For sale sign outside a UK house

This page is general information for people buying their first home in England and Wales. It is not legal, tax or mortgage advice, and it is not a personal recommendation. Ethical Conveyancing (TG Legal Services) is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors regulated by the SRA carry out the legal work. Rules depend on your circumstances; your solicitor, broker and (for tax) HMRC confirm what applies to you.

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.

Buying for the first time is a sequence of practical steps — finance, finding a property, offer, legal work, exchange, completion — not a single leap. The list below is a typical path many first-time buyers work through. It is not a set of instructions you must follow, and every chain is different.

Stamp duty and legal fees are two of the figures that catch people out because they sit outside the mortgage deposit. They are covered up front, then the stages.

First-time buyer stamp duty (England and Northern Ireland)

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax on the purchase, not a conveyancing fee. Rates below are the first-time buyer residential rates in force from 1 April 2025 and still current at last review. They apply where all purchasers are first-time buyers, they intend to occupy the property as their main residence, and the price is £500,000 or less.

Source: GOV.UK residential SDLT rates and SDLT reliefs. Confirm on the HMRC SDLT calculator. Your solicitor files the return; they do not set the rates.

Portion of the price First-time buyer rate
Up to £300,000 0%
£300,001 to £500,000 5%
Price above £500,000 No first-time buyer relief — standard residential rates on the whole price

Worked illustrations (tax only, not a bill for you):

  • £275,000 — first-time buyer relief: £0 SDLT.
  • £400,000 — 0% on £300,000 and 5% on £100,000 = £5,000.
  • £525,000 — over the £500,000 cliff, so relief does not apply. Standard main-residence bands on the whole price (from 1 April 2025: 0% to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% above that) = £16,250. That cliff is why a price just over £500,000 can mean a much larger tax bill than a price just under.

Wales uses Land Transaction Tax, not SDLT. There is no separate first-time buyer relief; the main residential nil-rate band is £225,000. GOV.WALES LTT.

Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. First-time buyer relief raises the nil-rate band (to £175,000 at last review). Process and tax are different — see Scotland conveyancing and Revenue Scotland.

Do not use this table to calculate your bill if you already own a property, you are not occupying as a main residence, you are not a first-time buyer, or you are a non-UK resident. Additional-property and non-resident rates exist. Understanding SDLT has the wider picture. Your solicitor / the HMRC calculator will confirm what applies to you.

A conveyancing budget line (separate from the deposit)

Put these in the spreadsheet as well as the deposit and any stamp duty:

  • Legal fee — the solicitor’s professional fee, plus VAT. Ethical Conveyancing quotes a fixed legal fee, from £400, with no hidden extras on that fee. The number for your purchase comes from the purchase quote, not from this page.
  • Disbursements — third-party costs: search pack, Land Registry registration, bank transfer, ID/AML, and extras if the property is leasehold, new build or shared ownership. Market purchase disbursements are often a few hundred pounds and vary. See property searches.
  • SDLT — tax, if due (above). Not a legal fee.
  • Survey — if you instruct one. A lender valuation is a different product (below).
  • Broker / mortgage fees, removal costs, furniture — not conveyancing.

Market context, not an Ethical quote: Which?, using reallymoving data, has cited around £1,421 as a typical first-time buyer conveyancing figure (legal work, VAT and disbursements). reallymoving’s Q2 2026 index put the average purchase at £1,509. Those are national averages. A straightforward cash freehold will not look like a leasehold new-build with a gifted deposit. How much does conveyancing cost? (when live) splits the pieces.

If the purchase does not complete, No Move, No Legal Fee typically means the legal fee is not charged; searches already ordered usually are. FAQs.

Shared ownership — a short note

Shared ownership (buying a share and paying rent on the rest) is a real first-time-buyer route, and it is usually more legal work than a standard freehold: housing association lease, staircasing provisions, often a landlord’s pack, sometimes an equity loan alongside. It typically costs more and takes longer than a comparable open-market freehold.

This page is not a shared-ownership explainer. If that is your purchase, say so on the quote form so the fee can reflect it, and tell the solicitor at instruction. Freehold vs leasehold and leasehold charges are the closer guides.

