First Time Buyers “Things to do before moving home” Checklist

Moving home is one of the most stressful situations you will go through in your life. Being a first time buyer you may not be fully aware of all the fees that you may have to pay. So Just Bad Credit have put together a helpful sheet, to make sure that you don’t forget anything along the way. Please note – As a buyer you may only be subject to some of these fees.

• Deposit – You will need at least a 5% deposit. However, the bigger the deposit you have, the better the deal you may be able to secure, with any form of bad credit, the deposit required is normally between 5-15%
• Stamp Duty Land Tax – You must pay this if your property is worth £125,001 or more.
• Legal Fees – You will have to have a solicitor act on your behalf, to ensure that the title deeds are transferred from the seller to yourself & all necessary searches and enquiries are corrected. These fees tend to be around £450-600 plus VAT.
• Searches – You can incur a fee for searches to the local council to check whether there are any planning or local issues that might affect the property’s value. Other searches that would be conducted are typically water, environment, bankruptcy etc. This will be carried out by your solicitor and can cost between £250-£300
• Mortgage Arrangement fee – In most cases this will be added to your mortgage, you can pay this up front if you so wish.
• Life cover or mortgage life insurance – Some, but not all mortgages may require you to have this in place in order to get your mortgage. However, we will provide advice in this respect for the full range of insurances, to ensure you are fully protected.
• Valuation and survey fee – This fee is charged by your mortgage lender to value the property that you are buying. It can cost between £300 and £600, depending on the value of the property for the basic survey. However, there are different levels such as Homebuyers/Building survey, we can talk through these in more detail.
• Telegraphic transfer fee – This fee covers the cost of your lender transferring the mortgage money to your solicitor, this is normally between £30-50.
• Removal Costs – Moving costs can be every expensive, depending on how much furniture you have and what distance they have to travel. So you should do your research early on.