First-Time Buyer Costs: What to Budget Beyond the Deposit
By The Bureau of Wealth Team 1150 words
This article is general information, not financial advice. Consider your own circumstances or speak to a qualified adviser before acting on it.
Your deposit gets you the mortgage. Tax, legal work, searches, surveys and moving costs come out of the same savings, and the rules change at the border and at £450,000 and £500,000.
Beyond your deposit, buying your first home can mean property tax, conveyancing fees, searches, a survey, mortgage fees, Land Registry fees and moving costs. The biggest variable is the tax, and it depends on where you buy. First-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland pay no Stamp Duty Land Tax on homes up to £300,000 in 2026/27, while Scotland and Wales run their own taxes with different bands. This guide lists each cost, shows how much tax applies at common prices, and explains how to budget so the deposit doesn't get raided at the last minute.
Property tax depends on where you buy
In England and Northern Ireland, GOV.UK says first-time buyers pay no SDLT up to £300,000 and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000. Above £500,000 you can't claim the relief at all, and normal rates apply to the whole price. You and anyone buying with you must all be first-time buyers.
Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. Revenue Scotland's first-time buyer relief raises the nil rate band from £145,000 to £175,000, which it says cuts the tax by up to £600. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, and the Welsh Revenue Authority's guidance is plain: there's no first-time buyers' relief in Wales. The 0% band there already runs to £225,000.
We ran first-time buyer purchases through our stamp duty calculator:
| Price | England or NI (SDLT) | Scotland (LBTT) | Wales (LTT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £200,000 | £0 | £500 | £0 |
| £250,000 | £0 | £1,500 | £1,500 |
| £300,000 | £0 | £4,000 | £4,500 |
| £350,000 | £2,500 | £7,750 | £7,500 |
| £500,000 | £10,000 | £22,750 | £18,000 |
| £510,000 | £15,500 | £23,750 | £18,750 |
Look at the last two rows. In Scotland and Wales an extra £10,000 on the price adds £1,000 or £750 of tax. In England it adds £5,500, because the relief disappears. If you're near £500,000, negotiating the price down below the line is worth more than it looks.
You don't normally pay the tax yourself. For SDLT, GOV.UK says the return and payment are due within 14 days of completion, and your solicitor or conveyancer will usually pay it on the day of completion and add it to their fees. So the tax money needs to be with them, alongside your deposit, by completion day.
Legal work, searches, surveys and fees
GOV.UK's guide to buying a home lists the costs beyond tax: surveys, solicitor's fees, mortgage fees, search fees and land registration fees. Here's what each involves:
- Conveyancing. A solicitor, licensed conveyancer or CILEX practitioner handles the legal work. Fees can vary a lot between firms and between freehold and leasehold purchases, so get at least two written quotes that list disbursements separately.
- Searches. Your conveyancer usually orders local authority, water and drainage, and environmental searches once your offer is accepted, and GOV.UK notes you usually pay for them up front.
- Valuation and survey. Your lender values the property for its own purposes. That isn't a survey. A homebuyer survey checks the condition for you, and it's optional.
- Mortgage fees. Some deals charge a product fee in exchange for a lower rate. Compare deals on their total cost over the fixed period, fee included.
- Land Registry. On HM Land Registry's current fee scale, registering the purchase of a whole registered title for £200,001 to £500,000 costs £150 through its portal or £330 by post.
- Moving. Removals, and for leasehold flats, service charges and ground rent from the day you own it.
Where a Lifetime ISA helps, and where it bites
A Lifetime ISA lets you save up to £4,000 a year, and GOV.UK says the government adds a 25% bonus, up to £1,000 a year. You must make your first payment before you're 40, and you can keep paying in until you're 50. For a first home, the withdrawal rules require the property to cost £450,000 or less, the purchase to be at least 12 months after your first payment, a conveyancer or solicitor to act for you, and a mortgage. The ISA provider pays the money directly to your conveyancer. Your Lifetime ISA payments also count towards your £20,000 ISA allowance for 2026/27.
Here's the trap. SDLT relief stops at £500,000, but the Lifetime ISA limit is £450,000. Buy a £475,000 flat and you still get stamp duty relief, but taking money out of the Lifetime ISA counts as an unauthorised withdrawal with a 25% charge. That charge applies to the whole amount, bonus included, so you lose some of your own savings, not just the bonus. If your price range is drifting towards £450,000, decide early which side of the line you're buying on.
The 12-month rule matters too. If you might buy within a year, a Lifetime ISA opened today won't help with this purchase.
How to budget for the whole purchase
We'd build one target: deposit, tax, all fees, moving costs and a cash buffer for the first months in the home. For example, a first-time buyer in England aiming at a £300,000 home with a 10% deposit needs £30,000, no SDLT, and whatever the quotes say for everything else. Say the total target is £38,000 and £8,000 is already saved. Our savings goal calculator puts the monthly saving at £759 for three years, assuming 4% interest a year. If up to £4,000 a year of that goes into a Lifetime ISA and the purchase meets the rules, the bonus adds up to £1,000 a year on top.
Then check the price still works for the mortgage with the mortgage affordability calculator, using the deposit you'll have left after costs, not your total savings.
The standard advice is to put every spare pound into the deposit. That weakens if it leaves you nothing for a boiler failure in month two: a slightly lower loan to value won't pay for a repair, and borrowing on a credit card to fix it will cost far more than the mortgage. It flips the other way if a few thousand more would move you into a lower loan-to-value band where the lenders you're considering offer a noticeably better rate. Ask a broker to show both before you decide. A conveyancer or independent mortgage adviser can also confirm the costs for your particular purchase.
Next 10 minutes: run your target price through the stamp duty calculator for the right nation. Today: request two conveyancing quotes. This week: set your full savings target, buffer included, and check whether a Lifetime ISA fits your timeline and price.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Stamp Duty Land Tax: residential property rates
- Revenue Scotland: Land and Buildings Transaction Tax: residential property
- Welsh Revenue Authority: Land Transaction Tax return guidance: about the calculation
- GOV.UK: Lifetime ISA: withdrawing money from your Lifetime ISA
