Buying a home here, explained properly.
Most of what is written about buying a house in England is written for somewhere that is not London. This is the version that is not.
What it costs, what order it happens in, the point where it stops being reversible, and the handful of things about London flats that catch people out. No jargon, and nothing dressed up.
What it costs, and who you pay it to.
The deposit is the number everybody saves for. The rest is the number that catches people out, usually about a fortnight before completion. Here is the whole list.
Stamp Duty
A tax to HMRC, paid on the way in, and it is charged in slices rather than all at one rate. You pay the rate for each band only on the part of the price that falls inside it.
- Up to £125,0000%
- £125,001 to £250,0002%
- £250,001 to £925,0005%
- £925,001 to £1.5m10%
- Above £1.5m12%
You pay nothing up to £300,000, then 5% on the part between £300,001 and £500,000.
Above £500,000 the relief does not taper. It disappears completely, and you pay the standard rates on the whole price. In London that cliff edge is worth knowing about before you offer, not after.
Rates checked 10 September 2026. Buying an additional property adds a surcharge on top. Work out your own figure with HMRC's calculator, and your conveyancer files the return and pays it within 14 days of completion.
Everything else
None of these are large next to the deposit. All of them are real, and most of them are payable whether or not the purchase completes.
- Your conveyancer Legal fees plus disbursements, which are the things they pay on your behalf: searches, Land Registry, bank transfers. Ask for the fees and the disbursements as one written figure before you instruct.
- A survey Not the same thing as your lender's valuation, which is for them and not for you. A survey is the only part of this process that exists purely to protect you, and it is the first thing people cut.
- Mortgage costs Arrangement or product fees, a valuation fee on some products, and a broker fee if you use one.
- Leasehold paperwork If it is a flat, the freeholder or managing agent charges for the management pack your solicitor needs. It is not optional and it is rarely quick.
- Moving, and the first month after Removals, any overlap on rent, and the things you find out you need once you are in. Leave yourself something.
Offer to keys, step by step.
Eight steps. Only one of them changes your legal position, and it is not the one most people expect.
Step two is the one people skip. Tell us what you are after and we will come to you when it turns up.
Register your interest
- 1
Get an agreement in principle
A lender's indication of what they would lend you, based on a soft check. It is not a mortgage and it is not binding on them, but it tells you your ceiling and it tells an agent you are serious.
- 2
Look, and keep looking
Register with agents rather than only watching the portals. A good number of properties are spoken for by people already on a list before they are ever advertised.
- 3
Make an offer
Through the agent, and in England and Wales it is not legally binding on either side. Expect to be asked to prove your funds and your agreement in principle at this point.
- 4
Offer accepted, memorandum of sale
The agent writes to both sides confirming the price and the parties, and takes the property off the market or marks it under offer. Instruct your conveyancer now rather than next week. This is where time gets lost.
- 5
Survey and mortgage application
Your lender values the property for their own purposes. Book your own survey separately. If either comes back with something, this is the point where the price gets renegotiated.
- 6
Searches and enquiries
Your conveyancer asks the local authority, the water company and the environmental registers what they know, and asks the seller's solicitor everything the paperwork does not answer. On a leasehold this is the longest part.
- 7
Exchange of contracts
Contracts are swapped, your deposit is paid, and a completion date is fixed. From this moment it is binding on both of you, and pulling out has a real financial cost. Everything before this is reversible. Nothing after it is.
- 8
Completion
The money moves, the keys are released, and your conveyancer files your Stamp Duty return and registers you at the Land Registry. Completion is often the same day as exchange on a chain-free purchase, and weeks later on a chain.
Until you exchange, nobody is committed.
In England and Wales an accepted offer is a handshake. The seller can accept a higher offer from someone else the week before completion, and you can walk away the day before, and neither of you has broken anything.
That is not a reason to be nervous. It is a reason to move quickly and to keep your side of it clean, because the surest way to lose a house is to be the slow party in a chain.
- Instruct a conveyancer the day your offer is accepted Not when the mortgage is confirmed. Every week of drift is a week the seller is exposed to someone else's offer.
- Answer everything the same day Identity checks, proof of deposit, the source of it. These are the things that quietly add a fortnight.
