There are a number of costs involved when you buy a home. They are:
- Your solicitor - who will act on your behalf to make sure that everything is done properly. You will have to pay for his or her time and for costs that he or she incurs on your behalf (eg. local authority and Land Registry searches).
- Survey - the council will not carry out a survey of your property, but you are advised to have one of your own carried out. A survey can cost between £250 and £600 and if your home has any special problems you may need to consider further surveys which could cost the same again, or more.
- Stamp Duty - this is a tax on the sale of the property. It is calculated as a percentage of the property's value. Your solicitor will be able to advise you about this.
- Valuation fees and mortgage costs - the council will not charge you when it carries out the valuation of your property, but if you are buying your property with a mortgage, then the mortgage company will probably want to carry out its own valuation. They usually charge for this and many mortgage companies also charge an administration fee for arranging the mortgage.
- Other costs - sometimes companies will ask tenants to pay for things that we will do for free - please note that all right to buy forms are free of charge and we do not charge for the valuations that we carry out on the properties.
- Discount repayment on deferred sale agreement - If you enter into a deferred sale agreement, in which a company will end up owning your property, then a proportion of the discount will have to be repaid from the date the agreement is entered into.
