Guidance on LBTT Transactions Involving Spouses, Civil Partners, and Dependant Children

LBTT Additional Dwelling Supplement for Couples, Families and Shared Households

For LBTT in Scotland, the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) can apply by looking at the buyer’s household as a whole, not just the buyer’s own legal title. Spouses, civil partners, cohabitants and dependent children under 16 may be treated as one economic unit, so a buyer can be caught by ADS because of property owned by a partner or child. There are also special relief and repayment rules where a couple are replacing a main home, with wider rules for transactions effective on or after 1 April 2024.

• ADS may apply even if the buyer does not personally own another dwelling, because property owned by a spouse, civil partner, cohabitant or dependent child can be counted.
• The rule does not apply to spouses or civil partners who have genuinely separated and do not intend to live together again.
• If joint buyers are replacing a shared main residence that was owned by only one of them, relief may prevent ADS at the time of purchase.
• If ADS is paid first and the old main residence is sold later, a repayment may be available if the legal conditions are met.
• From 1 April 2024, the rules became more generous in some joint purchase cases and may also ignore certain retained interests in a former home where these arise from court orders or formal separation arrangements.
• Whether ADS applies depends heavily on the facts, including relationship status, main residence use, ownership at the effective date, and the timing of any sale of the old home.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

LBTT Additional Dwelling Supplement: spouses, civil partners, cohabitants and dependent children

This page explains how the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) works under LBTT when a property purchase involves spouses, civil partners, cohabitants, or dependent children. The key point is that these people can be treated as a single economic unit when counting how many dwellings a buyer owns. That can bring a purchase into ADS even if the buyer does not personally hold another property in their own name.

What this rule is about

ADS is an extra amount of LBTT charged on certain purchases of additional dwellings in Scotland. Whether it applies often depends on how many dwellings the buyer owns at the end of the effective date of the transaction, and whether the buyer is replacing an only or main residence.

These rules stop people avoiding ADS by splitting ownership within a family or household. In particular, the legislation looks beyond the buyer alone and, in some cases, treats the buyer as owning dwellings held by a spouse, civil partner, cohabitant, or dependent child.

The source material also explains special relief and repayment rules for couples buying a new main residence together where the old main residence was owned by only one of them, and changes that apply for transactions with an effective date on or after 1 April 2024.

What the official source says

Revenue Scotland says that married couples, civil partners, cohabitants, and their dependent children under 16 are treated as one economic unit for deciding how many properties a buyer owns at the end of the effective date.

That means:

• if one member of the couple or household owns a dwelling, the other may be treated as owning it too for ADS purposes;
• the rule can apply even where the other person has a right to ownership but has not yet taken title;
• a buyer who does not personally own an existing dwelling can still be caught by ADS because their spouse, civil partner, cohabitant, or dependent child owns one.

The rule does not apply to spouses or civil partners who have separated, meaning they no longer live together and do not intend to live together again.

The source also explains that ADS can apply where one spouse, civil partner or cohabitant owns the current shared home and the other buys an additional dwelling. The result is intended to be broadly the same whether the current home is owned jointly or by one of them alone.

For transactions with an effective date on or after 1 April 2024, there is an exception where a buyer still owns an interest in a former main residence because of a court order or formal agreement connected with divorce, separation, dissolution or annulment, and certain conditions are met. In that situation, a second dwelling can be bought without ADS.

The source further explains two important provisions:

• Paragraph 9A gives relief where joint buyers who are spouses, civil partners or cohabitants buy a new main residence together, but the old main residence being replaced was owned by only one of them.
• Paragraph 8A allows repayment of ADS in some similar cases where the old main residence is sold after the new purchase.

For transactions with an effective date on or after 1 April 2024, the repayment rules were widened. Broadly, for joint buyers, only one buyer needs to satisfy the disposal and previous-main-residence conditions, but all buyers must occupy the new property as their only or main residence, and if more than one buyer owns other dwellings that contribute to ADS liability, all relevant buyers must meet the conditions.

What this means in practice

The practical effect is that you cannot look only at the legal title in the buyer’s own name. You also need to ask what property interests are held by the buyer’s spouse, civil partner, cohabitant, and dependent children.

This matters in several common situations.

First, a person may think they are buying their first or only property, but ADS can still apply if their spouse or partner already owns a dwelling. The household is effectively looked at as a unit.

