Autumn Budget 2026: what property tax changes to expect

Chancellor John Healey will deliver the Autumn Budget on 28th October 2026, and property tax is already the story everyone in the market is watching. Between a confirmed rise in landlord income tax, briefings about a possible overhaul of stamp duty and council tax, and reports that a mansion tax threshold could be lowered, there is a lot of noise and not much certainty. Here is what is actually locked in, what is still speculation, and what it means if you are buying, selling or letting a property right now.

What is already confirmed

Two changes are already law and will happen regardless of what is announced on 28th October. It is worth separating these from the speculation below, because they are the ones you can actually plan for.

1. Landlord income tax rises from 6th April 2027: The basic, higher and additional rates of tax on property income will each go up by 2 percentage points, to 22%, 42% and 47%. This applies to individual landlords with unincorporated property businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland sets its own rates. If you run your portfolio through a limited company, this change does not apply to you in the same way, since corporate landlords are taxed differently.
2. A council tax surcharge on homes worth £2 million or more, from April 2028: This was confirmed at last year's Budget and adds up to £7,500 a year on top of existing council tax for the highest value homes. It is separate from any wider council tax reform still being discussed.

Neither of these needs a fresh announcement to take effect. They are coming, and the sensible move is to build them into your plans now rather than wait for October.

The bigger question: is stamp duty being replaced?

This is where things get speculative. Reports over the summer suggested the Treasury has been modelling options to overhaul the entire property tax system, potentially replacing stamp duty land tax and council tax with a single annual property levy charged as a percentage of a home's value. One version being discussed would apply a rate of roughly 0.44% on value up to £500,000, rising in bands for higher value homes. The idea is that buyers would pay less, or nothing, upfront, in exchange for an ongoing annual charge instead of the current one-off tax at purchase.

The government has since pushed back on the idea that this is coming in this Budget. The Prime Minister has ruled out scrapping or restructuring stamp duty at the October event, and officials have rejected reports that stamp duty and council tax will be merged into a single property tax at this stage. That said, the direction of travel matters. Both the new Chancellor and the Prime Minister have previously spoken in favour of reforming property taxation more broadly, so this is very unlikely to be the last time the idea comes up. It is a live debate, just not one that appears to be reaching a conclusion this October.

There has also been speculation that the £2 million mansion tax threshold mentioned above could be lowered to £1.5 million, pulling more homes into the surcharge. This has not been confirmed by the government and should be treated as exactly that: speculation, not policy.

None of this is new territory for stamp duty. MPs have called for reform before, and the tax has been tinkered with regularly for years. What is different this time is the scale of what is reportedly on the table, which is why it is generating so much attention.

Why the speculation itself is a problem

Even without a single confirmed change, uncertainty like this has a habit of freezing decisions. Buyers wonder whether to rush a purchase through before October in case rules change, or hold off in case a new system turns out to be cheaper for them. Sellers of higher value homes face the same dilemma in reverse. This pattern is familiar from past stamp duty deadlines, when transaction volumes spiked just before a change and slumped immediately after, as buyers rearranged their timing around the tax rather than their actual housing need.

The honest answer is that nobody outside government currently knows what, if anything, will be announced on property tax on 28th October. Basing a decision to buy or sell on a rumoured policy that may not happen is a risky way to plan a move.

What it means if you are buying

Today's stamp duty rules apply to your purchase, not whatever might replace them. If you are a first-time buyer weighing up whether to proceed now or wait, remember that even in the most reform-minded scenario, any new system would need primary legislation and a transition period. Waiting on the chance of a better deal could mean waiting well over a year, during which you carry on paying rent and missing out on the home you actually want.

What it means if you are selling

If your home is worth £2 million or more, the confirmed council tax surcharge from April 2028 is worth factoring into your pricing and timing conversations with buyers, since it will affect their ongoing costs and therefore what they are prepared to offer. For everyone else, the immediate stamp duty rules have not changed, so there is no tax reason to delay a sale that otherwise makes sense. If you are selling your home, a flat-fee service gives you a fixed cost regardless of how the wider tax debate plays out.

What it means if you are a landlord

The confirmed 2 percentage point rise in property income tax from April 2027 is the change to plan for now, not the speculative reforms. Run the numbers on your portfolio at the new rates and decide whether your pricing, structure or strategy needs to change well before the deadline rather than in a rush next spring. If you are considering selling a buy-to-let as part of that planning, it is worth understanding the capital gains tax you could owe before you commit to a sale date, since that calculation can shift the numbers as much as the income tax change itself. If you decide to keep letting, keeping your costs predictable matters more than ever.

The bottom line

Two property tax changes are confirmed and coming regardless of what happens on 28th October: the landlord income tax rise from April 2027 and the council tax surcharge on £2 million-plus homes from April 2028. Everything else, including talk of scrapping stamp duty for a new property levy or lowering the mansion tax threshold, is speculation that the government has not confirmed and has partly denied. Plan around what is actually happening, not around what might be announced, and treat any headline from Budget day itself as the moment to update your plans, not before.

Whatever the Budget brings, Moovehub keeps your costs simple and predictable. Landlords can use our tenant find service or our fully managed service to keep letting straightforward, and homeowners thinking of moving can get a fixed, flat fee through our sell your home service.