Does a partner's deposit affect first-time buyer stamp duty? (2026)
In England and Northern Ireland, an eligible first-time buyer pays no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on a home costing up to £300,000, and a reduced amount up to £500,000 (HMRC, 2026). At £300,000 — the median price of an English house or flat sold in 2025 (£300,000 across 699,846 single-residential transactions, HM Land Registry, data to 2025) — that relief is worth the full £5,000 a non-first-time buyer would otherwise pay.
But the relief carries a condition that catches out couples who buy together: every purchaser must be a first-time buyer. If a cohabiting partner takes a share in the new home, and that partner has owned property before, the relief can disappear for both of you. The same £300,000 purchase then costs £5,000 — or £20,000 if the partner still owns another home (Homecost stamp duty calculator, 8 July 2026).
Here is how the rule works, and where the line falls.
The rule in one sentence
First-time buyers' relief sits in Schedule 6ZA to the Finance Act 2003. It applies only where the buyer is a first-time buyer purchasing their only or main residence for £500,000 or less. Where there are two or more buyers, the relief is available only if each of them is a first-time buyer. There is no apportionment — relief is all-or-nothing across the transaction. One non-qualifying buyer removes it entirely.
A first-time buyer, for this purpose, is someone who has never acquired a major interest in a dwelling anywhere in the world (Finance Act 2003, Schedule 6ZA). The previous ownership need not have been in the UK, and it does not matter that it was years ago.
"Purchaser" means beneficial owner — not just the name on the mortgage
The word doing the work is purchaser. For stamp duty, the purchaser is the person who acquires an interest in the property (Finance Act 2003, section 43) — and that includes a beneficial interest, not only a name on the legal title or the mortgage. HMRC looks at who really owns a share, applying ordinary trust-law principles.
That matters because a cohabiting partner can end up owning part of a home without appearing on the Land Registry title. If they acquire a beneficial interest, they are one of the purchasers — and if they are not a first-time buyer, the relief is lost.
Whether a beneficial interest has arisen is a question of property law. The leading cases on how a cohabiting partner's share in a home is established and quantified are Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17 and Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53. In broad terms, the courts look at the whole course of dealing between the couple — who contributed what, and what the parties intended about ownership. It is a fact-specific question, which is why a conveyancer settles it on each purchase.
When a partner is more likely to be a purchaser
| More likely to be treated as a purchaser | Less likely to be treated as a purchaser |
|---|---|
| Named on the legal title at the Land Registry | Makes an outright gift with no expectation of a share |
| Contributes to the deposit or price in a way that shows an intention to share ownership | Lends money documented as a loan, repayable regardless of the property |
| Is a joint borrower on the mortgage | Simply pays rent or contributes to household bills |
None of these is a bright line, and the outcome is decided on the facts of each case (Stack v Dowden; Jones v Kernott). But the pattern is clear enough to understand: money that buys a share of the home tends to create an interest; money that is a gift or a documented loan tends not to.
What it costs at £300,000
Take a first-time buyer purchasing a £300,000 home — the 2025 English median. The outcome turns on whether the partner acquires a share, and whether that partner is themselves a first-time buyer:
| Who takes a share in the new home | First-time buyer relief | SDLT at £300,000 |
|---|---|---|
| You alone — partner takes no interest | Applies | £0 |
| You and your partner — partner has owned before | Lost (not all purchasers qualify) | £5,000 |
| You and your partner — partner still owns another home | Lost, plus higher-rate surcharge | £20,000 |
The £5,000 is the standard SDLT bill any non-first-time buyer pays at £300,000 — 2% on the slice from £125,001 to £250,000, then 5% from £250,001 to £300,000. The £20,000 is that same bill plus the 5% additional-dwelling surcharge, which lands on the whole price the moment a co-purchaser is keeping another property (Homecost stamp duty calculator, 8 July 2026). Both figures reconcile to HMRC's published rates.
The important caveat: a shared interest is not always fatal
Sharing ownership does not, by itself, end the relief. If both partners are first-time buyers, a joint purchase still qualifies — each of them meets the test. The relief is lost only when a co-purchaser is not a first-time buyer. So the risk is specific: it arises when one partner has owned a home before, or still does, and the other is trying to buy as a first-time buyer.
This is the same machinery that catches married couples through paragraph 9 attribution, but it reaches cohabiting couples by a different route. A spouse's or civil partner's home is attributed to the other automatically; an unmarried partner's ownership only bites if that partner actually acquires a share in the new purchase. That distinction — and why an unmarried solo buyer can keep a relief a married one would lose — is set out in the married-versus-unmarried relief comparison.
How many buyers this touches
The relief matters most at the prices where first-time buyers actually shop. Of the 699,846 English single-residential sales recorded by HM Land Registry for 2025, 50.6% completed at £300,000 or below — inside the nil-rate band — and 81.3% at £500,000 or below, within reach of the relief in some form (Homecost analysis of HM Land Registry data, 8 July 2026). For a large share of first-time buyers, the gap between keeping and losing the relief is a four- or five-figure sum decided by how the deposit and the deeds are arranged.
What a conveyancer confirms
A conveyancer or solicitor establishes, before completion, who the purchasers are, whether each is a first-time buyer, and whether the additional-property surcharge applies — and they file the SDLT return on that basis. The rules above explain how the relief works; they are not a substitute for that check. For the full picture of who qualifies and how the bill tapers between £300,000 and £500,000, see the first-time buyer relief explainer.
You can see the bands move for any price with the Homecost stamp duty calculator, first-time buyer relief switched on, or check what homes actually sell for in a typical first-time-buyer market with the true-cost lookup for Manchester's M1 1AE.
Based on 699,846 English single-residential sales recorded by HM Land Registry for 2025 and the SDLT rates in force in July 2026 (browse all guides). This is general information about how the rules work, not tax advice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Speak to a qualified adviser or conveyancer before acting.