Budget 2024: stamp duty land tax changes

The Budget included a number of measures on stamp duty land tax (SDLT). The most significant of these was the abolition of multiple dwellings relief.

The chancellor announced the abolition of the SDLT multiple dwellings relief (MDR) from 1 June 2024 subject to further transitional rules explained below.

In November 2021 the government published a consultation document with suggested reforms to MDR to prevent perceived abuse of the relief. So change was expected but total abolition came as something of a surprise. MDR was introduced in 2011 to help large institutional investors buying residential property. These were finding it difficult to compete with small investors buying a single residential property and paying 1% SDLT while an institution buying a large portfolio was paying up to 7%. (Those were the days!)

The 2021 consultation document also considered the application of the non-residential rates to mixed transactions ...