Master calculations, avoid the 17% corporate trap, and manage the 14-day filing deadline. A practical playbook.
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
What you’ll learn
- Calculate SDLT quickly for common investor deals using bands, surcharges, and worked examples..
- Decide if higher rates apply and identify refund opportunities when buying before selling a main home..
- Spot mixed-use vs residential classification risks and collect the facts needed to brief your conveyancer..
- Handle leasehold SDLT basics: premiums, rent NPV, lease extensions, and common filing triggers..
- Avoid major traps: non-resident surcharge, 6+ dwellings rule, company 17% risk flags, and MDR myths..
- Run deal ops confidently: timeline, filing checks, evidence pack, corrections, and escalation triggers..
- Use checklists to document SDLT decisions, reduce errors, and create an audit-ready trail for your files..
- Ask the right questions of solicitors and agents to prevent last-minute SDLT surprises that kill deal economics..
Course Content
- Get oriented to the SDLT course toolkit, deal workflow, and using templates –> 5 lectures • 13min.
- Core SDLT foundations: scope, consideration, and key dates. –> 5 lectures • 23min.
- SDLT calculations: rate bands, stacking, and sanity-check method. –> 4 lectures • 17min.
- Investor gotchas: higher rates, non-resident, company and refund traps. –> 5 lectures • 26min.
- Mixed-use & small commercial: classification, VAT traps, evidence. –> 4 lectures • 16min.
- Reliefs & exemptions: eligibility, docs, and 6+ dwellings rule. –> 4 lectures • 24min.
- Equity transfers, gifts, inheritance, and investor structure red flags. –> 5 lectures • 22min.
- Leasehold SDLT: premium vs rent NPV, filing triggers, extensions. –> 5 lectures • 19min.
- Deal ops: deadlines, filing, evidence packs, corrections, penalties. –> 3 lectures • 8min.
- Capstone: run the end-to-end SDLT decision pack on real scenarios. –> 6 lectures • 29min.
Requirements
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
Stop guessing your deal costs. Learn SDLT pricing and red flags—so you don’t lose ROI at completion.
SDLT isn’t just a line item. It’s a deal variable that can break your numbers if you misclassify a property, miss a surcharge, or discover an issue too late.
This course is a practical, investor-focused playbook: worked examples, decision trees, and a step-by-step “deal ops” workflow you can use before you brief your conveyancer.
You’ll learn how to:
- Calculate SDLT for residential investor purchases (and understand when rules change for mixed-use/non-residential).
- Spot higher-rates and non-resident surcharge triggers early—and identify refund opportunities when buying before selling.
- Avoid the 17% corporate cliff-edge on £500k+ deals: when it may apply, and what to check before exchange.
- Run a completion-to-filing SOP: deadlines, evidence pack, and correction workflow.
- Classify mixed-use and small commercial deals and gather the evidence that supports the position.
You’ll also learn the “sanity-check” method investors use to verify calculator outputs, how to document your assumptions so your conveyancer can act quickly, and how to handle common real-world complications (ownership changes, timing issues, and facts that change after completion).
Includes a downloadable SDLT toolkit (Core Toolkit + templates):
- Investor SDLT Cheat Sheet: the key rules and “what changes the bill” shortcuts.
- Deal Intake Form: capture the facts your solicitor will ask for before you exchange.
- SDLT Calculation Workbook (Excel): compare scenarios and validate costs.
- Sanity-Check Checklist: a fast way to catch common calculator and input errors.
- Worked Examples Bank: reference scenarios you’ll actually encounter.
- Higher-Rates Decision Tree: quickly determine surcharge exposure and refund pathways.
- Completion-to-Filing Checklist: a step-by-step workflow to avoid deadline mistakes.
- Evidence-Folder Template: organize documents so corrections and audits are painless.