Second, where a couple buy a new home together, the fact that the old home was owned by only one of them does not necessarily prevent relief. Paragraph 9A may stop ADS applying at the outset if the old property was the main residence of both and both intend to live in the new property as their main residence.

Third, if the old home is not sold until after the new purchase, ADS may still be payable at completion. But a repayment may later be available under paragraph 8A if the statutory conditions are met.

Fourth, after 1 April 2024 the rules are more generous in some joint-buyer cases. In particular, only one buyer may need to have disposed of a previous main residence, provided the other conditions are met and there are not additional dwellings owned by other buyers that independently keep the transaction within ADS.

Fifth, where a person remains on title to a former matrimonial or civil partnership home because of a court order or formal separation agreement, that retained interest may be ignored for ADS purposes from 1 April 2024 if the stated conditions are met.

How to analyse it

A sensible way to analyse the position is to work through the following questions.

• Who are the buyers?
• Are any of the buyers married, in a civil partnership, or cohabiting with someone at the effective date?
• Do any dependent children under 16 own dwellings?
• At the end of the effective date, what dwellings are owned or deemed to be owned by each buyer once the economic-unit rules are applied?
• Is the purchase an additional dwelling, or is it replacing an only or main residence?
• If the buyers are purchasing jointly, was the old main residence owned by only one of them, and if so does paragraph 9A relief apply?
• If ADS is payable now, is there a possible later repayment under paragraph 8A once the old residence is sold?
• What is the effective date of the transaction? This matters because the rules changed from 1 April 2024, including the move from 18 months to 36 months in the examples and repayment conditions described.
• Have the spouses or civil partners actually separated, in the sense that they no longer live together and do not intend to live together again?
• Is there a court order or formal agreement connected with divorce, separation, dissolution or annulment that explains why an interest in a former home has been retained?

When looking at repayment after 1 April 2024, the source indicates three broad checks:

• Has one buyer disposed of a previous dwelling within the relevant 36-month period, and was it that buyer’s only or main residence during the 36 months ending with the effective date?
• Has the new dwelling been occupied as the buyers’ only or main residence?
• If more than one buyer owns other dwellings apart from the new property, do all of those buyers satisfy the conditions where required?

Example

Illustration: Alex and Sam live together as civil partners. Alex owns the home they both live in. Sam owns nothing. They jointly buy a new home, intending it to be their new main residence, but Alex’s old home has not yet sold by the completion date.

At that point, Alex owns two dwellings and Sam is likely to be treated as owning two dwellings as well under the economic-unit rules. So ADS is payable on the joint purchase at completion.

If Alex then sells the old home within the relevant period, a repayment may be available. For transactions on or after 1 April 2024, the source says only one buyer needs to satisfy the disposal and previous-main-residence conditions, provided both occupy the new home as their main residence and there is no separate additional dwelling owned by another buyer that keeps the transaction within ADS.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The main difficulty is that ADS is not determined simply by reading the title sheet of the new buyer. The rules use deemed ownership and household-based treatment, which can produce results that are not obvious.

Several points are especially fact-sensitive:

• Whether two people are cohabitants for these purposes.
• Whether spouses or civil partners are truly separated. The source requires both that they no longer live together and that they do not intend to live together again.
• Whether a property was in fact the only or main residence of one or both buyers.
• Whether the new property has actually been occupied as the only or main residence, which matters for repayment.
• Whether a retained interest in a former home falls within the post-1 April 2024 exception for court orders or formal agreements connected with relationship breakdown.
• In joint-buyer cases after 1 April 2024, whether another buyer’s separate ownership of further dwellings means all buyers must satisfy the replacement conditions.

The timing rules also matter. The source refers to older 18-month rules and newer 36-month rules. Which applies depends on the effective date of the transaction. The changes are not stated to be fully retrospective, so the transaction date must be checked carefully.

Key takeaways

• For ADS, spouses, civil partners, cohabitants and dependent children under 16 can be treated as one economic unit.
• A buyer may be treated as owning a dwelling held by their partner or child, so ADS can apply even if the buyer does not personally own another property.
• Special relief and repayment rules can help where joint buyers are replacing a shared main residence that was owned by only one of them, and those rules were widened for transactions from 1 April 2024.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on LBTT Transactions Involving Spouses, Civil Partners, and Dependant Children

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