Buying in Dublin vs the UK: costs and taxes

Ireland lets you in for 1% stamp duty and no questions about your passport. What it limits is how much you can borrow. Back home it's the other way round: lenders decide, and the taxman charges extra if you live abroad or own a second home.

The short version

Irish stamp duty on a home is 1% up to EUR 1 million, with no surcharge for foreign buyers or second homes [6]. On a EUR 360,000 house that's EUR 3,600 (about £3,000).
The same money back home costs much more. A £300,000 house in England costs £11,000 in stamp duty if you buy while living abroad, and £26,000 if you also own a home in Dublin [1].
The Central Bank caps Irish mortgages at 4 times income for first-time buyers and 3.5 times for everyone else, with at least a 10% deposit [8].
Local Property Tax is modest: EUR 333 a year (about £280) at the basic rate for a home valued between EUR 315,001 and EUR 420,000 [7]. Second homes in England can pay double council tax [2].
Irish capital gains tax is 33%, against 18% or 24% in the UK, but a main home is exempt in both countries [4][9][10].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.20).

What a Brit can buy in Dublin, compared

Nothing stops a Brit buying in Ireland. There's no approval, no foreign-buyer tax and, thanks to the Common Travel Area, no question about your right to live in the home you buy. That makes Dublin one of the easiest places in the world for a Brit to buy property.

Most Irish houses are owned outright (freehold), and flats in a managed development come with a management company and annual service charges, which feels a lot like a leasehold flat back home. Older Dublin houses sometimes sit on long leases too, a hangover from the city's history, so your solicitor checks the title either way. Our guide to buying a home in Dublin covers Help to Buy, the First Home scheme and the step-by-step process.

In England and Wales, anyone can buy as well. Houses are usually freehold and flats usually leasehold, with a freeholder and service charges. The big difference isn't who can buy, but what it costs you to buy if you live abroad.

Upfront costs side by side

We've used a EUR 360,000 house in Dublin and a £300,000 house back home: about the same money at our rate.

	Dublin (house, EUR 360,000)	England (house, £300,000)
Foreign-buyer surcharge	None [6]	2% if you weren't in the UK for 183 days in the 12 months before buying [1]
Stamp duty, standard	1%: EUR 3,600 (about £3,000) [6]	£5,000 [1]
Buying while living abroad, no other home	EUR 3,600	£11,000 [1]
Keeping or buying another home anywhere	EUR 3,600	£20,000 if you're UK resident, £26,000 if you're also non-resident [1]
First-time buyer relief	None (Help to Buy helps with new builds instead)	Nothing to pay up to £300,000, but the 2% still applies if you're non-resident [1]
Legal fees	Solicitor, plus VAT, searches and Land Registry fees	Solicitor or conveyancer, searches, Land Registry fee

That's quite a gap. Ireland has 2% on the slice between EUR 1 million and EUR 1.5 million and 6% above that, but a family home in Clontarf or Drumcondra rarely gets there [6]. England's 5% higher rate, by contrast, counts residential property you own anywhere in the world worth £40,000 or more, so the Dublin house you keep makes a later UK purchase an "additional" one [1]. If you buy as a non-resident and then spend 183 days in the UK within a year, you can claim the 2% back.

Scotland and Wales do their own thing. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax with a flat Additional Dwelling Supplement on top for second homes, and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax with its own higher rates for additional homes. Neither has a 2% non-resident surcharge.

Financing: Irish bank or UK lender?

In Ireland, the Central Bank of Ireland sets hard limits for every lender: 4 times gross income for first-time buyers and 3.5 times for second and subsequent buyers, with a 10% minimum deposit, and 30% for buy-to-let [8]. Lenders can go over the limits on a rationed slice of their lending. Irish banks want an Irish job and bank history; income paid in sterling by a UK employer, or living outside Ireland, makes it a much harder sell. If you owned a flat in Leeds years ago, you'll usually count as a second-time buyer, which caps you at 3.5 times.

