Cash purchase of right to buy house- what costs are inccurred?

BigKisses

Just a query. If someone were to buy their council house using the right to buy and were going to pay cash so didn't need a mortgage, what costs would this incurr?

Would they still need to get surveys, homebuyers reports and land searches done even if they weren't getting a mortgage?

thanks in advance

kingstreet

No-one will force you to have a survey carried out, but it is most advisable.

Other than that, you'll have the usual solicitor's fees, VAT, land registry fee, telegraphic transfer fee, drainage search and local search fee (although you could once again take a risk and dodge the latter two).

Stamp duty also applicable at the usual limits/thresholds.

BigKisses

Thanks. I think the house would probably only be worth around 100k so no stamp duty to be paid. What sort of price would solictors fees and surveys take up on a house about that value? TIA

kingstreet

As you're not applying for a mortgage, you can negotiate a survey deal with a surveyor of your choice. Set aside around £250 for a decent report.

Legal fees for a purchase should be no more than £450+VAT, with additional costs of around £300 for all the other items I mentioned. I'm assuming your local authority charges about the average for a local search.

Most solicitors offer fixed-price conveyancing. Ring a few in your area, tell them what you're planning to do and ask them to forward written quotations of the costs involved.

If you plan to use the net to find legal help, be careful. A number of internet solicitors quote only the basic fee, which looks very attractive. At the end, they add on the cost of work done for the council, extra costs for phonecalls, letters etc. which most solicitors on a fixed-price deal include automatically.

Is the property of standard construction, ie brick walls and a tiled roof? Was it built in an area/timescale possibly affected by subfloor-infill sulphate problems? Post back any concerns, as there are other things you might need to consider...

BigKisses

Thanks for the info. It is of standard construction but I don't know about the other things. My mates won 100k so buying her council house is just one of the possibilities she's looking at. It'd mean all the money going on that though and although she'd then be rent free she'd also then be responsible for repairs if anything major happened so she's not sure she wants to buy. I'm passing the info on anyway. Thank you.:beer: