Buying a home is not as simple as paying the asking price. There are always extra expenses involved.
It’s sensible to keep around 15% of the value of your new house aside for any additional buying costs.
From the legal legwork to mortgage fees, removals and stamp duty, we take a look at the extra expenses involved with moving.
Here's a snapshot of the typical costs incurred when buying a home:
| Type of cost | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| Conveyancer/ solicitor’s fees | £2,000 |
| Mortgage arrangement fees | £1,000 to £2,000+ |
| Mortgage booking fee | £100 to £200 |
| Valuation fee | £150 to £800 |
| Property survey | £400 to £1,500 |
| Removals | £150 to £2,000+ |
| Stamp duty | 0% to 12% of home value |
1. Solicitor’s fees
Allow £2,000
Legal fees are one of the biggest extra costs when buying a home. But they’re absolutely worth the money.
Most people hire a solicitor to handle the legal aspects of buying a home, otherwise known as conveyancing.
Fees can vary, but allow up to £2,000. And make sure you get a quote upfront before any work begins.
Some solicitors charge by the hour, while others will do the job for a set amount. They may even calculate their fee as a percentage of the property you’re buying.
So, let’s take a look at what your fees are buying you:
Conveyancing
Conveyancing usually includes:
The drawing up of contracts between you and the seller
Organising your stamp duty payment
The payment transfer for your new property
Find out more about what a property lawyer does to help you buy a home.
Searches
Allow £200 - £300
Your conveyancer will also commission your local authority searches.
This includes checking for things like flooding risk, if the property’s near a contaminated area or if there are any plans for new road developments.
Search costs are usually included in the conveyancer's fee. But if not, they should be around £200 to £300.
Find out more about searches and what you can expect to find out from them.
Land Registry documents
As part of the conveyancing process, your solicitor will check the details of the previous owner, confirm the property boundaries and if the home sits on any public rights of way.
They will also handle the deeds to your home. This means registering them in your name.
Find an outstanding conveyancer
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2. Mortgage fees
Mortgage booking fees: allow £100 to £200
Some banks or building societies charge you a “booking” fee for your mortgage.
This is a fee you pay as soon as you agree to take out your mortgage loan. It essentially means you’ve reserved your mortgage deal while your home purchase goes through.
A mortgage booking fee is also known as an application or reservation fee. It is non-refundable if your property purchase falls through.
Mortgage arrangement fee: allow £1,000 - £2,000
When a bank or building society agrees to give you a mortgage, they are likely to charge you a fee to set it up.
The cost of mortgage arrangement fees vary depending on the type of mortgage, the value of it and the rate of interest you agree to pay.
You could be charged up to £2,000 to arrange your mortgage, although the average is about £1,000.
If you don’t have a spare couple of grand around, an arrangement fee can be added on to what you’re borrowing. But remember, you will then have to pay interest on it.
Often deals with the lowest interest rates have the highest fees attached.
The low rates are designed to catch your eye, but you can work out the true value of the loan by comparing the fee, interest rate and length of the deal.
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Valuation fees: allow £150 - £800
When you apply for a mortgage, your lender will need to value the home you want to buy to make sure it’s worth what you want to pay for it.
Not all lenders charge for a valuation as they’re sometimes included in your mortgage deal.
If you do need to pay, the cost will vary depending on the value of what you’re buying. On a £300,000 home for example, a typical cost will be around £200.
Sometimes, you may need a valuation conducted by a RICS surveyor, for Help to Buy properties for example. That might cost between £150 to £800.
In Scotland, mortgage valuations work differently as they’re included upfront in a home report.
While you're thinking about your mortgage costs, it's worth working out your monthly repayments. Our mortgage calculator can help you understand what you'll pay once you're in your new home.
Mortgage calculator
Work out what your monthly mortgage payments could be with our mortgage calculator.
3. Survey costs
Allow £400 - £1,500
Before you buy any home, it’s always worth getting a survey done.
A survey could end up saving you thousands in the long run. Or stop you making a big mistake if it uncovers a lot of problems.
There are three main types of survey to choose from when buying a home. And depending on which one you go for, costs can range from £400 to £1500.
Level 1 survey: A Condition Report (£400 - £950)
A Condition Report is a basic survey that gives an overview of the property’s overall condition. It reports any big issues but doesn’t go into detail.
Level 2 survey: A HomeBuyer Report (£400 - £1,000)
A HomeBuyer Report is suitable for the majority of modern, conventional properties that are in a reasonable condition and less than 50 years old.
