What counts as land for Welsh Land Transaction Tax?
In brief
For Welsh LTT, land includes structures and land covered by water. A caravan or houseboat may be movable property, but a linked purchase or lease of a plot or berth may still matter.
- Check what land rights the agreement gives you.
- Do not rely only on whether it is called a licence.
- Keep evidence of attachments and the right to use the site or berth.
Scroll down for the full analysis.
Read the original guidance here:
What counts as land for Welsh Land Transaction Tax?
Although Land Transaction Tax is Wales’s version of stamp duty on land deals, it can apply not only to an ordinary house purchase but also to a jetty, a pitch for a static caravan or a boat mooring. The legal rights are key. The question is what you are really buying or renting.
What this rule is about
LTT covers Welsh land rights only. That scope can include a freehold purchase, a lease or another right over land, and the law’s broad meaning is not limited to dry ground. Water can matter too.
Where an item sits on, beside or above water, you may be buying a caravan, houseboat or waterside structure while also receiving rights over the site, berth or mooring. The item itself may not be land.
What actually decides it? The legal rights you get, along with the physical facts.
What the official source says
The Act provides that land includes buildings, structures and land covered by water, while expressly excluding land in Wales below the mean low-water mark. That boundary matters.
Although guidance is not the law, the Welsh Revenue Authority’s technical guidance gives examples of how it applies that rule and shows the authority’s published view for transactions. It is not the law.
- Land under water above the low-water mark can count as land, including lakes and rivers.
- A jetty, pier or similar structure can count where one end is attached to land in Wales, even if the remainder extends over water beyond it. Its attachment matters.
- A caravan, including a static caravan or mobile home, is usually a movable item rather than land.
- A houseboat that can be removed easily, without harming the land, is also unlikely to be land.
- A caravan or boat that is permanently attached to land may be treated differently.
- Buying or leasing the pitch, land or berth can be a separate LTT point.
What this means in practice
When a movable caravan is sold with a linked purchase of the plot, or with a lease of it, you should consider the whole arrangement rather than the object alone. LTT may apply.
With a houseboat, the boat itself and the right to keep it at a particular mooring can be different things, because one may be movable property while the other may be a right over Welsh land. They are not necessarily the same.
- Read the paperwork for the caravan or boat and any linked land agreement.
- Check whether you are buying land, taking a lease, or receiving permission to use a place.
- Check whether the agreement gives you one identified pitch or berth.
- Check how long the arrangement lasts and how it can end.
- Record how the caravan or boat is connected to the land or mooring.
How to analyse it
Start with the deal as a whole, because calling an agreement a “licence” does not settle the issue and calling a caravan “static” does not do so either. Names do not decide it. The real rights and the practical setup matter.
- Is there land or a structure in Wales involved in the arrangement?
- Is any land under water above the mean low-water mark?
- Is the item easily movable without damaging the land?
- Are you also buying the site, or getting rights over it?
- Does the agreement give exclusive use of a particular pitch or berth?
- Is that right for a term of years, whether fixed or periodic?
- Can the boat be moved to another berth, or can others access the berth without notice?
A lease is broadly a right over land for a term of years, whether fixed or periodic, and exclusive use of a particular berth must be assessed in that context. Guidance: exclusive berth access likely means lease. In contrast, easy movement to another berth or access without notice points towards a licence.
Example
Gareth buys a removable houseboat. It is tied to a marina berth and can be moved without damage. On those facts, the guidance says the boat itself is unlikely to count as land for LTT.
However, Gareth also signs an agreement giving him exclusive use of Berth 14 for five years. That separate agreement may be a lease of a right over land. The label on the agreement is not enough. Its actual terms and the marina arrangements need checking.
Why this can be difficult in practice
These deals often come in several documents, with one covering the caravan or boat and another covering the plot, berth or services, so looking only at the sale agreement can miss the part that matters for LTT. Read all of them.
This is the part people get wrong: a movable item can be outside LTT while the linked right to use land is not.
- A static caravan is not automatically treated as land just because it stays in one place.
- A boat does not automatically become land simply because it has a mooring.
- A right may be a lease even if the document calls it a licence.
- Exclusive use of a named place is an important fact, but the full agreement still matters.
- Permanent attachments and the risk of damage on removal need clear evidence.
Key takeaways
- LTT concerns rights in or over land in Wales, not only house purchases.
- Buildings, structures and land covered by water can count as land.
- For caravans and houseboats, check both the item itself and any right to use land, a pitch or a berth, because each part may raise a separate LTT point. Check both.
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
- LTTA 2017 section 3 — what counts as a land transaction
- LTTA 2017 section 4 — interests in Welsh land that can be taxed
- LTTA 2017 section 32 — what the Act means by a lease
- LTTA 2017 section 75 — what land includes for LTT purposes
Official guidance
The pages below are the Welsh Revenue Authority’s guidance. Guidance is not law. It sets out how the Welsh Revenue Authority 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. the Welsh Revenue Authority can also change or withdraw guidance, and it may not cover your facts.
Where this is not settled
- The line between a lease and a licence can be fact-sensitive, especially where a berth or pitch is allocated for a long period.
- Whether a caravan or boat is sufficiently attached to land will depend on the physical arrangements.
- The supplied statutory files did not contain the requested currency notice, so the currency date of the bundled legislation could not be checked.
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 sale contract or lease terms
- Any pitch, berth or mooring agreement
- Plans showing the land, water and any structure involved
- Photographs and details of attachments, services and removal arrangements
- Terms showing whether the buyer has exclusive use of a particular place
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 Land Transaction Tax (LTT), the tax on property in Wales. It replaced Stamp Duty Land Tax in Wales on 1 April 2018, and SDLT does not apply in Wales. MY QUESTION What counts as land for Welsh Land Transaction Tax? [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 - LTTA 2017 section 3 - what counts as a land transaction https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/3 - LTTA 2017 section 4 - interests in Welsh land that can be taxed https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/4 - LTTA 2017 section 32 - what the Act means by a lease https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/32 - LTTA 2017 section 75 - what land includes for LTT purposes https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2017/1/section/75 Guidance page from the Welsh Revenue Authority on this topic (guidance, not law): https://www.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-interpretation-provisions-technical-guidance#6432 HOW I WANT YOU TO ANSWER 1. Work from the legislation above. Read it before answering. Guidance from the Welsh Revenue Authority 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 line between a lease and a licence can be fact-sensitive, especially where a berth or pitch is allocated for a long period. - Whether a caravan or boat is sufficiently attached to land will depend on the physical arrangements. - The supplied statutory files did not contain the requested currency notice, so the currency date of the bundled legislation could not be checked. Do not give me a conclusion you cannot support from the provisions above.
Legislation links show the Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 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 3 September 2026
Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: What counts as land for Welsh Land Transaction Tax?
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