We received a letter out of the blue claiming we may have overpaid stamp duty - can we really get a partial refund?

In March 2026, we moved house and paid a stamp duty bill of more than £50,000. Recently, we received a letter out of the blue with 'property tax adjustment – important information enclosed', written on the envelope.It put me in a mild panic when I saw it. But inside is a letter on expensive paper plugging a website sdlttax.com.It says: Most people pay too much stamp duty. Find out why and how to get it back. The company knows the date we bought the house. It goes on to say: 'Stamp duty is only paid on land and buildings, not on contents.'Yet in every purchase, there are contents on which stamp duty should not be paid. If you paid stamp duty on the full purchase price, you paid too much, and could claim a refund.'You'll normally get your money back within six weeks. Our average refund is worth thousands of pounds.'It goes on to claim that since 2020, it has obtained thousands of refunds, valued at tens of millions of pounds. It also claims they can send an inspector round for a 45-minute survey and that we have until March 2027 to establish if we've overpaid. Too good to be true? Our reader is wondering whether they could be due a stamp duty refundWe're incredibly sceptical of unsolicited posts like this – and it also contains a QR code we have no intention of scanning.At the bottom, it says SDLT Tax is the trading name of MJS Tax Advisory Limited, based in Wiltshire, but with a London phone number. It also claims it is regulated by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and says if there is no refund, no fee is due. But doesn't say what the fee is if successful.Our new home does have plenty of high-end carpets, blinds, curtains and light fittings. The seller also included a high-end freestanding Rangemaster cooker that costs around £4,500 to buy new. They also included their freestanding washing machine and tumble dryer, which we think would cost around £1,500 to buy again.Ed Magnus of This is Money replies: What the letter says is not wrong but it does rather sound too good to be true – and since writing to me, you've received a second similar letter from a different firm.HMRC's advice on the matter is that homeowners should be cautious when receiving letters from firms promising stamp duty land tax (SDLT) refunds. They warn it could encourage customers to make improper claims.It's also pretty easy to personally claim SDLT refunds yourself online and keep all of any refund due.HMRC says SDLT is charged on land and buildings, not on contents, so where part of a property's sale price relates to certain contents, the buyer can amend their return within 12 months of the filing deadline, or make an overpayment relief claim within four years after that. The official guidance states that chattels are exempt from SDLT. These are essentially moveable contents such as carpets, curtains, blinds, light shades, free standing furniture and kitchen white goods – unless fully integrated.It says if someone agrees to buy a property for a price that includes an amount properly attributed to these chattels, that amount will not be subject to SDLT.However, the buyer must provide evidence from the conveyancing process showing this has come about from a separate negotiation for those chattels, for example, by being listed and priced in the sales contract. Simply showing that there were some chattels in the property when it was sold would not be considered sufficient evidence.The buyer would need to show that the purchase of these items was separate to the purchase of the land and property, and documented at the time of the transaction.According to HMRC, the following items will not normally be regarded as chattels; fitted kitchen units, cupboards, sinks, agas, wall mounted ovens, fitted bathrooms sanitary ware, central heating systems and intruder alarm systems. For expert advice, we spoke to tax expert Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates Ltd and Mark Barrett, tax specialist at Property Tax Advice.We also approached HM Revenue & Customs and Michael Brownsdon, director of SDLT Tax (MJS Tax Advisory Limited) the company that sent our reader the letter.What do tax experts make of this letter? Dan Neidle replies: Lots of people receive letters like this. Some people have saved tax. But quite a lot of people have ended up losing significant amounts of money.The basic idea is correct. Stamp duty isn't generally charged on the part of the purchase price genuinely attributable to contents such as furniture, carpets, curtains and non-integrated appliances.But there are two gotchas.First, the values must be realistic secondhand values, reflecting age and condition – not what those items cost new. Used curtains, even fancy ones, can be worth surprisingly little.Second, these days HMRC expects evidence from the original purchase that a genuine part of the price was attributable to the contents. If you don't have that evidence, this becomes very high risk.That risk becomes your problem. These firms typically charge 20 per cent or more of the refund – if you receive £10,000, they'll charge £2,000. So they have an obvious incentive to maximise the claim.What many people have found is they receive the refund, pay the 20 per cent fee, and then, months or even years later, HMRC investigates it. At that point, they have to pay the refund back, plus interest and potentially penalties. That's the whole refund – in the example above, they'd have to repay £10,000 even though they only saw £8,000.Whether you can recover the fee or obtain help defending the claim depends on the firm's terms and whether it is still around. Often, these firms are unregulated, fly-by-night outfits and will have happily disappeared with their fees.I would be extremely cautious and only proceed if you have advice in writing from a solicitor or qualified tax adviser with stamp duty expertise. Check who is professionally accountable for the advice, whether their professional indemnity insurance covers this work, and what their contract says about HMRC challenges and repayment of fees.And you want a firm that's regulated by a body that regulates tax advisors. Solicitors or chartered accountants, great. Surveyors or plumbers, not so much. Cautious: Tax expert Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates Ltd says people who receive a refund often face an HMRC investigation later onMark Barrett adds: Your reader refers to having received a sales letter where they might be able to claim an SDLT rebate due to the purchase of property including some household items; there are several aspects which the reader needs to understand.Firstly, he needs to be congratulated for his hesitation in accepting at face value what was said in the sales letter he received. HMRC have warned taxpayers as long ago as July 2025.This wasn't specifically about the style of approach he's had, but is a general warning that people are targeted by people claiming that they can achieve SDLT and Capital Allowance tax rebates.The sales letter that the reader received refers to a discount for the furnishings, and indeed, it is possible that if there is a 'just and reasonable apportionment is required where a price is paid partly for a land transaction and partly for a non-land transaction such as the purchase of chattels', then SDLT should not be paid on the price paid for Chattels. So on the face of the sales pitch, there is merit in their suggestion, but as it says in the Finance Act 2003, this allocation of value to the chattels is acceptable '..as long as the purchaser can provide contemporaneous evidence from the conveyancing process that the attribution is genuine and arises from a separate negotiation for those chattels, for example by being expressly identified and priced in the sale contract. Simply showing that there were some chattels in the property when it was sold would not be considered sufficient evidence.So well done that reader, you've been cautious and it would be in your best interest to approach an independent property specialist accountant if you feel that there is a valid claim you can make, and let them handle it at a fixed, pre-agreed fee, and you'll also then be covered by their professional indemnity and insurance. Mark Barrett, tax specialist at Property Tax Advice ltd says that just showing there were some chattels in the property when it was sold would not be deemed sufficient evidenceWhat about HMRC and the company that sent the letter? An HMRC spokesperson replies: We urge homebuyers to be cautious of repayment agents offering to make SDLT repayment claims for them in return for a fee. If the claim is inaccurate, they may need to repay the SDLT in full, including any agent fees, interest and a potential penalty charge.Michael Brownsdon of SDLT Tax replies: Your reader can claim this themselves. There is no requirement to use an adviser. The value placed on the contents has to be just and reasonable and properly evidenced. HMRC checks these claims, so buyers should keep a clear record of what was included in the sale; the fittings and contents form agreed with the seller is usually the starting point.Many buyers use a specialist because valuing the contents at the date of purchase, and supporting that figure if HMRC asks, is specialist work. Our fee is 25 per cent of any savings secured, plus VAT, confirmed in writing before any work starts, and nothing is payable if no refund is obtained.We write to recent buyers using HM Land Registry's publicly available price-paid data, which is how we know the purchase date. We take the reader's point about the envelope wording and are reviewing it.Have you successfully (or unsuccessfully) claimed a stamp duty refund? 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