Costs of surveys and legal fees

soon_to_be_ex_student

This obviously varies, but I'm just trying to get a rough estimate at the mo. I've seen between £250 and £900 for surveys and £400-£1200 for legal fees. While I do know there is a variation, these are huge jumps. We're planning on buying a house for £120,000. Anyone have a good idea of costs for a house of that price in the South East? Thanks. :j

NSR2

Whereabouts in the south east are you looking?

sarah_elton

Surveys - it varies because of the different types. On that value property, you can get just the mortgage valuation survey for a couple of hundred quid. But you won't see a report from this, and it's utterly basic - couple of tick boxes really. 2nd level of survey is Homebuyers Report, which would cost about £350 ish. Since you will have to have mortgage valuation as a minimum, the extra is well worth it as you will get a report which will highlight any major problems with the property etc. 3rd level is Full Structural which aren't done often these days, and only really recommended if you're buying a particularly old or run down house. Full details of the different survey types are here:

http://www.themovechannel.co.uk/guides/Buying/Surveys_&_valuations/

The biggest thing that makes a difference with legal costs is freehold or leasehold. I bought leasehold, and my legal fees were around £1,200. I had three quotes, and all were in this region. This is in Essex BTW, not sure exactly where you are, and that was on a £115k flat so similar value to yours. I believe if it had been freehold I would have been looking at more like £700-800.

In addition to surveys and legal costs, remember to budget for removal van (or van hire if you don't have much stuff and have mates ), any furniture, white goods etc etc you don't currently have, any decoration that needs doing sharpish, and mortgage fees (fixed rate usually has a booking fee - few hundred quid maybe).

sarah_elton

p.s. I can't recommend enough getting recommendations for solicitors from people in the area. I had one recommended to me and she was brilliant - everything went through quick and I never chased it up once! Anyone wants a solicitor in Chelmsford, let me know.

p.p.s. With legal fees, there's the conveyancing fee but then there's loads of other things, environmental surveys, odd little bits to the council for searches etc etc. My conveyancing fee was about £350. Then it ended up being £1,200 in all. When people give you figures, it may not include everything. All solicitors will do you a quote over the phone, and should break it all down for you.