This type of valuation doesn’t usually check for property defects, so it’s advisable to upgrade this to a “Home Buyer Survey”. By doing this, the valuer will visit the property and you will receive a report identifying anything of concern.
There is also a higher-level “Full building Survey” which is a much more detailed inspection and report.
You should bear in mind that costs are likely to be incurred at each stage of the process and also that the level of the costs will be dependent on the property purchase price. We'll now outline some of the costs for which you will need to budget:
You will need to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf for the purchase; again costs vary. The solicitor deals with all the movements of monies. They will ask for your deposit, to allow the exchange of contracts for the purchase, before arranging to draw down the mortgage loan to allow completion of the deal.
If you are a home mover, they also deal with notifying and repaying your existing mortgage.
The solicitor must carry out various searches on the property for your own and the lender’s benefit, covering local authority, environmental and title searches. These can take 2-4 weeks.
Costs similarly vary depending on the purchase price and even the type of property as leasehold flats often involve more searches and legal work. Our view is that you should estimate around £1,500 for this.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax on properties bought in England and Northern Ireland. You’ll need to pay it when you buy a residential property that costs more than £125,000. SDLT is calculated on the purchase price and your own circumstances. For first time buyers purchasing properties costing up to £300,000, there is no SDLT.
When we are looking at your mortgage requirements we take this cost into consideration when establishing your budget to ensure that you have sufficient funds to purchase the property. Your solicitor deals with this transaction and arranges the payment following completion of the purchase.
Most mortgages will have lender arrangement fees; typically these will be £999. Lender arrangement fees are sometimes referred to as product fees.
Our view is that it’s better to pay this fee upfront if you can, however you can usually add this to the mortgage loan, noting you will increase your borrowing and so pay interest on this fee over the lifetime of the mortgage.
Generally a valuation of the property will be required. The cost will be dependent on the level and property value. You should budget between £400 to £1,000.
We charge for our advice. We offer a free initial consultation at our expense to see if we can first assist you.
If after this initial meeting you ask us to provide a recommendation and implementation service for a mortgage, the cost for this service is typically covered by way of a commission payment (sometimes known as a procuration fee) by the mortgage lender. But will be subject to a minimum fee of £850. If the commission does not cover our minimum fee, we will invoice you for the difference. We will let you know in advance how much that invoice will be.
We reserve the right to charge a Withdrawal Fee of £495 if you withdraw from the application process after an offer has been issued.
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