House buying - how much for fees etc?

jetblack61

Hi all,
Am busily saving away with the OH to buy our first home together and although we're nearly at the 10% stage for the deposit, I'm wondering how much we need to also factor in for fees/conveyancing/solicitors/estate agents etc.

I know it will vary depending on a few things, but has anyone done this recently and got any idea of roughly what we should be thinking we'll need to put aside?

Also, when are these things payable - if it's at the start of the 'getting a mortgage and choosing a property' journey, then we obviously need it beforehand; but if it's paid at the end when contracts are exchanged or something, then that gives us the time between making an offer and it actually completing as more 'saving' time to acquire that bit of money.

Thanks in advance! All help gratefully received!

sirmosh

On a sub-£200k house you're probably looking at £5,000 for all fees, a bit closer to £4,000 is likely but £5,000 is a fairly safe number to go for.

Solicitors fees (including cost of searches) - £1,000-1,200 - you'll probably need to give them £250-400 upfront for disbursements and the rest on completition

Survey - depending on what you go for anywhere from £200 - £1,000 but you'll probably go for a homebuyers at around £400-500 you'll need this upfront

Stamp Duty - 1% of the purchase price, need this upon completition (has to be paid within 30 days of completition but your solicitor will want it before hand) about £2,000 for an averagely priced house but obviously it's just 1% of what you pay

You might need to pay mortgage fees upfront which can be anywhere from £99-£1,000+ sometimes some fees can be added to the mortgage.

rlg6767

Hi. Just exchanged myself as a FTB and due to complete next week. I used an online conveyancer who were really good and had an excellent online tool for tracking the whole process. Do a google search for online conveyancing reviews or PM me for who I used.

The fees were:
Searches - £285
HM Land Registry Fee - £280
Solicitors Feee - £630 inc VAT
Stamp duty - depends on purchase price

There are no estate agents fees as a buyer.

I had to pay £330 up front to instruct the solicitor. After that I had to pay 10% of the purchase price when we exchanged and then the remainder on completion (I was paying 15% deposit in total so had 5% to pay on completion plus the remainder of the fees left to pay etc).

If you can, go for 15% deposit instead of 10%. This saved me £250 per month on a £280k mortgage.

Hope this helps!

jetblack61

Congrats on your first house rlg6767!!

Thanks for the posts - we're currently renting, so I'm really keen to get moved as soon as we can because of saving the rent money. I understand that the more deposit you have the better in terms of interest etc, but I want to get gone ASAP and paying the mortgage won't be a problem given we're both in good jobs and have a good household income for what would be required in terms of the monthly outgoings.

The properties we're likely to be looking at are around the £160k/£170k mark and currently we have around £14k saved for the deposit. :T

I suppose I'm wondering how much we actually need to have saved before we can feasibly start seriously thinking about talking to the banks about a mortgage in principle and viewing properties. If we need all the fees-related money upfront, then obviously we need to save a bit longer!

Am so excited about it and want to get involved with it all, but I don't want to be too premature and fit myself up ready for a fall!

GAH

Solictors fees - £400-£800+VAT their fee, plus disinbursements, total £1300 ish. Fees will vary locally though.

You will need to pay the solicitor normally £200-£300 to get them started, normally dedcut off you bill at the end.

Stamp Duty upto £1700 quid. To be paid on completion.

Deposit - to be paid on or before exchange, normally 10%.

Furniture costs - if you don't own already.

Removal costs - If necessary.

3-6 months worth of savings so once you move in, if you have a job loss you are covered for a while.

Contingency monies - for any unexpected work.

rlg6767

Thanks!!

There is nothing stopping you getting a mortgage agreed in principle now with the banks, you don't have to pay any money.

As an example, I had my mortgage agreed in principle at the beginning of January and started looking immediately.

Within a couple of weeks I had put an offer in which was accepted (directly via the estate agents). Still no money needed to be paid at this point and you can still walk away.

Once the offer was accepted then you need to instuct the solicitor who will charge an up front fee (mine was £330). Then you usually have at least 4-6 weeks wait while all the searches are carried out and any queries raised with the vendors. Also, you may contemplate getting a survey done (price varies) .Once everything is satisfied you will be in a position to exchange and a completion date agreed at which point I had to pay the 10%. The rest payable when you finally complete.