Stamp duty relief for property traders buying a deceased person’s home
In brief
A qualifying property trader may receive SDLT relief when it buys a deceased person’s former main home from personal representatives.
- The buyer’s business must meet the statutory definition.
- The deceased must have lived there as a main or only home within two years before death.
- Excess land may reduce relief rather than end it.
- Later refurbishment, letting or staff occupation can withdraw relief.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
Stamp duty relief for property traders buying a deceased person’s home
Stamp duty relief for property traders buying a deceased person’s home
A specialist property business may pay no stamp duty land tax when buying a deceased person’s former main home from their estate. This is a narrow relief.
Relief depends on the buyer, the deceased person’s use of the home, the land acquired, and the buyer’s plans at purchase, later use, and subsequent actions concerning the property. Each factor matters.
What this rule is about
This relief applies to a property trader that buys from personal representatives. These are usually the people who deal with an estate after someone dies. It is not relief for an ordinary buyer purchasing a house from an estate.
Stamp duty is normally charged on a property purchase. In this case, when a qualifying business buys a suitable home from an estate and every statutory condition is met, the law provides an exemption from stamp duty. However, the business must meet every condition.
One point is easy to miss: the law looks beyond the day of purchase. Plans at purchase for refurbishment, renting out the home, or using it for staff can prevent relief.
If those plans are carried out later, they can also take the relief away. Intentions matter.
What the official source says
HMRC’s manual says that a property trader may get relief when it buys a home from personal representatives. For the full test, look to the legislation. At the time of purchase, every point below must be met:
- A qualifying property trader must be the buyer. This means a company, LLP, or certain corporate partnership that buys and sells homes.
- Its business must include, whether as all or only part of its activities, buying homes from the personal representatives of people who have died. That business connection is required.
- For the residence condition to be met, the deceased person must have lived in the home as their only or main residence at some time in the two years before death. Timing is critical.
- No plan may involve spending more than the permitted limit on value-adding refurbishment.
- Nor may the trader plan to grant a lease or licence of the home.
- Planned staff occupation can rule out relief. The trader must not plan for its principals, employees, or specified people connected with them to live there, whether directly or through another arrangement. That too can prevent relief.
- The land bought with the home must not exceed the permitted area for full relief.
HMRC’s manual highlights the business, residence and land conditions. The legislation also makes the buyer’s intended use a condition. That distinction matters.
Normally, the permitted area is the home, garden and grounds up to 0.5 hectares. Land beyond that area may still qualify if the home’s size and character mean it is needed for the reasonable enjoyment of the home. This is an exception.
What this means in practice
If every condition is met, the purchase is exempt from SDLT. If excess land is the only problem, relief can instead be partial. The tax calculation then uses the value of the land outside the permitted area.
HMRC’s manual instructs taxpayers to enter relief code 28 in the relief box on the SDLT return. This is HMRC’s administrative instruction, rather than the legal test for entitlement.
- Do not assume that a business which develops homes is automatically a qualifying property trader.
- Check whether the business genuinely buys and sells homes, and whether estate purchases form part of it.
- Keep evidence of the deceased person’s use of the home.
- Measure and value any gardens, grounds, paddocks or other land bought with it.
- Set the refurbishment budget before completion, not after work has started.
- Check that no lease, licence or staff occupation is planned.
How to analyse it
Begin with the buyer, then consider the home and land. Finally, test the plans for the property after the purchase. A label such as “developer” does not determine the answer.
- Is the buyer a company, LLP, or qualifying corporate partnership?
- Does it carry on a business of buying and selling homes?
- Does that business include buying homes from estates?
- Within the required two-year period, did the deceased person use this home as their main or only home?
- What land is included in the transfer?
- Does any land above 0.5 hectares qualify because the home reasonably needs it?
- What is the market value of the permitted area and of the whole property?
- What work, letting and occupation does the buyer intend?
- Could any later action withdraw the relief?
Example
Northgate Homes Ltd buys a house from an estate. It regularly buys and sells homes, including homes from estates.
The person who died had lived there as their main home in the previous two years. Northgate plans only cleaning and essential safety work.
After completion, it will neither rent the house nor let any staff live there at all. Its intentions satisfy this condition.
The house comes with more land than the permitted area. The whole property interest is worth £800,000. The permitted area is worth £600,000.
The amount treated as taxable is £200,000: £800,000 less £600,000. This is partial relief, not full relief.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Evidence and intention are usually the hard parts. Family recollections may show that the deceased used the home, but records can be thin.
Land that looks separate may still be garden or grounds. Equally, a large plot is not automatically needed for reasonable enjoyment.
Refurbishment is also narrower than many people expect. It means work that increases, or is meant to increase, the home’s value. For this limit, cleaning or work required solely to meet minimum safety standards is not refurbishment.
- A later spend above the permitted limit withdraws the relief.
- The limit is the greater of £10,000 and 5% of the amount paid, capped at £20,000.
- Granting a lease or licence withdraws this particular relief.
- Letting a director, member, employee, or a specified connected person live there can also withdraw it.
- When relief is withdrawn, the tax becomes what would have been due without it.
Key takeaways
- This relief is for qualifying property traders, not ordinary estate buyers.
- The deceased person’s recent main-home use is essential.
- Future refurbishment, renting and occupation can decide the result.
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 6A para 3 — relief for traders buying homes from personal representatives (provision not found on legislation.gov.uk)
- FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 7 — gardens grounds and the permitted land area (provision not found on legislation.gov.uk)
- FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 8 — which businesses count as property traders (provision not found on legislation.gov.uk)
- FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 9 — refurbishment and the permitted spending limit (provision not found on legislation.gov.uk)
- FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 11 — events that withdraw relief and restore tax (provision not found on legislation.gov.uk)
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
- Whether land beyond 0.5 hectares is needed for reasonable enjoyment depends on the particular home, land and evidence.
- The supplied statutory text is current only to 17 November 2025. The law must be checked against the official current legislation for a purchase after that date.
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 buyer’s legal form, business records and evidence that it buys and sells homes.
- Evidence that buying homes from personal representatives forms part of that business.
- Estate papers and evidence of the deceased person’s occupation during the two years before death.
- A plan, title documents and valuation evidence for the home and its land.
- A refurbishment budget and records of any lease, licence or occupation after the purchase.
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 relief for property traders buying a deceased person's home [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 6A para 3 - relief for traders buying homes from personal representatives https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6A/paragraph/3/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 7 - gardens grounds and the permitted land area https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6A/paragraph/7/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 8 - which businesses count as property traders https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6A/paragraph/8/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 9 - refurbishment and the permitted spending limit https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6A/paragraph/9/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6A para 11 - events that withdraw relief and restore tax https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6A/paragraph/11/2025-11-17 HMRC's guidance page on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm21040 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. HMRC guidance is HMRC's 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 - Whether land beyond 0.5 hectares is needed for reasonable enjoyment depends on the particular home, land and evidence. - The supplied statutory text is current only to 17 November 2025. The law must be checked against the official current legislation for a purchase after that date. 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 relief for property traders buying a deceased person’s home
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