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AIBU?

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Original poster

Fees When Buying a House

22 replies

FakePlantsOnly · 18/09/2017 12:47

AIBU to ask how much you spent in fees when purchasing your house? DP and I are currently saving for our first home and I had an amount of £20,000 in mind to be our goal to save to and use as a deposit, after speaking to DP he had the same amount in mind but thinks we need to allow for 25% of it to be used as solicitors fees?

Does this sound right? I'm only asking as I'd rather know now whether or not I need to be putting more money away

OP posts:
Allthebestnamesareused · 18/09/2017 12:55

Have a look at the price of the house you'll be buying and this will tell you the amount of stamp duty which is likely to be the biggest expense. Then also look up the costs of surveys for a property that price.

Then just google purchase only fees for solicitors in your area and there will also be search fees and Land registry fees which will need to be allowed for too.

Your DH probably has the right kind of figure in mind.

MimiSunshine · 18/09/2017 12:57

So c£5,000 in fees? That's roughly what we paid. It was just before the stamp duty changed so we were on the old system butit was somewhere between £5-6k all in.

However that was less than 10% of our total deposit. You're better off looking at what stamp duty is likely to cost you on the type of house you're looking to buy and solicitors fees in your area.

Go for one with a set fee and research the different survey types you can have done and typical costs

SparklyLeprechaun · 18/09/2017 12:58

I'd say at least £2000, maybe even 3k, it's not just the solicitors fees but lots of other bits and bobs you pay for (local searches, money transfer fee, survey, in one place we had an asbestos survey) - it can add up to quite a lot. Plus the stamp duty on top of that, of course.

theEagleIsLost · 18/09/2017 12:58

We were told to budget about £5000 - so I'd say he was about right. Both times that has been roughly right.

flownthecoopkiwi · 18/09/2017 13:01

we paid around £4k in fees I think, although we were buying and selling at the same time. You don't pay stamp duty when you buy so that's one saving, or real estate fees.

Talking to a mortgage broker might be useful, even at these early stages to work out how much you need to save to get into a house you actually want to buy. Remember too the bigger the deposit the lower the interest rate on your mortgage.

BarbaraofSevillle · 18/09/2017 13:01

Agree that you need to work out what stamp duty will be as it could be nothing if you buy a house for under £125k, or tens of thousands if you are buying one for a lot of money like a million plus.

It's ten years since we last bought, but solicitors fees were under £1k. Phone a couple of local solicitors to ask them how much they charge for conveyancing (I think that's the word) for purchase only, plus an estimate of how much the searches are.

You will also need a building survey, there are different types that cost different amounts and may need an application fee for your mortgage, but not all do.

Collaborate · 18/09/2017 13:09

Just wanted to come on to point out that it's not £5000 for solicitors fees. As BarbaraofSeville mentions, the solicitor probably won't charge more than £1,000. The rest is stuff you have to pay anyway, and includes payments to the government (stamp duty) and to the land registry, surveyors, and mortgage company.

peachgreen · 18/09/2017 13:14

We're buying a house right now. Fee breakdown:

Mortgage broker £295.00
Stamp duty £1,300.00
Solicitor's fees £1,500.00
Survey £600.00
Searches £150.00
Land registry £400.00
Transfer fee £50.00

So £4,295 in total.

Our deposit is £28,000.

flownthecoopkiwi · 18/09/2017 13:15

oops yes you do pay stamp duty. How could I have forgotten the huge whack we paid this time around ;)

BUt isn't there something for first time buyers which means you don't?

newmum129 · 18/09/2017 13:20

BUt isn't there something for first time buyers which means you don't?

I was a first time buyer and still had to pay stamp duty.

The total we spent on fees before stamp duty was £2150.

BarbaraofSevillle · 18/09/2017 13:20

There was following the budget in 2010 for purchases of properties under £250k by FTBs, but that's ended now and they are subject to the same rates as everyone else.

BMW6 · 18/09/2017 13:21

Blimey. We bought our house in 2009 and our solicitors fees were only £850 in total! No other fees or charges to anyone else. We didn't bother with independent survey, just went by the mortgage valuation survey.

BMW6 · 18/09/2017 13:21

No stamp duty as property cost £118k.

wheredoesallthetimego · 18/09/2017 13:23

We didn't bother with independent survey, just went by the mortgage valuation survey.

I would strongly advise against this. the mortgage survey is often driveby - basically just to check that the property is still standing and seems to have the right number of rooms. It's the biggest purchase of your life - are you not interested in knowing if it has been underpinned, has damp, dry rot, a roof that is about to need replacing or windows that are at the end of their life? or dodgy wiring? any one of those will cost you thousands to fix.

OddestSock · 18/09/2017 13:25

We paid about £3.5k in fees including a structural survey & stamp duty. We purchased a property a few months ago

TheEdgeOfGlory266 · 18/09/2017 13:27

Our solicitor fees when we were first time buyers was around £900, it was far more when we were sellers and buyers. £5k sounds like a very sensible amount to cover costs that come along with moving. I think we have spent just over that this time round and that's including paying for the removal company with was £900.
I guess as with anything it depends where you are in the country as to how much things will cost.

TonicAndTonic · 18/09/2017 13:37

Don't forget removals costs if you own too much furniture to be able to just hire a van. They can add a couple of £k.

peachgreen · 18/09/2017 13:51

I would strongly advise against this. the mortgage survey is often driveby - basically just to check that the property is still standing and seems to have the right number of rooms.

Ditto. On a previous property we were interested in purchasing, the homebuyer's survey identified a serious damp problem and a structural issue with the roof that the mortgage valuation survey didn't pick up. Would have cost over £35k to rectify (verified by specialists).

IHeartDodo · 18/09/2017 13:51

This makes me sad... we're looking at about 30k!
But that's because it's a second house, and we're doing 2 remortgages and a new mortgage, plus solicitors, surveys etc.

BarbaraofSevillle · 18/09/2017 13:53

We moved with a box van with a tail lift and two of DPs mates helping - cost a couple of hundred quid including a pub lunch and crate of beer each for the helpers.

Although you have to have passed your driving test before a certain date to be able to drive the type of van we hired.

SheSaidHeSaid · 18/09/2017 13:53

I've found it was about £2.5k to buy a house and the same again to sell though the cost to sell was dependant on the price of the house we were selling.

Then you need stamp duty costs on top as well as the usual surveyor fees.

theEagleIsLost · 18/09/2017 14:29

Just wanted to come on to point out that it's not £5000 for solicitors fees.

No that wan't all solicitors fees - some of that was stamp duty which for us the solitor did pay on our behalf.

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