Residential Development Stamp Duty Refund Scheme

Building work

Commencing building work

You must have planning permission and a valid Commencement Notice before you can commence building work. When you receive your planning permission, you should submit a Commencement Notice to your Local Authority. You should be ready to start building before submitting a Commencement Notice to your Local Authority.

Your Local Authority must acknowledge the notice as valid before you start building work. You cannot claim a refund if you commence building work before the Local Authority acknowledges the Commencement Notice as valid.

To qualify for a refund of Stamp Duty, you must commence building work:

• in line with the Commencement Notice that has been acknowledged as valid
• within 30 months after the date the land was transferred to you
• and
• on, or before, 31 December 2025.

Where you complete a multi-unit development in phases, the commencement rule is different. You must commence building work on the first phase within 30 months after the date the land was transferred to you. Subsequent phases can commence outside the initial 30-month period, but all phases must commence on, or before, 31 December 2025. 

Building work commences when the following occurs:

• site clearance
• drainage
• earth-moving
• excavation
• and
• the laying of foundations.

It also includes the provision of access such as roads.

Completing building work

You must complete building work within 30 months of the Local Authority acknowledging your Commencement Notice as valid. This is to qualify for a refund of Stamp Duty.

Where a multi-unit development is carried out in phases, the 30-month completion period applies to each phase. The 30-months begin on the date the Commencement Notice for a phase is deemed valid by the Local Authority. Work on all phases must be completed on, or before, 30 June 2028.

When you complete multi-unit building work, you must submit a ‘Certificate of Compliance on Completion’ to your Local Authority. The completion date is the date your Local Authority registers the certificate.   

If you build a single dwelling unit, you can opt out of the Local Authority certification process. If you opt out, the completion date is the date of the ‘Electrical Completion Certificate’. You receive this certificate when the house is connected to the electricity network.

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