I do not currently own any residential property but am now buying a house with a granny annex, will I have to pay the 5% surcharge?.

There is a special exemption where a “subsidiary dwelling “ is purchased with a house. As long as the smaller dwelling is purchased in the same transaction as the main dwelling, it is valued at less than one third of the total purchase price and it is within the grounds of the main house then you are not treated as buying two dwellings. However, there may still be an opportunity to benefit from multiple dwellings relief, which can lower the overall SDLT bill.