They will be linked if they form part of a single scheme, arrangement or series of transactions. In practice this means that they will almost always be linked. This is because the reality is likely to be that they form a ‘package’ in the sense that will probably be contracted for and conveyed together and most importantly, the total price is likely to have been influenced by the number of properties being bought. However, the Stamp Taxes Office seem to accept that in this type of situation where the properties could also have been purchased individually and it can be shown that there is no economic linkage so that the price of each individual property would be the same even if that property was the only property being purchased, then all other things being equal, there is no linkage for SDLT purposes.