Buying a home: conveyancing, surveys and stamp duty

Work out what you can actually complete on, which is not the same as what you can borrow. The purchase price is the largest number but not the only one: land transaction tax, legal fees, search fees, survey, mortgage arrangement fee, valuation, removals, and the buildings insurance you need from exchange rather than from completion. Budget for these separately from the deposit, because they are payable regardless of whether the purchase completes.

Get an agreement in principle from a lender. It is a soft indication of what they would lend based on a credit check and stated income, it lasts a limited period, and it is not a mortgage offer. Estate agents ask for one before taking an offer seriously, and having it prepared makes you a more credible buyer in a competitive situation.

Understand what actually affects affordability. Lenders assess net income after regular commitments, so a student loan deduction, a car finance agreement or childcare costs reduce borrowing capacity directly. Being on the electoral register at your current address materially helps identity verification and credit scoring, and it is a free fix that takes five minutes.

First-time buyers should check the Lifetime ISA. It pays a government bonus on savings used for a first home up to a property price limit, but the money is locked with a withdrawal charge if used for anything else, and the property price cap has not moved with the market — so in expensive areas the account can become unusable for its intended purpose. Check the cap against local prices before opening one.

Shared ownership and other affordable ownership schemes let you buy a share of a property and pay rent on the rest, with the option to buy further shares later. They come with leasehold obligations, rent reviews, restrictions on selling and service charges, and the arithmetic of staircasing to full ownership can be worse than it looks. Read the lease before the brochure.

Finally, decide how you will hold the property if buying with someone. Joint tenants means you own the whole together and it passes automatically to the survivor. Tenants in common means you own defined shares that pass under your will. For unmarried couples contributing unequal deposits, tenants in common with a declaration of trust is usually the right answer, and it is far cheaper to decide now than to argue later.

Offer on the basis of what the property is worth to you and what comparable properties have sold for, which is public information through the Land Registry price paid data rather than a matter of guesswork.

Once an offer is accepted, ask the agent to mark the property sold subject to contract and to stop advertising it. They are not obliged to, and they must pass on any later offer to the seller — which is precisely why gazumping is legal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Instruct a conveyancer — a solicitor or licensed conveyancer. Do not simply accept the agent's recommendation without checking. Agents often receive a referral fee, which must be disclosed but is easy to miss, and the recommended firm is not necessarily the one that will move fastest on your file. Ask for a fixed-fee quotation broken down to include disbursements, and check the firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

Your conveyancer raises searches — local authority, drainage and water, environmental, and any additional ones the area requires such as coal mining or flooding. These reveal planning history, road adoption status, contaminated land, radon, flood risk and proposed development. Searches take weeks and local authority turnaround varies wildly, so instruct early.

They also raise pre-contract enquiries on the seller's property information forms, covering boundaries, disputes, alterations, guarantees, planning consents and building regulations approvals. Unapproved building work is one of the commonest problems found, and the usual remedy is indemnity insurance, which covers the consequence of enforcement rather than fixing the underlying problem.

Chase your own transaction. Conveyancers carry heavy caseloads and the file that gets attention is the one being asked about. A weekly email requesting a specific update — searches back, enquiries answered, mortgage offer received — is more effective than a general enquiry about progress.

The mortgage valuation is commissioned by the lender to satisfy itself that the property is worth enough to secure the loan. It is often a drive-by or a desktop assessment. It is not an inspection for your benefit, it produces no meaningful report on condition, and the surveyor owes you limited or no duty. You will frequently be charged for it, which is why so many buyers believe they have had a survey.

An independent survey is separate, is commissioned by you, and comes in tiers. A RICS Level 1 condition report is a basic visual summary suitable for a new or recently built property in obvious good order. A Level 2 homebuyer report covers condition and defects and is the standard choice for a conventional modern house. A Level 3 building survey is a detailed structural inspection appropriate for older properties, anything altered or extended, thatched or timber-framed buildings, and anything showing signs of movement or damp.

The economics are one-sided. A Level 3 survey on an older property costs a fraction of one percent of the purchase price and routinely identifies work running to many multiples of its own cost — or gives you the evidence to renegotiate the price or to walk away. Declining a survey to save money on the largest purchase of your life is the clearest false economy in the entire process.

Read what the report actually says rather than the headline. Surveyors write defensively, and phrases such as 'further investigation is recommended' are the ones that matter. If the report recommends a specialist inspection — damp, timber, drains, electrics, structural engineer — get it before exchange, not after.

Use the findings. A survey identifying significant work is a basis for renegotiating the price or asking the seller to carry out repairs before exchange. Sellers frequently accept a reduction rather than lose the sale and start again with a buyer whose survey will find the same thing.

