording of the old lease, the dates, and whether a new lease follows.
What the official source says
HMRC has removed the content from this manual page and says it is no longer relevant.
Although HMRC no longer maintains that content, the legislation still sets out rules for leases that continue and for later leases where a tenant has remained in occupation after the original term ends. Those rules remain.
- A fixed-term lease may continue under its terms until someone ends it.
- A fixed-term lease may continue beyond its end date by operation of law.
- For SDLT, a continuing lease can be treated as extended by one year at a time.
- SDLT may treat a new lease differently if it covers the same, or much the same, property.
What this means in practice
Staying put is not always tax-neutral. The extra period can affect the SDLT position when the tenant remained in occupation after the old lease ended.
Neither party may have signed a fresh lease at that point. It may still count.
- Keep the old lease and any notices that ended or extended it.
- Record the date occupation continued after the stated end date.
- Check whether a later lease starts during the extra year.
- You should check the rent the tenant paid during the gap before that lease was granted.
How to analyse it
Start with the documents, not the label “holding over”. A landlord and tenant may use that phrase when the legal position is different.
- Find the fixed end date in the old lease.
- Check whether the lease allowed it to continue.
- Check whether occupation continued after that date.
- Compare the old and new premises.
- Read the new lease’s stated start date.
- Work out which rent has already counted for SDLT.
Example
Leah’s lease ends on 31 March. She remains in the unit and later signs a lease for the same unit that is expressed to start on 1 April, after her earlier lease has ended.
The stated date matters. If the statutory conditions are met, SDLT treats the new lease as starting on 1 April. You can reduce rent for the gap to avoid counting taxable rent twice, but not below zero.
Why this can be difficult in practice
The dates can look simple but often are not. After the old lease ends, the parties may agree a new lease that covers different space, starts on another date, or is concluded only much later.
Each difference may matter.
- Calling an arrangement a renewal does not settle the SDLT treatment.
- Small changes to the premises may matter.
- Rent demands and payment records may not match the lease wording.
- The law in force on the relevant date must be checked.
Key takeaways
- Staying after a lease ends can affect SDLT.
- The lease wording and dates matter most.
- An archived HMRC page is not current guidance.
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 17A para 3 — leases continuing after a fixed term ends
- FA 2003 Schedule 17A para 3A — new leases granted during the extra year
- FA 2003 Schedule 17A para 9A — backdated leases for tenants holding over
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
- The supplied statutory text is recorded as current only to 17 November 2025. Current law must be checked against the official legislation before relying on this page for a later transaction.
- Whether premises are the same or substantially the same can depend on the facts and lease documents.
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.
- The old lease and its end date
- Evidence of continued occupation
- The new lease, including its stated start date
- Rent records for the period after the old lease ended
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 Stamp duty when you stay after your lease ends [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 17A para 3 - leases continuing after a fixed term ends https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/17A/paragraph/3/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 17A para 3A - new leases granted during the extra year https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/17A/paragraph/3A/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 17A para 9A - backdated leases for tenants holding over https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/17A/paragraph/9A/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/sdltm14100 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 - The supplied statutory text is recorded as current only to 17 November 2025. Current law must be checked against the official legislation before relying on this page for a later transaction. - Whether premises are the same or substantially the same can depend on the facts and lease documents. 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 1 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Stamp duty when you stay after your lease ends
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