House buying costs

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Buying your home is probably the biggest financial purchase you will ever make. Probably most of it will be the bank money and not yours!

The Cost of buying a house or flat can be very expensive

Mortgage arrangement fee – Look out for arrangement fee, some charge as much as £300. Check with them first.
Solicitors Fee – Conveyancing is expensive, typically on a £200,000 house between £500 and £1,000. However there are plenty of alternatives. use an online specialist conveyancing firm as they are much cheaper but offer the same service. Read this area here about finding a cheaper solicitor
The searches – Searches are conducted by your solcitor. You need to have a few of these done and they all cost money. Check the cost of searches as these vary from area to area as local boroughs charge different amounts but you should not pay more than £300 for all searches – sometimes they are much lower.
The Survey – A survey ranges from £200 upwards for a good survey of the property with the full homebuyers survey costing nearer £700.
The valuation – Typically the mortgage company will get you to pay for this as well which can vary between £100 and £250.
Removal costs – This depends on the distance you travel and the amount you move. But be prepared for anything between £500 and £2000 for a 3 bed house.
Stamp duty – ouch! – This is the biggy. The chancellor takes his cut as follows

The rates for stamp duty are as follows:-

Example

The stamp duty cost will be £1,500 for a £150,000 property, £2,000 for a £200,000 house
and a whopping £7,500 for just over £250,000!
Additional costs
Also you have to pay around £30 for a money telepgrpahic transfer fee for completion, around £5 for a bankruptcy search.Money transfer fee-

Costs in Summary

Here is a summary of the costs of a 3 Bed house for £180,000 (National House Price Average)