Stamp duty on shared ownership

The two ways to pay

With a market value election you pay SDLT at the residential rates on the whole market value, even though you are buying a share, and no more SDLT is due when you buy more of the home later (GOV.UK). The election is made in the SDLT return and cannot be revoked (FA 2003 Sch 9), and the rent is ignored (Sch 9 para 2).

Without an election you pay SDLT now on the price of the share, if it is above the nil-rate band of the residential rates, and you usually still submit a return if no tax is due (GOV.UK; the exceptions are in FA 2003 s 77A). If the net present value of the rent is over £125,000, you also pay 1% on the part above it (FA 2003 Sch 5 para 2).

Staircasing and the 80 per cent point

If you did not elect, buying more shares needs no return and costs no SDLT while your total share stays at or below 80 per cent. Past that point you submit a return and pay SDLT on that purchase, worked out from the total paid to date, and earlier shares can become linked and attract extra SDLT (GOV.UK; Sch 9 para 4A). First-time buyers' relief does not apply to these later purchases (Sch 9 para 16). In the GOV.UK example, £260,000 paid in total carries £3,000 of SDLT, so a new £65,000 share costs £750.

First-time buyers

A first-time buyer can claim first-time buyers' relief on shared ownership where the market value is £500,000 or less, either with a market value election or when paying in stages, and no SDLT is charged on the rent (GOV.UK). Without an election, the £500,000 test uses the market value stated in the lease, not the price of your share (Sch 9 para 15A).

Example: a quarter share, election, at each market value

What this page does not cover

The calculator leaves out the higher rates for additional properties and the non-UK resident surcharge, which GOV.UK's shared ownership guidance does not cover, and shared ownership trusts. Ask your conveyancer if any of these may apply to you.

Where the lease does not give you the right to the freehold (usual for flats), an election is charged on the open market premium for the largest share you can own, plus the rent you would still pay at that share (HMRC). The calculator assumes that premium is the market value you enter and that no rent is left.

Buying in Wales or Scotland? See the Land Transaction Tax and LBTT calculators.

Questions

Sources

• GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax, shared ownership property
• HMRC: SDLT, shared ownership property
• Finance Act 2003 Schedule 9, shared ownership leases
• Finance Act 2003 Schedule 5, SDLT on rent
• Finance Act 2003 section 77A, transactions that need no return
• GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax residential rates
• GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax relief, first-time buyers

Rates checked against these sources on 2 November 2026. Updated 2 November 2026. This is a calculation, not legal or tax advice: Instrukt is not a law firm or a tax adviser.