Here are 5 costs vendors will have to stump up when selling a home

Selling your home can cost more than you initially realise so it’s important to be prepared. Moving home is one of the most stressful events – not least because it takes time to choose a property and sort out all of the legal stuff. And the deal can, unfortunately always fall through due the dreaded chain effect.

Here are a few costs you’ll need to stump up when buying your property from Paramount Properties, an estate agents in West Hampstead:

Estate agent fees

These fees range from 1% to 3% of the sale price (plus VAT). Remember to investigate this before you ‘hire’ any specific estate agent as this will take a big chunk of your budget.

Deposit

You’ll need about 5-20% of the purchase price (with schemes such as Help to Buy you won’t need as much) but the best rates will be offered to those who have the biggest deposits, so it’s important to bear this in mind – particularly if you’re going for some kind of scheme.

Stamp Duty

Back in December the Chancellor changed the unfair ‘slab’ nature of the stamp duty tax, meaning that now nearly 100% of buyers save money when they purchase properties. However, this is still the most burdensome of costs for first-time buyers, particularly for those buying in expensive areas such as London.

Legal fees

You’ll need to find a solicitor or conveyancer to carry out legal work. This costs from around £200 to £1500 plus VAT, depending on the cost of the property, complexity of transactions etc. They do local searches to check if there are any local plans to change the building or the local area in the pipeline.

Early repayment changes and mortgage costs

The lender may sometimes charge a valuation fee to assess the value or your property in order to work out how much they’ll lend you. Costs are usually fixed and discounted, and can be as high as 1-4% of the outstanding loan. The mortgage lender will sometimes charge a valuation fee in order to assess the value of your property to establish how much they’ll lend you and cost can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to over a thousand. The other charge levied by mortgage lenders when you finish paying off your mortgage or switch mortgages is an early repayment charge, as high as £300 in some cases.

Surveyor’s fees

Before you purchase a house you need to get it looked over by a surveyor so as to avoid issues further down the line. Costs are around £250 to a full structural survey which costs from around £600 plus.

And last but not least…

Removal costs

These usually amount to a few hundred pounds, or you could simply ask a friend to do it for free!