Client terms

These terms apply when you, as a homebuyer, use our online check. Please read them before you pay. In short:

Stamp checks how stamp duty is likely to apply to your purchase, based on your answers. It isn't tax advice.
You can cancel and get a full refund until your result is issued. Once it's issued, the check is complete and the fee can't be refunded (section 6).
If your result is non-standard, you can choose an independent tax adviser from our panel. Your contract for advice is with that adviser, not with us (section 8).
You're legally responsible for paying the right amount of stamp duty, so your answers need to be accurate (section 4).
Our liability is limited to the greater of your fee and £1,000 (section 7).

1. Who we are

Stamp.Expert ("Stamp", "we", "us") is run by Stamp Expert Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16479048). Registered office: Unit 14 Hoddesdon Enterprise Centre, Pindar Road, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire EN11 0FJ. Trading address: Oru Space, 7 Throwley Way, Sutton, London SM1 4AF. VAT number: 508345201.

2. What the check is

2.1 The check is an online questionnaire. You answer questions about your purchase. Stamp applies stamp duty rules for England and Northern Ireland to your answers, and gives you a result:

Standard: nothing in your answers suggests your stamp duty could be different. Your result shows one stamp duty figure, based on your answers, with a certificate recording your answers.
Non-standard: something in your answers can change how much stamp duty you pay, such as owning other property, not selling your previous home, buying through a company, or a purchase connected with a divorce or an inheritance. Your result shows a low and a high figure, the reason, and the option of advice from an independent adviser.

2.2 We send your result, a record of your answers and the time you gave them to you and to the firm that sent you the link (for example, your conveyancer or mortgage broker).

2.3 Stamp is not a law firm or a firm of tax advisers, and has no in-house advisers. A result is not tax advice, and it isn't an SDLT return. Your conveyancer prepares and files the return.

2.4 Stamp only covers purchases of property in England and Northern Ireland. It doesn't cover Scotland or Wales.

3. Our contract with you

3.1 When you pay for the check (or, if your firm pays, when you accept these terms and start), you make a contract with Stamp Expert Limited on these terms. We email you a confirmation.

3.2 If your firm pays for your check instead of you, there's no fee for you to pay us. These terms still apply, except the parts about paying and refunds.

3.3 If you're buying as a business (for example, through a company), sections 6 and 7.1 don't apply to you. Section 7.2 also excludes loss of profit and indirect loss, and our liability is limited as in section 7.3.

3.4 This contract is in English. To make it, you answer a few questions, review the fee, tick the boxes and pay. You can go back and correct your details before you pay. We keep a copy of the contract and email it to you.

3.5 If you don't ask us to start straight away (see section 6), your check opens once the 14-day cancellation period has ended.

4. Your answers

4.1 Your result depends on your answers, so please answer carefully and truthfully. If you aren't sure what a question means, read the help text or ask the firm that sent you the link.

4.2 If something changes, or you realise an answer was wrong, your result may no longer be right. Tell your conveyancer and run the check again. There's no fee for a recalculation.

4.3 You're legally responsible for paying the right amount of stamp duty, even when someone else prepares your return. Wrong answers could mean you pay too much, or too little and then owe HMRC the difference, with interest and possibly a penalty. We aren't responsible for a result that's wrong because an answer was wrong or incomplete.

5. Price and payment

5.1 The fee for the check is shown before you pay. It includes any VAT. You pay by card or digital wallet through our payment provider, and we don't see or store your full card details.

5.2 Part of the check fee, or of the amount Stamp receives from a panel adviser, may be paid to the firm or business that introduced you to Stamp. This doesn't change what you pay. Ask that firm if you'd like to know more.

6. Cancelling and refunds for the check

6.1 You have a legal right to cancel within 14 days after the day you pay. Because the check is something you can complete straight away, we ask you at checkout whether you want us to start immediately. If you do:

you can cancel and get a full refund at any time before your result is issued
once your result is issued, the check has been fully provided, and you lose your right to cancel

6.2 To cancel, email support@stamp.expert or use the form at the end of these terms, quoting your check reference. We refund you within 14 days, using the same payment method.

