SDLTM10025 - Introduction: Scope of stamp duty land tax on leases: Pre- implementation leases

A lease that is expressly granted, or is treated as having been granted, for the first time on or after 1 December 2003 is potentially chargeable to stamp duty land tax (SDLT).

Transactions which are treated as grants of a new lease for SDLT purposes include:

  • renewal
  • extension and
  • variation of a lease (amounting to surrender and regrant (refer to SDLTM14120))

Where the effective date of these transactions is on or after 1 December 2003, they are subject to the SDLT provisions. Refer to SDLTM10045 for further details.

A lease will not be subject to SDLT if it was granted before 1 December 2003 but continues after that date because it:

  • continues by operation of law e.g. under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954
  • is a statutory periodic lease (e.g. assured shorthold tenancy) which continues after the expiration of the fixed term or
  • is otherwise held over.