Parminder Sidhu
- Partner
- Residential Property
SDLT and the Renters’ Rights Act – the Government’s proposal to resolve unintended consequences
Following on from our recent article, SDLT and the Renters’ Rights Act: the compliance risk few tenants expect, the Government has now published a written Ministerial Statement entitled ‘Stamp Duty Land Tax on periodic tenancies’, addressing the unintended consequences arising from the interaction between the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) and Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) legislation.
The statement confirmed that the Government intends to legislate in the Finance Bill 2026–27 to ensure that no SDLT charge arises on the rent element of certain residential tenancies. The measure will apply to any residential tenancy that is treated as an assured tenancy under the Housing Act 1988, as amended by the RRA. We do not have any further detail on the proposed legislation, it is expected that this will be published either at, or before the budget later in the year.
A key takeaway from the Government’s announcement is that the legislation will have retrospective effect from the date on which existing tenancy becomes an assured tenancy, and in the interim, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that it will not seek to collect SDLT on the rent element of an assured tenancy from that date until the proposed legislation formally takes effect.
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or a comprehensive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should always be sought in relation to individual circumstances.
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