6.3 We also give a full refund if a fault on our side stops your result being issued.

6.4 None of this affects your rights in section 7.

7. Your rights if something goes wrong

7.1 The law says we must provide the check with reasonable care and skill, and as we've described it. If we don't, contact us. We will fix it, for example by correcting and re-issuing your result. If we can't, we'll give you some or all of your money back.

7.2 We're responsible for loss you suffer that was a foreseeable result of us breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We aren't responsible for:

loss that wasn't foreseeable
the stamp duty itself. Tax you owe by law isn't a loss caused by us, even if a result was wrong.
business losses
the advice or services of a panel adviser, or of your conveyancer or broker

7.3 Our total liability to you for a check is limited to the greater of the fee you paid and £1,000.

7.4 Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else we can't limit by law. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer. For free advice, contact Citizens Advice (0808 223 1133) or, in Northern Ireland, Consumerline (0300 123 6262).

8. Advice from the panel

8.1 If your result is non-standard, you can choose to see the independent tax advisers on our panel. Each is a separate firm that has met our panel criteria. The criteria apply to the firm and to each adviser who signs off advice to clients, and include current professional body membership, stamp duty experience, professional indemnity insurance held by the firm, and a clean disciplinary record. You can compare them by fee, location and profile. The choice is yours, and taking advice is optional.

8.2 Who you contract with. When you instruct an adviser, your contract for advice is with that adviser, on its own terms of engagement, which we show you before you pay. Stamp isn't a party to that contract and doesn't give the advice. The adviser is responsible for its advice and has its own complaints procedure.

8.3 Your details. When you instruct an adviser, we send them your contact details, your answers, your result and your check reference, so they can advise you. This is part of the service you've asked for. Before you confirm your instruction, we tell you what we'll send.

8.4 The adviser's fee. The adviser sets its fee, including any VAT, and it's shown before you pay. You pay it to Stamp, and we collect it as the adviser's agent. Paying us counts as paying the adviser. Each adviser pays Stamp a share of its fee for using our platform. This doesn't change what you pay.

8.5 Refunds of the adviser's fee:

Until the adviser accepts your instruction on the platform, you can cancel and we'll give you a full refund.
If the adviser declines your instruction, we'll give you a full refund, or help you choose another adviser if you prefer.
Once the adviser has accepted your instruction, cancellation and refunds are governed by the adviser's terms and your legal rights against the adviser. These include your 14-day right to cancel. If you asked the adviser to start straight away and cancel within 14 days, you may have to pay for the work already done.

8.6 If you decide not to take advice. If your result is non-standard and you don't want advice, we'll ask you to confirm that you've read a short risk warning. It explains that your stamp duty may be different from what you expect, that you're responsible for paying the right amount, and that HMRC can charge interest and penalties on stamp duty that's paid late or underpaid. Your confirmation is time-stamped, and a copy is sent to you and to the firm that sent you the link.

9. Using the check

Your link is for your purchase only. Please don't share it, or try to copy, reverse-engineer or misuse the check. Your link expires after a set time. If you've paid and it expires before your result is issued, we'll refund you in full.

10. Your information

Our Privacy notice explains how we use your personal information.

11. Complaints

If you're unhappy with Stamp, please tell us. Our Complaints procedure explains how we deal with complaints and what to do if you're still not satisfied. Complaints about a panel adviser's advice go to that adviser, under its own complaints procedure.

12. Other important terms

12.1 We may transfer this contract to another organisation, but your rights won't be reduced. We'll tell you if we do.

12.2 Only you and we have rights under this contract.

12.3 If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.

12.4 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. You can bring proceedings in the courts of England and Wales or, if you live in Northern Ireland, in the courts of Northern Ireland. If you live in Northern Ireland, you also keep the protection of Northern Ireland law.

Cancellation form

Complete and return this form only if you want to cancel your check. Email it to support@stamp.expert.

To Stamp Expert Limited, Oru Space, 7 Throwley Way, Sutton, London SM1 4AF, support@stamp.expert:

I give notice that I cancel my contract with Stamp Expert Limited for the check.

Check reference:
Ordered on (date) / received on (date):
Name:
Address:
Signature (only if sent on paper):
Date: