Buying a House For the First Time: The Ultimate Guide
Buying a house for the first time is often seen as one of the most stressful things you can do. The process can feel like a minefield of legal jargon and unexpected problems. But, it doesn't have to be.
For first-time buyers, success depends on three things: securing a Mortgage in Principle (MIP), hiring a fixed-fee conveyancing solicitor, and conducting a HomeBuyer's survey and legal searches.
The first-time buyer journey: Before your offer
Before you view a single property, the priority is proving you can afford it. The Mortgage in Principle (MIP) is your most important document as it shows sellers and estate agents you are a serious, financially qualified buyer.
What you need to know
- Deposit: The average first-time buyer deposit in the UK is around £61,000. However, you can secure a mortgage with a deposit as low as 5%. The larger your deposit, the more attractive you are to a lender, and the better your mortgage rate is likely to be.
- Stamp Duty: In England and Wales, you will not pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on the first £300,000 of a property. For properties between £300,001 and £500,000, you pay 5% on the amount above £300,000. If the property costs more than £500,000, you will pay the standard rates.
- Gifted Deposit Advice: If any funds are a gift from family, you must tell your mortgage lender immediately. Your solicitor will need a signed Gifted Deposit Letter to confirm the money is non-repayable.
- Other Fees: Budget for legal fees, survey costs, and mortgage-related fees (£1,500 to £2,500, including disbursements). A home survey will cost between £400 and £1,000, depending on the level of detail you need.
- Fixed, competitive legal fees with no hidden costs.
- Expert conveyancing solicitors with proven local knowledge.
- No Sale, No Fee protection for your transaction. Terms apply.
- On 99% of mortgage lender panels.
- Fast completions.
- We can solve any property challenge.
Getting your offer accepted and instructing a solicitor
Once your offer is accepted, speed is key. You must have your MIP and your solicitor's details ready to present to the estate agent immediately.
How to protect your purchase
- Back Your Offer: Use local sold prices (e.g., Land Registry data available on property portals) to ensure your offer is fair and backed by market data. Don't make a 'low-ball' offer.
- Instruct Immediately:Instruct your solicitor immediately after your offer is accepted (or even just before reserving). A slow start can seriously derail the timeline.
- Choose Fixed-Fee Clarity: Insist on a clear, fixed-fee quote from your solicitor to avoid unexpected costs later in the process. This fixed quote must include all disbursements.
- Avoid the Agent's Solicitor: We advise against using the estate agent's own solicitor. They often prioritise the seller’s timeline and the estate agent's commission over your due diligence. Hire an independent firm.
- Local Authority Search: Checks for planning issues, road schemes, and financial charges against the property.
- Water and Drainage Search: Confirms who owns the drains and if the property is connected to public sewers.
- Environmental Search: Assesses flood risk, ground stability, and potential land contamination.
- Chancel Repair Search: Checks for a rare but ancient legal liability to pay for local church repairs.
- Subsidence: Can cost well over £70,000 to fix and often requires specialist insurance.
- Severe Damp: Requires expensive tanking or membrane work.
- Major Infestations: Such as Japanese Knotweed or woodworm.
- Risk Stops Here: Exchanging contracts stops two major risks: Gazumping (the seller accepting a higher offer) and Gazundering (the buyer dropping their price).
- The Deposit Transfer: Your solicitor transfers your deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) to the seller's solicitor. You are now legally committed to the purchase and risk losing this deposit if you fail to complete.
- Final Transfer: The remaining mortgage and deposit funds are transferred, and you collect the keys (usually by noon).
- Registration: Your solicitor handles the final steps: paying any due Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and registering you as the new owner with HM Land Registry.
- The 28-Day Urgency: Developers often demand that contracts are exchanged within 28 days of reservation. A slow solicitor will cause you to lose the property; this is a common issue.
- Snagging Survey: Never assume a new build is perfect. A snagging survey checks for minor defects (e.g., poor finishings, misaligned doors) before you complete, creating a list that the developer must fix under warranty.
- First-time buyers, home movers and buy-to-lets;
- Employed; self-employed or director mortages;
- Mortgages for non-UK residents or non-UK citizens;
- Bridging loans;
- Bad credit mortgages;
- Guarantor mortgages;
- Joint borrower, sole proprietor mortgages; and
- Absolute, Possessory, Good, or Qualified Title.
Due diligence and financial risk checks
This is where you legally check the property's risk, using surveys and searches to avoid massive future repair bills. Never skip this phase.
The mandatory searches
Your mortgage lender requires these four mandatory checks to protect their, and your, investment. Your solicitor manages these:
The HomeBuyer's Survey
A survey is not the same as the lender’s valuation. It protects you financially by identifying structural flaws before you are legally committed.
The most financially damaging issues a surveyor looks for are:
A standard RICS survey is visual and does not fully check the boiler or central heating system .
If the property is old, consider a specialist inspection for mechanical and electrical systems.
Call or send us a message to request a callback or an email answering your queries about our surveys.
Our UK-based survey team can help you choose the right level of home survey for your property, at no extra charge.
There's no obligation to instruct. We'll make sure you understand your options and provide a free, fixed-fee quote for our best-value survey to meet your needs.
No robots, no call centres. Property challenges solved.
Exchanging contracts and completion
Before the Exchange of Contracts, either side can pull out without penalty. Exchanging contracts is the legally binding moment that secures the property.
Protecting against risk
Completion day
This is the day you officially become the owner.
A note on buying new-build homes
The process for new builds is faster but carries different risks that require quick action and careful checks:
Our brokers will present the best options available to you, for any type of mortgage, including:
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
