greathome.uk is a non-profit portal providing independent information about UK property to support buyers, sellers, and renters. Unaffiliated with any commercial company, the site is created and sponsored by Brandflame.co.uk

Guides & InsightsMoney & ownership

Source checkedEvergreen guideUnited Kingdom

The full cost of buying goes beyond the price

Build a transparent cash and monthly plan without hiding important assumptions.

Prepared by
Greathome Editorial
Published
6 September 2026
Reviewed
6 September 2026
Next review
6 October 2026
Reading time
7 minutes

Short answer

A useful buying budget separates completion cash, finance costs, professional work, moving, immediate works and ongoing ownership. Property tax depends on the UK nation, transaction date and buyer circumstances, so use current official rules rather than a generic percentage.

01

Cash needed before and at completion

Start with the deposit or full purchase funds, then add the applicable transaction tax and explicit allowances for legal work, searches, survey, lender or broker charges, removals and initial repairs. Keep contingency visible instead of burying it inside another line.

02

Monthly ownership

Mortgage payments are only one commitment. Council tax, service charges, insurance, utilities and maintenance can change affordability materially. Some are property-specific and should remain editable until verified.

03

Use the right tax jurisdiction

England and Northern Ireland use SDLT, Wales uses LTT and Scotland uses LBTT. Reliefs, surcharges and special transactions can change the result. The Greathome planner uses postcode jurisdiction and versioned rules, but complex cases still require professional advice.

Never use an old article’s threshold as the source of truth for a current purchase.

Put this into practice

Calculate the true buying cost

Use current jurisdiction rules beside your own fees and running-cost assumptions.
Open the tool

Sources and review

Check the original guidance

  1. 01
    Stamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates HM Revenue & Customs · checked 6 September 2026
  2. 02
    How to buy a home GOV.UK · checked 6 September 2026
Editorial status

Manual launch edition. Material claims are linked to the sources above. Time-sensitive rules must be checked again at the next review date or when an official source changes.