Thousands of UK business buyers, landlords and property investors could be missing out on stamp duty relief worth an average of of £12,909, according to specialist consultancy SCA Tax – with some buyers reclaiming tens of thousands of pounds.
The company believes buyers may be entitled to ‘significant reliefs’ in several common scenarios, including properties that qualify for multiple dwellings relief, if the purchase is made from a probate or deceased estate, if a developer or business ‘rescues’ a broken chain or facilitates a new-build sale, an employer acquires a property to relocate staff, or the structure involves deferred completions or rights to purchase that affect the amount of tax due.
“These aren’t obscure loopholes — they’re legitimate, government-recognised reliefs,” said Sean Swimby, founder and director of SCA Tax.
“But because the rules are complex, and most advisers don’t specialise in SDLT, far too many transactions are taxed incorrectly – and it’s business owners, landlords and smaller developers who are footing the bill.”
Part of the problem, according to SCA, is that buyers are often too focused on their own circumstances and overlook the fact that many reliefs depend on the seller’s position, or the structure of the transaction itself.
Swimby explained:
“This isn’t just about flats over shops. We’ve recovered refunds for clients who bought blocks of flats, commercial/residential hybrids, or stepped in to support collapsed sales. These reliefs exist to support flexibility in the property market — but most people don’t realise they apply.”
Amongst the examples cited are a £48,000 refund for a landlord who didn’t apply Multiple Dwellings Relief to a block of 40 flats, an £8,500 refund for a buyer whose part-commercial property was wrongly taxed as fully residential, and a five-figure recovery linked to a probate purchase by a small developer.
An SCA Tax analysis of transaction data revealed that nearly 70% of overpayments related to probate purchases, 20% involved mixed-use properties and a further 6% stemmed from misapplied second home surcharges.
And, Swimby points out, as HMRC’s online calculator doesn’t account for most reliefs and standard conveyancing processes don’t typically involve tax advice, the responsibility falls to buyers to be aware of the discounts they could be claiming.
He added:
“We regularly see properties with commercial elements, multiple dwellings or unusual sale conditions taxed as if they were standard homes. That might be understandable from a layperson using HMRC’s calculator – but it’s not acceptable when businesses are losing thousands due to simple oversights.
“In an ideal world, HMRC urgently updates its SDLT calculator to reflect the real-world complexity of property purchases, the government simplifies the rules around reliefs and builds in a safety net to protect business and residential buyers alike, and conveyancers do more to signpost clients towards specialist property tax advisors.
“Meanwhile, however, if you’ve bought property in the last four years – and it wasn’t a textbook residential purchase – there’s a strong chance you’ve overpaid, and it’s worth speaking to an expert about what can be done to put it right.”