Back home, a UK mortgage while you live in Dublin is possible, but many high-street lenders won't count euro income. Specialist lenders will, usually with a bigger deposit and with FCA foreign-currency loan rules in the background. Our guide to UK mortgages for Brits living abroad explains how it works.

The Irish rules are a ceiling, not a target. The UK has no fixed ceiling, but lenders' own affordability tests often end up in a similar place.

Owning it: property tax and running costs

In Dublin, you pay Local Property Tax, based on your own valuation of the home. For 2026 to 2030 the bands run from the value on 1 November 2025 [7]. A home worth EUR 315,001 to EUR 420,000 pays a basic EUR 333 a year (about £280), and EUR 420,001 to EUR 525,000 pays EUR 428 (about £355) [7]. Councils can move the basic rate up or down by 15%: Dublin City Council is at the basic rate, while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown charges 15% less [7]. Add management fees for a flat, bin charges and insurance.

In England, council tax is usually several times that for a similar home. And since 1 April 2025 councils can charge a premium of up to 100% on second homes; in 2025, 211 of 296 authorities did so, all at the full 100% [2]. A UK house left empty while you're in Dublin can cost twice the normal bill.

Letting your UK home puts you in the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme. If your usual home is outside the UK, your letting agent (or a tenant paying more than £100 a week) takes basic-rate tax off the rent each quarter unless HMRC approves you to receive it gross [5]. You apply on form NRL1. Our guide to renting out your UK home has the details. Ireland will want to tax the same rent too if you're Irish resident, with credit for the UK tax.

Tax when you sell

The Ireland side

Ireland's capital gains tax rate is 33%, with an annual exemption of just EUR 1,270 [10]. That's a lot higher than the UK, but a home you've lived in as your main residence the whole time is exempt under principal private residence relief [9]. The last 12 months of ownership always count, and time away working with all your duties outside Ireland can count as living there [9]. Let it out for a few years and only part of the gain is covered.

On a EUR 60,000 gain on a flat you never lived in, the bill would be about EUR 19,380 (about £16,150). If a house sells for more than EUR 1 million, the buyer must hold back 15% unless you produce a CGT clearance certificate [10].

The UK side

Selling a UK home while you live in Dublin. Non-residents pay UK capital gains tax on UK property and must report every sale to HMRC within 60 days of completion, even with no tax due [3]. For 2025/26 and 2026/27 the rates are 18% and 24%, with a £3,000 annual exempt amount [4]. Private residence relief can cover your years living there, but the rules for years abroad are tight. See our guide to selling UK property as a non-resident.

Ireland may also look at that gain if you're Irish resident. Brits living in Ireland who aren't Irish domiciled can often be taxed on foreign gains only when the money is brought into Ireland, but that's a point for a tax adviser who knows both countries.

Selling the Dublin house after moving home. As a UK resident you're taxed on gains anywhere in the world. Ireland taxes gains on Irish land whoever sells, so you may pay in both countries; the UK–Ireland double taxation convention and UK foreign tax credit relief stop you paying twice in full. Since Irish CGT is higher, the UK top-up is often nil, but work the gain out in pounds.

Which makes sense for whom

On a two- or three-year posting. Rent. Irish stamp duty is cheap, but selling costs, the 33% CGT on any let period and the borrowing limits make a short stay a poor fit.
Settling in Dublin with a family. Buying a main home can make sense: low stamp duty, modest LPT and no Irish CGT on a home you've lived in. Build up Irish payslips and bank history first.
Keeping the UK house. Sort the NRL1 before the first rent arrives, and remember a UK property you keep makes you a second-time buyer under the Central Bank rules.
Planning to come back to the UK. Selling in Dublin before you buy back home means you buy without the 5% higher rate.

Fancy comparing notes on lenders, solicitors and LPT bands? Ask in our community group for Brits in Ireland.

Buying in Dublin vs back in the UK: cheap stamp duty, tight mortgage rules