Glossary For Buying A Home Part 1

There’s quite a lot to learn when you’re moving house. Not only do you need to pack up everything you own (or dispense with some of it via charity shops and car-boot sales), you need to book a removals company and keep an eye on your budget. And then there’s the jargon – there’s lots of it, particularly if you are buying the home into which you’re moving and possibly selling the one you’re leaving, to boot. Here are some of the terms and words you might come across as you travel from one end of this process to the other.

Agreement – an alternative word for either a written or verbal contract.

Basic Fee – This is what your solicitor will charge you, possibly based on a percentage of the sale price or else as a fixed or per-hourly fee.

Buildings Insurance – This is taken out to protect you from damage occurring to your property.

Chain – This occurs when you are part of a series of sellers and buyers, all dependent on each other so that when one sale occurs, another can move forward.

Completion Date – The legal ending of the conveyancing, when the handing over of keys takes place.

Completion Statement – This document breaks down all the costs up to the point of exchange but before completion.

Contract – Legally binding documents between two or more parties.

Conveyance – The process undertaken by solicitors to oversee the sale and purchase of property and land.

Deeds – Document establishing the ownership and boundaries of a home.

Equity – The difference (in monetary figure) between the mortgage owed and the property’s value.

Freehold – The permanent owning of a property, as opposed to leasehold.

Ground Rent – Yearly charge for lease of land.

HM Land Registry – England and Wales’s governing body, administering the ownership of land and property.

Index Map Search – A search within the Land Registry to find out if a property is registered.

Leasehold – The fixed-term owning of a property, after which it reverts to the freeholder.

Local Authority Searches – A check that discovers whether the council are planning anything that will have an impact on the property in the future (e.g. Motorways, redevelopment).

Mortgage – A loan to facilitate the buying of a property (to which the loan is secured).