Cost of buying a house calculator
Everything you pay on top of the deposit, added up honestly.
Fee bands are typical 2025/26 figures and vary by firm, property and region; leasehold purchases usually add a few hundred pounds of extra legal work. Illustration only.
The deposit is only the start of the cash you need on completion day. The other costs stack up in a fairly predictable order: stamp duty (the big variable — £0 to tens of thousands depending on price and circumstances), conveyancing at roughly £1,200–£2,000 including VAT plus £300–£500 of searches and land registry fees, a survey at £400–£1,000 depending on level and property size, possible mortgage fees (product fees around £999 are common, though often addable to the loan), and moving costs from a £200 van to £2,000+ for a full removal service.
A worked example makes it concrete. A home mover buying a £300,000 house typically needs around £5,000 of stamp duty, £1,800 of conveyancing and searches, £600 for a Level 2 survey and £1,000 to move: roughly £8,500 on top of the deposit. A first-time buyer at the same price pays no stamp duty, bringing it down to about £3,500. The calculator lets you switch each assumption for your own quotes.
Two honest notes. First, these costs are payable in cash — stamp duty and legal fees cannot be mortgaged, so they come off whatever you have saved, effectively shrinking your deposit and nudging your LTV up; budget them from the start, not at exchange. Second, some are refundable in spirit but not in fact: if a purchase falls through you lose survey and search money already spent, which on a chain collapse can mean paying twice. Ranges here are typical national figures — always use real quotes for the final budget.
Common questions
How much does it cost to buy a £300,000 house, beyond the deposit?
For a home mover, typically £8,000–£10,000: about £5,000 stamp duty, £1,500–£2,300 conveyancing and searches, £400–£1,000 survey, and moving costs. A first-time buyer at the same price pays no stamp duty, so £3,000–£5,000 is typical. Cheaper homes scale down mainly through the stamp duty line.
How much are conveyancing fees?
Commonly £1,200–£2,000 including VAT for a purchase, plus disbursements: local authority and environmental searches (£300–£500) and Land Registry registration (scaled to price, £150–£330 for most homes). Leasehold purchases usually cost £200–£500 more because of the extra lease work. Get two or three fixed-fee quotes.
Do I really need to pay for a survey?
The mortgage valuation is for the lender, not you — it can be a drive-by. A Level 2 survey (£400–£700) is sensible for most conventional homes; a Level 3 (£700–£1,500) earns its keep on older, altered or visibly tired properties. Set against the cost of missing subsidence or a failed roof, it is the cheapest insurance in the process.
Can I add buying costs to my mortgage?
Mostly no. Lender product fees can usually be added to the loan (at the cost of paying interest on them for decades). Stamp duty, legal fees, searches and the survey are payable in cash. That is why the real question is not “do I have the deposit?” but “do I have the deposit plus £4,000–£10,000?”.
Numbers are half the story. Check the home itself.
One search pulls the official record on any address in England & Wales — value, flood risk, schools, noise and more, scored 0–100.