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Buying a home: the basics

Understand offers, chains, mortgages and the legal steps to buying.

We're saving hard. We're trying to get on the property ladder.

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All 15 phrases

Getting ready to buy3

  1. We're trying to get on the property ladderBuying your first home.
  2. We've got an agreement in principleA lender's indication of how much you could borrow.
  3. We're first-time buyers, no chainA strong position: you're not waiting to sell another home.

Offers and problems5

  1. Offers in excess of £300,000The seller wants at least that price, and hopes for more.
  2. We'd like to put in an offer, subject to surveyMaking an offer through the agent, with the right to renegotiate if the survey finds problems.
  3. It's sold STCSubject to contract.
  4. We've been gazumpedThe seller accepted a higher offer after accepting yours.
  5. They tried to gazunder usThe buyer drops their offer just before exchange.

The legal stages3

  1. When do we exchange?Exchange of contracts is when the deal becomes legally binding and you pay your deposit.
  2. Completion's on FridayThe money changes hands and you get the keys.
  3. Our solicitor's waiting on the searchesLocal authority and other checks your conveyancer runs.

Leases and costs4

  1. Is it leasehold or freehold?Most flats are leasehold: you own it for a set term and pay service charges, and on older leases ground rent too.
  2. How long's left on the lease?Short leases (under about 80 years) can be expensive to extend and harder to get a mortgage on.
  3. What's the service charge?The yearly fee for building maintenance in a leasehold flat.
  4. Will we have to pay stamp duty?Tax on buying property in England and Northern Ireland.
Check yourself15 questions

Question 1 of 15

'Get on the property ladder' means...

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1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days later
Moments
0 of 15 phrases have a clip
Sources
Picked by Talk, CC BY-SA 4.0
Phrases
Picked by Talk.
How Talk picked them
Part of Talk's themed British life packs. Talk wrote each phrase with what it really means, when to say it, what not to say instead and one quiz question. A phrase gets a moment only if Talk's spoken videos say it with the same meaning. One review picked each moment, and a second tried to reject it. This pack holds 15 phrases.
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Talk shares this list under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Meanings and examples
Written by Talk in plain English.
Dictionary details
From Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Princeton WordNet, used under the WordNet licence. WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
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