Multiple Dwellings Relief abolished
Multiple Dwellings Relief was abolished for SDLT transactions completing on or after 1 June 2024. MDR previously allowed buyers of two or more dwellings in a single transaction to pay SDLT on the average price per dwelling rather than the total. It is no longer available for current purchases.
Last reviewed 16 May 2026.
What MDR did
MDR was a special calculation rule that helped landlords and developers buying portfolios. When you bought two or more dwellings in a single transaction (or a linked series of transactions), you could calculate SDLT on the average price per dwelling and multiply by the number of dwellings.
Example under the old rules: a developer buying five flats for £1m total had an average price of £200,000 per flat. SDLT was calculated on £200,000 (standard residential bands) and then multiplied by five. With the 5% additional-property surcharge it came to about £62,500, far less than the £140,000 a single £1m purchase would have attracted at the time.
Why it was abolished
HMRC consistently saw MDR claimed in marginal cases. The clearest example was the "granny annexe" claim: a buyer of a single family home with a self-contained annexe argued that the annexe was a separate dwelling, halving the effective rate. Tribunal cases like Fiander v HMRC narrowed the definition of "dwelling" but the volume of marginal claims continued.
The 2024 Spring Budget announced abolition, citing both the abuse problem and the original policy intent, to encourage build-to-rent investment, having drifted. MDR ended for transactions with effective dates on or after 1 June 2024.
What replaced it?
Nothing. There is no successor relief. Bulk purchases of residential property are now taxed at full residential rates plus the additional-property surcharge.
There is one carve-out: bulk residential purchases of six or more dwellings can still be treated as non-residential for SDLT purposes, which means commercial bands (capped at 5%) rather than residential bands plus 5% surcharge. This was not part of MDR and continues unchanged. Below six dwellings, the residential treatment applies.
Transactions exchanged before but completing after the cut-off
Transitional provisions protect contracts exchanged on or before 6 March 2024 (the date of the Spring Budget) that complete after 1 June 2024. If your contract was exchanged before that date and your purchase otherwise qualifies, MDR can still apply. This affects very few buyers in practice.
What to do now
For any current purchase, calculate SDLT on the total purchase price using residential bands and the additional-property surcharge (or non-residential bands if buying six or more dwellings as a single transaction). MDR should not be claimed and any SDLT1 return claiming it will be rejected for transactions with an effective date on or after 1 June 2024.