Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013 section 59

Meaning of "residential property"

Section 59 defines what counts as "residential property" and "non-residential property" for the purposes of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), including which types of buildings are treated as dwellings and which are not.

• Residential property includes dwellings (or buildings being built or converted for use as dwellings), their gardens and grounds, and any associated land rights benefiting such property.
• Certain institutional uses — such as school boarding accommodation, student residential accommodation (other than halls of residence), armed forces accommodation, and institutions where at least 90% of residents live permanently — are treated as dwellings and therefore count as residential property.
• Other institutional uses — including children's homes, university halls of residence, care homes, hospitals, hospices, prisons, and hotels — are expressly excluded from being treated as dwellings, meaning they fall into the non-residential category.
• Where six or more separate dwellings are bought or leased in a single transaction, they are treated as non-residential property rather than residential property for LBTT purposes.

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