Legal & moving fees

lwillis003

Hi everyone, new to the forums although always try and keep an eye on the site for offers!

Me and my girlfriend (+ 1 child) are looking in to getting a mortgage. We are nearly there with a 10% deposit for a house of around £100k (will have £10,500 saved by the end of this month) but obviously we are now looking at how much we need to spend in fees.

I'm on £25k salary and my girlfriend doesn't currently work (been job searching for over 18months - with a degree & a-levels and is applying to anything and everything - anyway - going off on a tangent!) so I'm trying to work out how long it will take to be in a position to make an offer and afford the fees.

Stamp duty isn't an issue because of the value of the house and there are 2 family members who have vans - hopefully should save a fair bit too!

I was just looking for people's experience on how much the non-deposit costs add up to, I'm based in North Liverpool (in case prices vary wildly per region!?).

Sorry for the information overload!

P.S. I've also discovered a close family member might be able to loan us 2.5-3k - obviously would help out massively but is there any obligation to declare debts that are to family members (rather than a more formal loan)?

harvey115

Okay 10% deposit moves you to a 90% mortgage rates, although rates are not that attractive with this high LTV you should be able to get a mortgage given that you have a clean credit history.

The fees to consider are:
- Conveyancing - possibly around £1,000
- Survey - around £300
- Mortgage fees if any - depends on the deal
- Moving (but you can ignore this if you are going to do this on your own)

Mortgage lender only cares about any current debt and the source of deposit. So if you are going to borrow a couple of thousand pounds from your family for legals to cover, you should be okay.

Other experienced members of the forum should be able to give better advice.

kingstreet

I've just run your case through the Halifax affordability calculator to see what the likely maximum mortgage world be. If you apply jointly, with a non-working spouse and a dependent child, the maximum they would lend, based on a top level A pass and assuming you have no credit commitments is £81,000.

I suggest you carefully seek out a lender which will not penalise you quite so heavily for your family situation.

As a matter of interest, a single person would command a mortgage of upto £125,000.

LauraWxx

I am in the process of buying a new build and the estimated legal fees are around £800ish.

I have also paid just over £300 for the mortgage company for valuation and set up.

Plus fees which are added to the mortgage.

GMS

As has been said affordability could be an issue with many lenders so be careful how you approach it. Applying at random will do more harm than good.

Look to see if any lenders are offering free valuations and/or cashback towards legal fees.

Arrangement fees are also a consideration. Is it worth paying a large arrangement fee or would a higher interest lower fee mortgage be better?

Plenty of houses for sale so make sure you do your homework.

Good luck

lwillis003

Thanks for the replies, I've sought advice directly from a few different mortgage advisers at the bigger banks/BS - Halifax say I should be able to borrow up to £93,500 I think it was - this was without credit checks etc though but I think I'm squeaky clean on that front!

Out of interest though, if I get a mortgage solely in my own name how would that effect things (i.e. can living arrangements remain the same?) and what happens when I want to move my girlfriend onto the mortgage when she earns/I earn more.

I'm effectively on a training contract (although it is a permanent contract), I qualify, hopefully by next summer at which point I should be due a decent pay rise - therefore the more I can defer costs the better I think although I do need to sit down with someone and go through this fully!