r/UKRealEstate

I knew buying a house in the UK would be expensive, but I genuinely didn’t realise how many extra costs get added on top of the deposit.

Every time I thought I had a rough budget figured out, there was something else to account for. Solicitor fees, surveys, mortgage fees, removals, stamp duty… it just keeps going.

What surprised me most is how difficult it is to find a straight answer on what the total upfront cost might actually look like. Most sites only focus on the deposit and monthly payments.

Curious if other people here underestimated the upfront costs too or if I was just naive going into this process.

Update: I was recently suggested TrueHomeCosts, a UK home buying cost calculator that includes deposit and other upfront fees like legal and moving costs. Has anyone here used something like this before?

I understand this is common, but i'm very interested in a property where the seller hasn't found anywhere to buy yet and they have a family and ton of stuff to move out of the property.

I love the house, but am chain free and ready to move. I have no idea how long it could take them to find a property and what that chain will be.

I'm trying to find that out and know they are actively searching but if I make an offer, I don't understand what the process is / how easily I can pull out if they end up not finding somewhere any time soon.

E.g. I don't want to pay for a buyers survey and my solicitors with the risk they could not buy somewhere for months which is not suitable for me.

If i made any offer, what would be the next steps and would i typically have to commit before getting oversight on the full chain?

Thanks so much!

My husband owns a house from before we met. We are upsizing. The house needs to sell in order for us not to be whacked with second home stamp duty as we’re purchasing a house together.

The problem is that the estate agents we’ve spoken to have vastly, vastly different views on how the house should be priced. We’ve had one as high as £535k and insisting it should be “offers over” that, even. One at £425k. One at £485k. The bank values it at £502k. Bought ten years ago for £415k.

There aren’t really any comps we can use because it’s a period cottage with character features in the middle of the Cambridgeshire countryside. It’s a very “unique” property and therefore I think will have a limited buyer pool.

We need to price it to sell, really, but understandably my husband is very worried that if we go with the lowest price that he’ll be leaving money on the table. Whereas I’m worried if we go at the higher end with where the market is right now we could end up sitting on it for months, which we don’t want either.

Has anyone faced a similar situation? Where have you found it best to sit in terms of pricing strategy with such disparate valuations?

We are FTB and put in an offer on a lovely flat in North West London. It was initially advertised as “in excess of £600k”. We went in at £590, which got accepted.

We then found out through the sellers’ form and our solicitor that it had been underpinned due to historic subsidence. There were no documents, just a certificate proving it was done 20 yrs ago. No movement since and an engineer said there’s no major risk of subsidence happening again soon.

Do we have grounds to revise our offer slightly? We don’t want to take advantage of the fact that we are far down the line with this and due to complete. The sellers seem like decent people and they accepted a lower offer in the first place, but everywhere online says underpinning reduces value of properties. We are worried about resale risk, not structural risk.

If we do revise, do we let the estate agent or solicitor know? We prefer the solicitor as we have more trust that he will relay our message verbatim.

Thanks so much.

Hi all, looking for some advice/opinions on a leasehold major works dispute in central London.

I own a leasehold flat in a ~250 year old listed/protected building in Soho/Covent Garden area. The freeholder/developer carried out extensive refurbishment works over several years. There have already been tribunal proceedings/disputes involving multiple leaseholders and their solicitors.

I’ve now received a “without prejudice save as to costs” settlement offer which includes 20% discount for major works/service charges relating to works allegedly completed in 2022. The full price would’ve been 120k on a 870k apartment.

The issue is that:
- the project dragged on for years
- there was major disruption/scaffolding/inconvenience
- common areas still appear incomplete (lobby/stairs/lift etc.)
- leaseholders repeatedly requested more detailed cost breakdowns/documentation and felt this was not properly provided
- many leaseholders dispute the reasonableness of the costs and are taking it to tribunal
- it doesn’t look like major works, but light refurbishing. and there’s even more work to be done that i’ll be charged for, and i don’t know how much that will cost. might be another 100k+ but also going to tribunal might incur even more legal fees.

From my personal flat’s perspective, the direct works benefiting me were mainly:
- new windows (which i didn’t need or ask for)
- skylight replacement (same, didn’t need or ask for)
- some kitchen pipe work

I fully understand leaseholders contribute toward wider structural/common works and not just their own unit, especially in old listed buildings. I’m not arguing that I should pay nothing.

However, I’m trying to understand:
- whether these figures are remotely normal/reasonable for this type of building/project in central London

- how much weight tribunals give to delays/incomplete common works

- whether refusal/lack of detailed cost transparency is a red flag

- whether a 20% settlement discount suggests litigation risk or if this is standard practice

- what documents/information leaseholders should specifically request before deciding whether to settle or continue disputing

I’m unfamiliar and wholly overwhelmed with how these situations usually play out in the UK leasehold system, so any practical insight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, hoping to get some advice from people who recently bought a new-build house around London 👋

We’ve found a property we really like and are about to make an offer, but since it seems to be a buyer’s market right now, we’re trying to figure out how aggressive we should be with the first offer and where people realistically ended up settling.

Would love to hear about your experiences:
- How much below the asking price did you go with your first offer?
- What discount did you actually end up getting in the end?
- Did developers negotiate more on price or through incentives/extras?

We are thinking of asking them to full stamp duty abd 10% gifted deposit as our first offee. Is this reasonable?

Any guidance would be highly appreciated 🙏🏻

I’m selling an empty property in Wales that was previously let, using a local estate agent. A buyer viewed it through the agent but has since approached me directly about doing a deal privately and cutting the agent out. He’s said the purchase wouldn’t be in his name but in his son’s, although they live at the same address. He’s also asking for a reduction in the price to reflect the saving on agent fees. Would I still be liable to pay the agent’s fee in this situation?

Hi everyone,

I’d appreciate some advice. I’m interested in a flat that’s come back onto the market for a second time. The estate agent told me the previous buyers pulled out after discovering a leak.

When I spoke to her in person, she said she’d try to obtain the previous buyers’ survey. However, she later came back saying she’d spoken to her colleague (who handled the earlier sale) and the vendor, who both reassured her that the leak has now been resolved. According to her colleague, the buyers were simply spooked and decided to withdraw.

I followed up by email to say I’m still unsure — if everything has been properly fixed, it doesn’t quite add up that they would pull out entirely. The agent has now said there’s nothing further she can provide and that I’d need to make an offer if I want to proceed.

Am I being unreasonable here, or is the agent being a bit difficult? Also, is it really that hard for them to give the previous buyers a call, especially if they had indicated they’d be open to a conversation?

I can’t shake the feeling that something might not be fully disclosed, but I’d value your thoughts.

Hi everyone,

I could really use your advice on something fairly straightforward. I’m interested in a flat that was on the market back in January. I made an offer at the time, but wasn’t successful. The sale has now fallen through, and it’s back on the market.

I’m considering putting in another offer, but at a lower level, given the current interest rates and wider economic situation (war, inflation etc). I’m thinking of starting around £40k below my original offer, with some room to increase by about £10k if needed.

Does that sound like a reasonable approach in the current market?

I'm in London, UK, by the way.