What will it all cost?
The standard costs
When it comes to buying a property there are just three costs:
- The solicitors’ fees
- The registration dues payable to Registers of Scotland for registering you as the owner of the property and your lender’s security for the mortgage and
- The Stamp Duty or as we now call it in Scotland the LBTT (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to give it its full name).
Solicitors’ fees
Each firm of solicitors will have its own fee structure and will charge VAT on their fee. As a help for First Time Buyers, we offer a fixed fee. There are terms and conditions relating to this and more information can be found here. But when you request a quote, we shall give you fuller information.
Registration Dues
These are the charges made by Registers of Scotland to cover the cost of registering you as the owner of the property and the cost of registering your lender’s security for the mortgage. The amount of the registration dues payable to register you as the owner depends on the purchase price of the property.
LBTT
LBTT (the Scottish Stamp Duty) is a tax payable to the Scottish Government (Revenue Scotland). It is calculated by reference to the purchase price and so essentially the more you pay for your property to more tax is going to be payable.
First Time Buyer Relief – LBTT
There is now a First Time Buyer Relief available up to a maximum of £600.
Additional fees and costs for some transactions
The above are the standard costs. Sometimes tough there will be additional fees and costs depending on what type of property you decide to buy and if you are buying an investment property or otherwise have to pay ADS in addition to the LBTT. Here are a few examples:
Additional fees and costs if you are buying a new build property
Buying a new build property is an attractive proposition for first time buyers in Edinburgh at the moment as new build properties are sold at fixed prices. However, in saying that, the builder is likely to ask you to pay for extras like floor coverings and choice of kitchen and bathroom. But the process of buying a new build is a little different from buying generally in that you will be asked to meet some of the costs usually incurred and paid for by a seller. So, you should estimate that the costs will be increased by around £500 – £600.
Additional costs if this is not your only property – additional dwelling supplement (ADS)
When it was first introduced a few years ago it was said to be a tax on second homes and buy to let investment properties. In fact, it catches more people than that. If you are unfortunate enough to have to pay the ADS then it is a tax of 4% of the purchase price.
Additional fee if you have a help to buy ISA or Lifetime ISA
If you have a Help to Buy ISA (and as First Time Buyers we hope you do) or a Lifetime ISA, then there is quite a lot of additional work involved for us. For that reason, we do charge an additional fee of £60 (£50 plus VAT) for that additional work.
Additional fee if you are purchasing under the Help to Buy Scheme
Buying with the Help to Buy Scheme is not of much assistance to First Time Buyers in Edinburgh at the moment as most properties in the price range for first time buyers are selling for well over home report value and one of the conditions of this Scheme is that you cannot offer more than the valuation figure. Again, the amount of additional work involved and the additional costs mean that you should estimate around another £600 in fees and costs being added.
Request a quote from us
When you fill in the Request A First Time Buyer Quote form from us, one of the questions we ask is to give us an idea of the price you have in mind for your property purchase. That is because the registration dues and LBTT are both calculated by reference to the price of the property.