For a new build, a snagging survey is the equivalent, carried out before or shortly after completion, and the developer's warranty provider has its own resolution process. New builds also come with their own risks around estate management charges and unadopted roads that a standard survey will not address — those are questions for the conveyancer.

Most flats in England and Wales are leasehold, which means you own the right to occupy for a fixed term rather than owning the building. Houses can be leasehold too, and where they are, it is worth asking why.

The lease length matters more than anything else about the flat. Below around 80 years remaining, extending becomes markedly more expensive because of an additional element in the valuation, and lenders become reluctant below certain thresholds. A short lease is not a bargain — it is a liability with a price attached, and that price should come off the offer.

Ground rent, service charges and the managing agent are the running costs, and they are not capped by the purchase price. Ask for the last three years of service charge accounts, the budget for the current year, and details of any planned major works. A large roof or lift replacement scheduled after you buy lands on you through a section 20 consultation and can run to five figures.

Check the reserve fund, whether there is one, and whether it is adequate for the work the building will predictably need. A building with no sinking fund and a flat roof is a bill waiting to be issued.

Ask about the freeholder, whether the leaseholders own the freehold collectively or have a right to manage, and whether there is a history of disputes. A resident-controlled building generally has fewer service charge problems than one run by a remote freeholder with a captive management contract.

Leasehold law has been changing, with reforms to lease extension, enfranchisement, ground rents and the use of commonhold in progress. Provisions commence in stages, so what is available when you buy may differ from what was available a year earlier. Ask the conveyancer what is actually in force rather than relying on press coverage.

Scotland does not have residential leasehold in this form — property is held outright, with flats owned under a system of common ownership of shared parts. Northern Ireland has ground rents but a different structure again. This is one of the areas where guidance written for England is simply wrong elsewhere.

Exchange of contracts is the moment the deal becomes binding in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You pay a deposit, usually around ten per cent, which is at risk if you then fail to complete. From exchange you are responsible for insuring the building, even though the seller is still living in it — arrange buildings insurance to start on exchange day, not completion day.

In Scotland the equivalent moment is the conclusion of missives, which happens much earlier in the process, and the survey has already been done because the seller commissions a Home Report before marketing. Scottish buyers therefore commit earlier and waste far less money on failed purchases.

Completion is when money moves, the keys are released and you own the property. The gap between exchange and completion is negotiable and is typically a couple of weeks, long enough to arrange removals and short enough to limit the risk of something changing.

Land transaction tax is payable on completion and differs by nation. England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax to HMRC. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to Revenue Scotland. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax to the Welsh Revenue Authority. All three are banded, all three charge higher rates on additional properties such as second homes and buy-to-lets, and all three have separate treatment for first-time buyers — though the reliefs and thresholds differ substantially between them.

A return must be filed within a short deadline after completion, and in most cases it is due even where no tax is payable. Your conveyancer normally files it and pays from the completion funds, but the legal obligation is yours, so confirm it has been done. Late filing attracts penalties independently of the tax itself.

The additional property surcharge catches more people than expected. It can apply if you retain any interest in another residential property anywhere in the world, including an inherited share or a property owned jointly with a former partner. If you are replacing a main residence and the sale is delayed, you may have to pay the surcharge and reclaim it later within a time limit — check this before completion rather than discovering it on the day.

After completion the conveyancer registers the transfer at HM Land Registry, or the equivalent register in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Registration can take months. Check afterwards that the title has been registered correctly, that any restriction reflecting how you hold the property is in place, and keep the title number — it is how you access the register in future.

Purchases fall through frequently, and the commonest causes are a chain collapsing above or below you, a survey finding something material, a mortgage offer withdrawn after a valuation comes in below the agreed price, and a seller changing their mind or accepting a higher offer.

A down-valuation is the one people are least prepared for. If the lender's valuation is below the agreed price, they will lend against the lower figure, leaving you to find the difference in cash or renegotiate. Renegotiation often works, because the next buyer's lender will most likely reach the same valuation.

There is no compensation for a purchase that collapses before exchange in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, however far advanced and however unreasonable the other party's behaviour. Some sellers and buyers use a reservation agreement with a small non-refundable deposit to create commitment; these are not standard and their enforceability depends on drafting.

If your conveyancer causes the problem — missed deadlines, failure to raise an obvious enquiry, poor advice on a lease — complain to the firm first under its complaints procedure. If that does not resolve it, the Legal Ombudsman handles complaints about legal service providers free of charge, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority deals with misconduct as distinct from poor service.

For surveyor complaints, RICS-regulated firms must have a complaints handling procedure and access to an independent redress scheme. For mortgage and insurance problems, the route is the firm's complaints process and then the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Keep every document, quotation and email. Property disputes surface years later — over boundaries, over what was disclosed about a leaking roof, over whether an extension had building regulations approval — and the file you kept at the time is what resolves them.