Mortgages

Cost of moving checklist

Have you thought about your budget before you move home? As well as the cost of buying your home and taking out a mortgage, there’s a few other things to consider:

• Deposit: In most cases we ask for a 10% deposit. This means that if, for example, you buy a house for £100,000, you'll need to have at least £10,000 to put down as a deposit. Don't forget to check the conditions of the mortgage you're choosing.

  If you want to mortgage a house or bungalow built within 24 months of the date of application, you will need at least a 15% deposit.

• Solicitors/Conveyancing fees: There is some legal work required when you buy a property, and you'll need a solicitor and/or conveyancer to handle the changing of names on the title deeds; checking the land registry details and conducting searches.
• Solicitor's Disbursements: Your solicitor or conveyancer will incur fees as they request information from the land registry, and from various other sources in the case of searches.
• Lenders' Valuation: We'll want to conduct our own basic survey of the property in order to assess the value of your prospective new home, mainly to make sure that the property will give sufficient security for the mortgage. Alternatively, you could choose to have a House Survey, which is a more detailed report - it provides more information about the general condition of the property, and tells you if you'll need any specialist reports.
• Stamp Duty: The Government imposes a tax on the purchase of all properties valued above £125,000. The table below explains how the charges are tiered.

	Purchase Price		Rate of Full Purchase Price
	£0-125,000		No fee payable
	£125,001-250,000		1%
	£250,001-500,000		3%
	over £500,000		4%

• Local Search: Your conveyancer or solicitor will obtain information about the property you want to buy and its surrounding area from the local authority to make sure that there's nothing like a proposed road or a compulsory purchase order that might cause problems or potentially devalue the property.
• Higher Lending Charge: If your loan is over 75% of the current value of the property, a higher lending charge will apply, however the society will cover the cost of this for you.
• Removal Firm: If you've got a lot of things to move, you might want to consider using a removal firm. The cost will of course depend on how much you want to move and the distance you need it transporting - removal firms will be happy to give you an idea of the costs beforehand.
• Decorating: Quite a lot of people buy a property with the intention of renovating it or improving it in some other way. There will of course, be the cost of the materials, but not everyone's a DIY expert! The less willing might want to enlist the services of a painter or decorator - again, companies will be able to give you a rough idea of what the work will cost.
• Furnishing: You'll probably want to give your home the personal touch with furnishings like carpets, curtains and furniture. It's a good idea to cost these up beforehand so that you know how much you can spend.

We've got a cost of moving checklist so you can make a note of the estimated and actual costs, and help work out your budget.