Level 3 survey: A Building Survey (£600 - £1,500)
A Building Survey is the most comprehensive survey available and provides an in-depth inspection.
Particularly useful for older homes, they're more expensive but could well be worth the cost.
Find out more about surveys and the options available in this guide.
4. Stamp duty costs
Allow 0-12% of the property price
Stamp duty land tax - or SDLT - is a tax charged by HMRC when you buy a house, flat or land in England and Northern Ireland.
The amount of tax you’ll pay depends on the price of the property. It’s worked out as a percentage - and that percentage increases as the price of the property goes up.
Any property or land that’s under £250,000 is exempt.
For first-time buyers the first £425,000 of the property they're buying is exempt. But, if the home is worth more than £625,000, then first-time buyers have to pay the normal rates.
SDLT rates apply to the amount of the property price that falls within each tax band, as shown below.
First-time buyer stamp duty rates
| Property price | Percentage of stamp duty paid |
|---|---|
| £0 - £425,000 | 0% |
| £425,000 - £625,000 | 5% |
| £625,000+ | Normal stamp duty rates apply |
Stamp duty rates for everyone else
For all other buyers and home movers, the first £250,000 of the property you're buying is exempt from from the tax.
Then you pay 5% on the portion between £250,000 - £925,000, 10% on the portion between £925,000 and £1.5 million and 12% on the portion above £1.5 million.
| Property price | Stamp Duty percentage to pay |
|---|---|
| £0 – £250,000 | 0% |
| £250,000 - £925,000 | 5% |
| £925,000 - £1,500,000 | 10% |
| £1,500,000+ | 12% |
Still got questions? Find out more about stamp duty and how it’s calculated in our guide.
Scotland has a land and buildings transaction tax rather than SDLT and the rules are slightly different. Find out more about the Scottish housing system and land tax here.
In Wales, SDLT has been replaced by Land Transaction Tax. It’s payable on property that costs more than £180,000. Find out more about the Welsh property tax here.
5. Removal costs
Allow £150 to £2,000+
Moving your stuff yourself might save you money, but it can be really stressful.
You can hire a van from £10 an hour but it’s going to take a few trips to empty out a flat or house.
If you are doing it yourself, allow at least a full day of van hire to transport your stuff. And factor in the cost of boxes and packing tape.
If you pack up your things yourself and ask a removals company to shift it all, the average cost is £1200 for a three-bedroom house.
And if you want to go for the whole shebang, removals firms conduct a luxe package where they will pack and unpack for you. But be prepared to part with a few thousand for this one.
If you go down the route of using a removal company, try and declutter before you get an estimate from them. It could save you quite a bit.
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6. Don’t forget the deposit
Allow 5-10% of the property purchase price
Okay, so this isn’t strictly a moving cost. It’s part of the actual cost of your new home.
But this is just a reminder, since you're doing these sums, that the smallest deposit needed to buy a new place is 5% of the home’s total cost.
So, if you’re looking for a two-bedroom flat that’s £250K, you’ll need £12,500 saved up in your bank for a deposit.
Most lenders prefer a 10% deposit if you can manage it. It opens up more mortgage choices and potentially lower interest repayment rates for you.
The government also offers schemes for first-time buyers that mean you don’t need such a big deposit, like Shared Ownership and the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme.
Save money with Mojo Mortgages
Allow award-winning Mojo to show you the best rates available to you. A whole-of-market broker, Mojo work with over 70 lenders. And they won't charge you a penny for their services.
7. Insuring your new home
Once your new home legally becomes yours, you'll need to insure it.
Unlike car insurance, neither buildings nor content insurance is actually a legal requirement, but they could end up being the best insurance policies you've ever taken out.
If you're buying a house, you'll need both buildings insurance and contents insurance.
As their names suggest, buildings insurance protects the structure of your home and contents insurance protects what’s in it.
Although they are often purchased together as ‘home insurance’, buildings and contents insurance are officially two separate kinds of policy.
If you're buying a leasehold apartment, it's usually the freeholder's responsibility to cover the buildings insurance, but this is absolutely worth checking.
Find out more about building and contents insurance with our home insurance guide.
8. Council tax and bills
As a homeowner, you'll now of course have a load of lovely bills to pay.
Apart from your mortgage repayments, council tax is the biggest of these, followed by energy, water, home insurance and broadband.
Let's take a look at how much these might all work out at with our guide: The household bills that homeowners pay every month.