Stage 1 — Money and borrowing

Typical steps many first-time buyers work through before they offer:

  • Check a statutory credit report (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion) and query anything that looks wrong.
  • Sketch a maximum budget that includes deposit + legal fee + disbursements + stamp duty + survey + moving. The mortgage offer is not the all-in cost.
  • Speak to a mortgage broker or lender about an Agreement in Principle (AIP / DIP). An AIP is not a mortgage offer.
  • Check eligibility for schemes that might apply to you (Lifetime ISA, shared ownership, local authority schemes). Eligibility rules sit with the scheme, not with the solicitor.
  • If part of the deposit is a gift, start gathering evidence early — see the FAQ below. Lenders and solicitors typically need a clear source of funds.

Stage 2 — Looking at property

  • Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves.
  • Register with agents and set portal alerts.
  • Look at sold prices on comparable streets, not only asking prices.
  • Note freehold or leasehold on the listing. If leasehold: remaining term, ground rent, service charge. Freehold vs leasehold. Many lenders look more closely at leases under about 80 years — that is typical practice, not a legal cap.
  • View more than once if you can, including at a different time of day. That is practical, not a legal step.

Stage 3 — Making an offer

  • Offers are commonly put in writing (email) and often mention first-time-buyer status and an AIP, because sellers care about deliverability.
  • Ask how quickly the seller wants to move, and whether there is a chain.
  • Clarify fixtures and fittings — what stays, what goes.
  • In England and Wales an accepted offer is not usually a binding contract. That comes later, at exchange. What exchange and completion mean.

Stage 4 — Offer accepted: instruct the legal work

This is the point in the process where the legal file actually starts. Typical next steps:

  • Instruct a conveyancing solicitor (or, through an introducer such as Ethical Conveyancing, be matched with a panel solicitor).
  • Submit the full mortgage application with the documents the lender asks for.
  • Complete identity and anti-money-laundering checks with the solicitor promptly — files cannot move without them.
  • Be ready to fund searches when the solicitor requests the disbursement. Property searches.
  • Decide whether to instruct a survey. See the box below — a lender valuation is not a survey.
**Offer accepted?** This is when many buyers instruct a solicitor, rather than waiting for the mortgage offer. Get a **fixed-fee purchase quote** in about 60 seconds. No hidden extras on the legal fee; the number comes from the quote, not a headline on this page. Panel solicitors regulated by the SRA do the legal work. The solicitor on your file advises on your transaction. **[Get a buying quote](/purchase-quote/)**

Surveys and valuations — they are not the same thing

A mortgage valuation is for the lender. It is a check that the security is worth what they are lending. It is not a survey of the condition of the building for you.

RICS survey types exist at different levels of detail (commonly discussed as Level 1 Condition Report, Level 2 Home Survey, Level 3 Building Survey). Which, if any, is useful depends on the age, type and condition of the property and on your own appetite for risk. That is a conversation with a surveyor or adviser, not a recommendation from this page.

Ethical Conveyancing can connect you with RICS surveyors — property surveys — separately from the legal quote.

Stage 5 — During the legal process

  • Read what the solicitor sends. Enquiries only move when someone answers them.
  • The draft contract, title, search results and (if leasehold) the lease and management pack are the heart of the file. Questions belong with the solicitor, not the estate agent’s memory.
  • When the mortgage offer arrives, read the term, rate, conditions and any retentions. Conditions often have to be satisfied before exchange.
  • Reply to requests for source-of-funds documents without leaving them until the week of exchange — that is a common delay for first-time buyers with gifted deposits or savings built up over several accounts.

Timescales vary widely. Some straightforward chain-free freeholds complete in around 8–12 weeks from instruction; the GB average from sale agreed to completion is much longer (Rightmove, July 2026, 154 days). How long conveyancing takes.