- Ask the agent where the chain is A chain moves at the speed of its slowest link, and you are entitled to know how long it is.
- Do not spend money you cannot lose Survey and search fees are gone whether or not you complete. Budget for the possibility.
In June 2026 the Government set out proposals for upfront information packs from sellers and earlier legally binding agreements, with penalties for pulling out without good reason. Those are proposals under consultation, not law. Until they become law, the paragraph above is how it works.
Leasehold, freehold, and share of freehold.
Most flats in London are leasehold, which means you are buying the right to live there for a fixed number of years rather than the building itself. It is normal. It is also the part of a London purchase most likely to go wrong, so it is worth understanding before you offer rather than after.
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Leasehold
You own the flat for the remaining years of the lease. Somebody else owns the building and charges you to maintain it.
WatchThe number of years left, the service charge, and whether major works are being planned. A short lease is expensive to put right.
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Share of freehold
You hold a lease and also a share in the company that owns the building, usually alongside the other flats.
WatchYou are now one of the people responsible for the roof. Ask how the group makes decisions and whether there is any money set aside.
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Freehold
You own the building and the ground it stands on outright. Usually a house rather than a flat.
WatchNothing structural is anybody else's problem. That is the advantage and it is also the cost.
Five things to ask before you offer on a leasehold flat
- How many years are left on the lease?
- What is the service charge, and what has it been for the last three years?
- Is there a ground rent, and does it go up?
- Are any major works planned or already consulted on?
- Is there a reserve fund, and how much is in it?
Two things are often reported as done that are not. The change that has happened: since 31 January 2025 you no longer have to own a flat for two years before you can extend the lease or join in buying the freehold. You can start on day one.
The changes that have not yet happened: 990-year extensions and the removal of marriage value from the valuation are in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 but are still waiting on secondary legislation, and the Government was consulting on the valuation rates during 2026. Do not price a short lease on the assumption the new rules apply. Ask a solicitor what it costs under the rules in force on the day you buy.
Six things London adds to a purchase.
None of these are reasons not to buy. All of them are cheaper to find out about at the enquiry stage than at the survey stage.
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Fire safety paperwork
On taller blocks a lender may still want an external wall survey, or one of the alternatives introduced under the Building Safety Act. Ask the agent what exists for the building before you get attached to the flat.
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Ex-local-authority
Often well built, often better value, and some lenders have their own rules about them. Worth raising with your broker early rather than discovering it at valuation.
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Conservation areas
Large parts of London are covered. It affects what you can change, particularly windows and anything at the front, and permitted development rights may be restricted.
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Flood risk
The river and its tributaries run further into the city than people expect, and it shows up on your searches and in your insurance quote. The Environment Agency publishes the risk by address for nothing.
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Work done without sign-off
Loft conversions, knocked-through walls and side returns are everywhere, and a good number were done without building regulations sign-off. Your solicitor will ask. Missing certificates are usually solvable but they take time.
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The transport map
Two streets can be ten minutes apart on foot and a long way apart in price because one is walkable to a station. Walk the route at the time of day you would actually be doing it.
Tell us what you are after.
Not everything reaches a portal, and the ones that do are often spoken for by somebody already on a list. Tell us what you are looking for and we will come to you when something fits.
A real person reads it. If we have nothing suitable we will say so rather than sending you flats you did not ask for.
Rather talk it through? Call 020 4652 8370
Got it.
You are on the list. We will be in touch when something matching comes up, and you will hear from a person rather than an automated blast.
If you want to talk sooner, call 020 4652 8370.
Buying it to let out?
Different sums, different tax, different paperwork, and a Stamp Duty surcharge on top. It is also the thing we do most of, so we can tell you what a given street actually achieves in rent rather than what a spreadsheet says it should.
Worth a conversation before you offer, not after.
Read the landlord pageNeed the mortgage sorted?
LLH Financial Services is a separate company under the same ownership, and mortgages are what they do. They are the people to speak to about borrowing.
Go to LLH FinancialLLH Residential is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and gives no mortgage or financial advice. LLH Financial Services Ltd is a separate company under common ownership, and any mortgage enquiry is handled by them under their own permissions.
Still deciding whether to buy or keep renting?
Ask us. We let and manage across east, north and south west London, so we see both sides of that question every week and we have no reason to push you either way.