Stamp Duty and the Other Costs of Buying a Home
Stamp Duty gets the headlines, but legal fees, surveys, searches and removals can add another £3,000 to £5,000 to a purchase. Here’s the full list, with real figures.
By Firoz Khan|27 September 2026|3 min read
Most first-time buyers budget for the deposit, the mortgage, and Stamp Duty. Then the solicitor sends an invoice for legal fees, the surveyor wants paying, and there’s a Land Registry fee nobody mentioned. None of these are optional, and together they can add £3,000 to £5,000 on top of Stamp Duty. Here’s what actually shows up on a completion statement.
Stamp Duty (or LBTT, or LTT)
Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax in Wales. All three work the same way: no tax on the first slice of the price, then rising percentages on each band above it.
In England and Northern Ireland, the first £125,000 is tax-free (£300,000 for first-time buyers, provided the property costs £500,000 or less), then 2% up to £250,000, 5% up to £925,000, 10% up to £1.5 million, and 12% above that. Scotland’s tax-free band is £145,000 (£175,000 for first-time buyers). Wales gives no extra relief for first-time buyers and starts its tax-free band at £225,000.
Buy a second home or a buy-to-let and a surcharge applies on top: an extra 5 percentage points in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, 8 points in Scotland.
Use the Stamp Duty Calculator to work out the exact figure for your price and location rather than estimating from the bands above.
Legal fees
A solicitor or licensed conveyancer handles contracts, land registry checks, and the money transfer on completion day. Expect £800 to £1,900 for the legal work itself, plus £450 to £600 in disbursements (the third-party costs below, which the solicitor pays on your behalf and adds to the bill). A leasehold purchase runs higher, often £1,800 or more, because there’s an extra layer of checks with the freeholder or management company.
Get quotes in writing before instructing anyone. "Legal fees from £500" often excludes VAT and disbursements, and the final bill is often considerably more than the headline figure.
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Survey costs
Getting a survey is not optional in practice, even though nobody can force you to have one. Skip it and you’re relying entirely on the mortgage lender’s valuation, which checks the property is worth the loan amount and nothing else.
A RICS Level 2 (HomeBuyer) survey suits a conventional property in reasonable condition and costs roughly £400 to £900 depending on size and value. A Level 3 (Building Survey) is more thorough and suited to older, larger, or unusual properties, running £600 to £1,500 or more. Prices in London and the South East tend to sit 10-20% above the rest of the country.
Mortgage arrangement and valuation fees
Many mortgage deals charge an arrangement fee, commonly £0 to £2,000, either paid upfront or added to the loan (which means paying interest on it for the life of the mortgage). Lower-rate deals often carry the highest arrangement fees, so compare the total cost over the fixed period, not just the headline rate. Some lenders also charge a separate valuation fee, though many now include it for free.
Land Registry fee
Registering the change of ownership costs a fee set by HM Land Registry, based on the price paid. Filed electronically, a £300,000 purchase costs £45; a £500,000 purchase costs £65. Your solicitor pays this and adds it to your bill under disbursements.
Local searches
Also part of disbursements: local authority searches, water and drainage searches, and sometimes an environmental search, checking things like planning history, flood risk, and nearby developments. Together these typically cost £250 to £450 and get folded into the solicitor’s bill rather than billed separately.
Removals and the rest
Budget £300 to £1,500 for a removal firm depending on distance and how much you’re moving, or less if you’re doing it yourself with a van hire. Add smaller costs that are easy to forget: buildings insurance from the day contracts exchange (a lender will insist on this), a locksmith to change the locks, and any immediate repairs the survey flagged.
Where people go wrong
Budgeting for Stamp Duty and treating everything else as an afterthought. On a typical purchase, legal fees, survey, Land Registry fee and searches alone add up to £1,500-£3,000 before removals or a mortgage arrangement fee, on top of whatever Stamp Duty comes to. Get quotes for all of it before you make an offer, not after.
Related reading: UK First-Time Buyer Schemes, The Real Cost of Being a Landlord, and the Mortgage Repayment Calculator.
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