Stage 6 — Approaching exchange

  • The deposit for exchange is often around 10% of the price, though the figure is a matter for the contract and the solicitors — not a universal rule. First-time buyers sometimes use a smaller contractual deposit if the other side agrees; that is negotiated, not assumed.
  • Completion dates are usually agreed before exchange, because exchange is when that date becomes binding.
  • Buildings insurance is typically arranged to start from exchange in England and Wales, because the buyer often takes on the risk in the property from that point. Your solicitor and lender will say what applies on your file. See insurances.
  • Removals are easier to book once a completion date is in the contract — booking a van against an estimated week, then exchanging onto a different Friday, is a common tangle.
  • Signed contracts go back to the solicitor ready for exchange. After exchange, pulling out can have serious financial consequences. This page does not describe those remedies. Exchange and completion.

Stage 7 — Completion day

  • Remaining funds (balance of price, plus any SDLT the solicitor is collecting, plus remaining costs on the completion statement) typically need to be with the solicitor before completion day, because bank payments have cut-off times.
  • Keys are usually released by the agent only when the seller’s solicitor confirms that completion has taken place — not when the van arrives.
  • Meter readings, boiler paperwork and stopping at the stopcock are practical moving-in jobs, not legal ones.
  • Many buyers change the locks after completion because they do not know how many keys exist. That is a practical choice, not a legal requirement.

Stage 8 — After you move in

Typical admin: Royal Mail redirection; HMRC, DVLA, bank, employer, GP; electoral roll; council tax and utilities; keeping the completion statement, stamp duty submission and title documents somewhere you can find them. The solicitor registers the purchase at HM Land Registry after completion; that registration can take time and is separate from getting the keys.

Why people instruct through Ethical

Ethical Conveyancing is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors do the legal work. What you get with us:

  • Fixed legal fees — from £400 on a sale or purchase, from £230 on a remortgage. The legal fee we quote is the legal fee you pay. Disbursements (searches, Land Registry, and the like) sit on top.
  • No Move, No Legal Fee — if the transaction does not complete, you do not pay our legal fee. Disbursements already incurred are still payable.
  • A highly rated solicitor on our panel — not a call-centre file. Rated 4.9/5 or higher on review sites.
  • A dedicated support manager and an online portal so you can track the file without chasing.
  • A clear quote in under 60 seconds. We are not always the cheapest headline on a five-quote shop. We sell a fixed, itemised legal fee and a file you can actually follow.

Offer accepted? Get a buying quote — about 60 seconds. The solicitor on your file advises on your transaction.

Frequently asked questions

How much stamp duty do first-time buyers pay in 2026?

In England and Northern Ireland, from 1 April 2025, qualifying first-time buyers pay 0% on the first £300,000 and 5% on £300,001–£500,000, provided the price is not more than £500,000. Above £500,000 there is no first-time buyer relief — standard rates apply to the whole price. Confirm on the HMRC calculator. Wales and Scotland are different taxes. This is general information, not a calculation of your bill.

How much should I budget for conveyancing?

Budget a legal fee plus disbursements plus any stamp duty, separately from the deposit. Ethical quotes a fixed legal fee from £400 via the purchase quote. Market averages for a purchase (fee, VAT and disbursements) have recently sat around £1,400–£1,500 in third-party indexes — not a quote, and not all-in if you also need a survey or have leasehold extras.

What if my deposit is a gift?

Gifted deposits are common for first-time buyers. Lenders and solicitors typically need to evidence source of funds and source of wealth: who is giving the money, where it came from, and that it is an outright gift (not a hidden loan) if that is what the lender requires. That usually means gift letters plus bank statements, and it can add time if it is left late. Tell the broker and the solicitor early. They will tell you what their AML and lender processes need; this page cannot template a gift letter for you.

Is a mortgage valuation the same as a survey?

No. The valuation is for the lender. Survey types exist at different levels of detail for you as the buyer. Discuss with your adviser or a surveyor. Surveys.

Does shared ownership cost more in legal fees?

Often, yes — and it often takes longer — because of the housing association lease and extra parties. Flag it on the quote form.

When should I instruct a solicitor?

Many buyers instruct when the offer is accepted, so searches can go on and the file is not waiting on the mortgage offer. That is typical practice, not a rule. A purchase quote is the starting point with us.

I’m buying in Scotland.

The process uses missives, not English exchange of contracts, and the tax is LBTT. See Scotland conveyancing. This checklist is written for England and Wales.

Related reading