Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Bill: HL Bill 85 of 2022–23

On 18 January 2023, all Lords stages of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Bill are scheduled to take place in the House of Lords. The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 24 October 2022 and completed its stages on 10 January 2023.

The bill has been certified as a money bill. This limits the extent to which the House of Lords can propose significant changes. 

1. What would the bill do?

1.1 Background

The Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Bill would give statutory effect to the reduction in certain stamp duty rates brought in by Liz Truss’s government and which are already in effect. The reductions would apply until 31 March 2025.

The then chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced the reductions as part of several announcements for Liz Truss’s government’s growth plan on 23 September 2022.

Although a number of the growth plan measures were subsequently dropped, the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed on 17 October 2022 that the stamp duty changes would remain. However, he did announce in the autumn statement on 17 November 2022 that the reduction would now only apply until 31 March 2025, and that the government would be amending the stamp duty bill accordingly. Kwasi Kwarteng had originally announced the changes as a “permanent” measure and the bill was initially drafted as such.

Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is paid as part of a property or land transaction in England and Northern Ireland (other property taxes apply in Wales and Scotland). The amount of SDLT to be paid in a given transaction is calculated based on different rates, thresholds and types of transactions. For example, no SDLT is required on residential property transactions up to a certain value.