First time buyer questions about costs - legal, surveys / valuations etc

richimgd

Hi there,
I am a first time buyer and almost at a stage where I am going to have a 10% deposit for a 2 bedroom house or flat with a value of upto around £140-148,000

I am trying to work out roughly how much money I will need on top of this deposit for legal costs, survey / valuations etc. Can anyone let me know if any of this is about right?

Around £500-700 for a survey?

Legal / Conveyancing costs of around £500-600? (would this be more for a flat where the property owners have different responsibilities such as maintenance / upkeep etc?)

Valuation either free from lender or part of the survey, or upto around £150?

My mortgage advisor recommend i would need around £2k on top of my deposit but not sure if I will need all of this or not.

Can anyone make any suggestions?

HappyMJ

£2,000 sounds about right. You might not need it all but it is better to be prepared. I also had a few other small costs. Land Registry fees, TT fees and a few others I can't recall what they were but they were all small. I didn't get a survey so I didn't have that expense, I just had a basic mortgage valuation.

Oh and don't forget the SDLT of 1%.

Okydoky25

Have you taken into account your Stamp Duty which will be 1% of the purchase price if over £125k?

spadoosh

Better to have too much than not enough, dont wanne be starting your mortgage in debt (minus the mortgage obv)

Think we paid a couple hundred less for valuation and couple of hundred more for conveyancing. As happymj says there are other costs that you very rarely count for as they dont apply to everyone.

We had conveyancing and valuation paid for as part of the mortgage so we probably on ended up spending about £200 quid on other costs.

Bear in mind the first few months in the house should be your most expensive really, things like building up a stock cupboard, furniture and finisshings, curtains and blinds. Anything you have left over from buying fees coudl be put on this.

No rush to buy just yet keep looking, keep saving.

sirmosh

Solicitors fees are more likely to be closer to £1,000 with the cost of searches included. Stamp Duty will be up to £1,500 depending on how much you actually spend on the house. Survey sounds about right but don't forget you may well need to pay arrangement fees etc for the mortgage which could come in at anything up to £1,000.

You're probably looking at £3,000-4,000 but get some quotes and you'll have a more accurate idea.

sammybee

we put aside £5000 to cover all the hidden extras that may crop up

richimgd

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Damn, I think I have totally overlooked stamp duty. I didn't think I would need to pay it if I was a first time buyer and/or the allowance was more than £125k?

I've seen a property that seems good and ticks the most boxes but is at the top end of my budget. My budget which technically I cant afford yet because i am still saving. I will need to save up even more if there is stamp duty to pay

I'm in a situation where I am going to be living on my own with a view to rent the other room out. If I pay much less than the above budget then I wont get as good a location and there wont be as much space, so its almost like paying a premium to get a return on the investment. Its not just about this, the property will be in a more desirable location and with the amount of space in theory it will have good resale potential and will generally be a nice place to live.

richimgd

@spadoosh I am to be honest overstretching myself quite a bit at least to get the deposit and these fees as much as I hate to admit.

@ sirmosh fair enough I was thinking the legal fees might be a bit more as I was probably going by more out of date information.

@ sammybee, what was the value of your property, how many rooms did it have and was it recent?

Okydoky25

Before 24th March as a 1st time buyer there was no stamp duty up to £250k but this has now stopped I'm afraid.

motherofstudents

I'd say £5k would be a good amount if you can possibly manage it as there are always unexpected expenses. Yes, £1000 for conveyancing and my advice is to make sure you get a solicitor and definitely don't go down the online cheap conveyancing route. Look out for mortgage deals that add on the arrangement fees if you really can't pay up front. You will pay a lot more in the long run but it is a way to minimise your initial outlay. For me personally, I would prefer a house to a flat (no maintenance charges etc) but that's just my own preference.

drummer_666

my full structural survey on a 3 bed terraced house was £550.

It was £199 for the the valuation for the lender, which I upgraded to a full structural survey for an extra £350.

my conveyancing fees are to be £930 and include all the searches, no stamp duty as this doesn't apply to my house