Moving house can be an expensive process. On top of the cost of the house itself, you’ll have to contend with stamp duty (when there isn’t a holiday in force), surveys, and myriad legal and administrative fees. Costs come from a whole range of sources, and it’s worth being aware of all of them ahead of time if you don’t want to be caught out.
Here, we’ll look at a few of the ones that you might not expect to have to deal with.
Moving your Stuff
You might suspect that simply calling upon a few trusted friends and hiring out a van for the day might be the cheapest way to get the job done – especially if you’re just moving a short distance. But there are hidden costs within hidden costs, here. When fuel, van hire, and the excess you’ll pay in the event of an accident are all factored in, the savings begin to look markedly less tantalising.
To avoid this problem, you can simply hire a professional man and van service. They’ll have the resources and the experience necessary to make the process completely painless.
Land Registry Fee
To update the government’s Land Registry database, you’ll need to pay an additional fee that can fall anywhere up to a thousand pounds. In Scotland, there’s also an additional fee to worry about in the form of title registration. Fees of this kind tend to be rolled into your final bill – and there are a few of them, and so the overall cost may well be higher than you anticipated.
Switching Phone Line
You’ll need to get your phone line and internet set up in your new home. The cost of this will depend on several factors, including the site of your property. In some cases, however, the setup can be completely free.
Estate agency Fees
If you’re a first-time buyer, then you won’t need to worry about selling your existing property. If you’re not, however, then in all likelihood you’ll need to contend with estate agents, who will charge you several thousand pounds in order to advertise and take pictures of your property. You might avoid these charges by circumventing estate agents altogether, but the reach they provide is likely to offset any saving you could make by avoiding them.
Property Fraud Fee
You might be charged a very small fee (or around £10) by your solicitor, for the cost of checking the other side’s solicitor out. This is something that can help you to avoid wasted time – as if the transaction is fraudulent, then it’s worth finding out early on in the process, and thereby avoiding the stress and additional cost of an aborted transaction.