The stamp duty land tax (SDLT) replaced stamp duty for most land transactions dated on or after 1 December 2003.

Under the new regime, purchasers or their representatives will:

- Receive a land transaction return certificate from the Inland Revenue as evidence that the SDLT on the transaction has been accounted for, or;

- The purchaser will need to sign a self-certificate form.

Those transactions exempt from the SDLT or outside the scope of the tax do not require any certificate.

To help solicitors during the transition between stamp duty and the SDLT, the Land Registry will not reject applications requiring new SDLT certificates until 2 January 2004.

Instead, it will accept the application and raise a requisition.

This period of grace allows one month so that solicitors may adjust to the new regime.

The registry recognises that there have been numerous changes in recent months and it will strive to provide good customer service.

However, the registry asks that whenever possible applications are complete when lodged because raising requisitions generates additional work, and will inevitably delay the completion of applications.

The Land Registry has already prepared a practice bulletin providing advice about what it will need from applicants at the time of registration.

It is important to remember that the original land transaction return certificate or the original self-certificate must be lodged.

If neither certificate is required, then in many cases solicitors will need to include a covering letter explaining why.

Practice bulletin 8 provides more detail.

For information about a particular transaction - for example, whether it requires a self-certificate - contact the Inland Revenue, tel: 0845 603 0135.

For more information about the Land Registry, the Land Registration Act and other developments affecting land registration, visit the registry's Web site at www.landregistry.co.uk.