SDLT on buying several homes: the old relief calculation
Historic SDLT calculation for several homes
The old multiple homes relief averaged the price across the homes before calculating SDLT. HMRC says the relief ended for purchases completed or substantially performed on or after 1 June 2024, subject to transitional rules.
- Calculate SDLT on the average price per home
- Apply a minimum tax charge of 1% for the homes
- Calculate non-home property separately
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
SDLT on buying several homes: the old relief calculation
The old relief for buying more than one home at once could reduce Stamp Duty Land Tax, or SDLT, by using an average price. It is not normally available now: HMRC says it ended for purchases completed, or substantially performed, on or after 1 June 2024, subject to transitional rules.
What this rule is about
The law called the relief multiple dwellings relief. It changed how buyers worked out SDLT when a purchase included two or more homes, or when related purchases together included them.
Rather than calculating tax on the whole price at once, the method begins with an average price per home before applying the residential SDLT calculation. This may lower the result. It can do so where buying several homes pushes the total price into higher SDLT bands.
The calculation had a limit. The tax for the homes could not fall below 1% of the amount paid for them.
What the official source says
HMRC’s manual sets out a calculation for an eligible historic claim. HMRC guidance is not law, but this method reflects the calculation in the historic legislation.
- Add the amount paid for all the homes covered by the claim.
- Divide that total by the number of homes to find the average price.
- Work out SDLT on that average using the residential rates that applied at the time.
- Include the higher rates if they applied to that purchase.
- Multiply the tax on the average price by the number of homes.
- Check the 1% minimum against the total paid for the homes.
Where a purchase included land or property that was not a home, buyers had to calculate tax on that part separately and then add it to the tax for the homes. That step was separate.
What if there were separate but connected purchases? The law calls these linked transactions. In that case, the combined home-element tax is split between the purchases according to each one’s share of the total price for the homes.
What this means in practice
This was not simply a discount for buying a block of flats or a house with an annexe. First, the purchase had to qualify for the historic relief. Then the figures had to follow the statutory order.
The price split matters. If one deal covered homes and commercial land, you needed a fair split between those parts before the calculation could begin.
- Do not use the whole mixed-use price as though every part were a home.
- Check whether a related purchase links to the main deal.
- Do not apply the 1% minimum to the whole mixed-use price.
- Keep the calculation for the homes separate from the calculation for other property.
- Check the rate rules in force on the relevant date, rather than using today’s rates.
There was also a special interaction with purchases of six or more homes. Normally, that number can cause a single purchase to count as non-residential for SDLT. The historic relief calculation specifically required you to ignore that rule when you claimed the relief.
How to analyse it
Start with the date. That is now the key question, because the relief ended from 1 June 2024 unless a transitional rule keeps it alive.
- Find the completion date and check whether anything happened earlier that counted as substantial performance.
- Check whether a transitional rule applies before doing a full calculation.
- Identify every home included in the purchase or related purchases.
- Decide whether separate purchases form one scheme, arrangement or series between connected parties.
- Find the total paid for the homes, using a fair split where other property is included.
- Divide by the number of homes and calculate SDLT on the average.
- Multiply that result by the number of homes, then apply the 1% minimum.
- Add the separately calculated tax for any other property.
This order matters. Averaging only one contract while ignoring a linked contract can give the wrong answer.
Example
Here is a simple historic illustration. Priya buys two homes together for £200,000, with no other property in the deal. The average price is £100,000 per home. If the applicable SDLT calculation on that average produces £0, multiplying it by two still produces £0. The 1% minimum then applies, so the tax for the homes is £2,000: 1% of £200,000.
Now change one fact. If part of the £200,000 paid for a shop or commercial land rather than the homes, Priya would need a fair split first. The 1% check would apply to the amount attributed to the homes, not automatically to the entire price.
Why this can be difficult in practice
Most of the difficulty sits in the facts, not the division. One payment can cover a main house, a cottage, land, parking, business space and rights over nearby land, so you must identify the components before splitting the price. The facts matter.
You might think the estate agent’s description settles the issue. It does not. The actual property bought, the terms of the deal and the evidence supporting the price split matter more.
- A building described as an annexe may need careful analysis before it counts as a separate home.
- It may be difficult to support a low figure for non-home land when that figure does not reflect the deal.
- Two contracts can still be linked even though they have separate prices.
- Using the six-home non-residential treatment alongside this historic relief was not permitted.
- The transitional rules may decide whether any calculation remains available at all.
If you only remember one thing, make it this: the average-price calculation is historic. Check the transaction date and transitional rules before relying on it.
Key takeaways
- The old relief used the average price per home, not the full combined price.
- The tax for the homes could not be less than 1% of their allocated price.
- For purchases from 1 June 2024 onwards, check the transitional rules first.
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 6B para 2 — transactions that could qualify for the historic relief
- FA 2003 Schedule 6B para 4 — splitting the price between homes and other property
- FA 2003 Schedule 6B para 5 — averaging home values and applying the one percent minimum; including higher rates in the historic calculation
- FA 2003 section 55 — calculating SDLT using the applicable rate tables
- FA 2003 section 108 — when separate purchases count as linked transactions
- FA 2003 section 116 — six or more homes normally treated as non-residential
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 extract contains the historic Schedule 6B calculation, but does not provide the 2024 abolition and transitional provisions. The exact transitional result must be checked against current primary legislation.
- Working out a fair split of a single price between homes and other property can depend heavily on the facts and evidence.
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 completion date and any earlier substantial-performance date
- The contract and documents for every related purchase
- A list of the homes included in the calculation
- The total price and a supportable split for any non-home property
- Evidence relevant to whether separate purchases were linked
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 SDLT on buying several homes: the old relief calculation [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 6B para 2 - transactions that could qualify for the historic relief https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6B/paragraph/2/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6B para 4 - splitting the price between homes and other property https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6B/paragraph/4/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6B para 5 - averaging home values and applying the one percent minimum https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6B/paragraph/5/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 Schedule 6B para 5 - including higher rates in the historic calculation https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/schedule/6B/paragraph/5/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 55 - calculating SDLT using the applicable rate tables https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/55/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 108 - when separate purchases count as linked transactions https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/108/2025-11-17 - FA 2003 section 116 - six or more homes normally treated as non-residential https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/14/section/116/2025-11-17 HMRC's guidance page on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/stamp-duty-land-tax-manual/sdltm29940 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 - The supplied statutory extract contains the historic Schedule 6B calculation, but does not provide the 2024 abolition and transitional provisions. The exact transitional result must be checked against current primary legislation. - Working out a fair split of a single price between homes and other property can depend heavily on the facts and evidence. 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: SDLT on buying several homes: the old relief calculation
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