First-Time Buyer’s Complete Checklist

This page is general information for people buying their first home in England and Wales. It is not legal, tax or mortgage advice, and it is not a personal recommendation. Ethical Conveyancing (TG Legal Services) is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors regulated by the SRA and/or CLC carry out the legal work. Rules depend on your circumstances; your solicitor, broker and (for tax) HMRC confirm what applies to you.

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.

Buying for the first time is a sequence of practical steps — finance, finding a property, offer, legal work, exchange, completion — not a single leap. The list below is a typical path many first-time buyers work through. It is not a set of instructions you must follow, and every chain is different.

Stamp duty and legal fees are two of the figures that catch people out because they sit outside the mortgage deposit. They are covered up front, then the stages.

First-time buyer stamp duty (England and Northern Ireland)

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax on the purchase, not a conveyancing fee. Rates below are the first-time buyer residential rates in force from 1 April 2025 and still current at last review. They apply where all purchasers are first-time buyers, they intend to occupy the property as their main residence, and the price is £500,000 or less.

Source: GOV.UK residential SDLT rates and SDLT reliefs. Confirm on the HMRC SDLT calculator. Your solicitor files the return; they do not set the rates.

Worked illustrations (tax only, not a bill for you):

• £275,000 — first-time buyer relief: £0 SDLT.
• £400,000 — 0% on £300,000 and 5% on £100,000 = £5,000.
• £525,000 — over the £500,000 cliff, so relief does not apply. Standard main-residence bands on the whole price (from 1 April 2025: 0% to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% above that) = £16,250. That cliff is why a price just over £500,000 can mean a much larger tax bill than a price just under.

Wales uses Land Transaction Tax, not SDLT. There is no separate first-time buyer relief; the main residential nil-rate band is £225,000. GOV.WALES LTT.

Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. First-time buyer relief raises the nil-rate band (to £175,000 at last review). Process and tax are different — see Scotland conveyancing and Revenue Scotland.

Do not use this table to calculate your bill if you already own a property, you are not occupying as a main residence, you are not a first-time buyer, or you are a non-UK resident. Additional-property and non-resident rates exist. Understanding SDLT has the wider picture. Your solicitor / the HMRC calculator will confirm what applies to you.

A conveyancing budget line (separate from the deposit)

Put these in the spreadsheet as well as the deposit and any stamp duty:

• Legal fee — the solicitor’s professional fee, plus VAT. Ethical Conveyancing quotes a fixed legal fee, from £400, with no hidden extras on that fee. The number for your purchase comes from the purchase quote, not from this page.
• Disbursements — third-party costs: search pack, Land Registry registration, bank transfer, ID/AML, and extras if the property is leasehold, new build or shared ownership. Market purchase disbursements are often a few hundred pounds and vary. See property searches.
• SDLT — tax, if due (above). Not a legal fee.
• Survey — if you instruct one. A lender valuation is a different product (below).
• Broker / mortgage fees, removal costs, furniture — not conveyancing.

Market context, not an Ethical quote: Which?, using reallymoving data, has cited around £1,421 as a typical first-time buyer conveyancing figure (legal work, VAT and disbursements). reallymoving’s Q2 2026 index put the average purchase at £1,509. Those are national averages. A straightforward cash freehold will not look like a leasehold new-build with a gifted deposit. How much does conveyancing cost? (when live) splits the pieces.

If the purchase does not complete, No Move, No Legal Fee typically means the legal fee is not charged; searches already ordered usually are. FAQs.

Shared ownership — what is different

Shared ownership lets you buy a share of a home — usually from a housing association — and pay rent on the rest. It is a genuine route onto the ladder for many first-time buyers, but the conveyancing is more involved than a standard freehold purchase.

Why it is more legal work

• The lease. Shared ownership homes are almost always sold on a shared ownership lease. Your solicitor has to review it carefully: the rent, the service charge, repairing obligations and the rules on selling later.
• The housing association is a party. It has its own requirements and paperwork, which can add time.
• Staircasing. The lease sets out how you can buy more shares later, and at what value. Your solicitor will explain the basics.
• Reselling. When you come to sell, the housing association may have a period to find a buyer first. Worth understanding before you buy.
• Leasehold extras. Because it is leasehold, the leasehold charges covered in our leasehold costs guide can apply.

What it means for your quote

Shared ownership often costs more in legal fees than a comparable open-market purchase, and it can take longer. Extra fees may apply; your quote shows them itemised. Tell us it is a shared ownership purchase on the purchase quote form, along with the share you are buying, so the quote reflects it.

If you are buying a larger share of a home you already part-own (staircasing), contact us so we can match you with a panel solicitor for the work involved.

What about Help to Buy?

If you already have a Help to Buy equity loan and you are selling or remortgaging, repaying it means extra parties, extra documents and extra fees. Tell us up front on the sale quote or remortgage quote form, and your quote will show them itemised.

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Stage 1 — Money and borrowing

Typical steps many first-time buyers work through before they offer:

• Check a statutory credit report (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion) and query anything that looks wrong.
• Sketch a maximum budget that includes deposit + legal fee + disbursements + stamp duty + survey + moving. The mortgage offer is not the all-in cost.
• Speak to a mortgage broker or lender about an Agreement in Principle (AIP / DIP). An AIP is not a mortgage offer.
• Check eligibility for schemes that might apply to you (Lifetime ISA, shared ownership, local authority schemes). Eligibility rules sit with the scheme, not with the solicitor.
• If part of the deposit is a gift, start gathering evidence early — see the FAQ below. Lenders and solicitors typically need a clear source of funds.

Gifted deposits: what your solicitor will ask for

Help from family is one of the most common ways first-time buyers fund a deposit. It is perfectly normal — but it is also one of the most common causes of last-minute delays, because the paperwork is often left until the week of exchange. Here is what usually happens, so you can get ahead of it.

Why solicitors check gifted money

Solicitors have to follow anti-money-laundering rules. That means checking not only who you are, but where every pound of the purchase money comes from — including money given to you. Your lender will also want to know about the gift, because it affects their lending decision.

What you are likely to need

Every solicitor and lender has its own process, but the usual requirements are:

• ID for the person giving the money (the giftor) — often checked the same way as yours.
• Proof of where the money came from — typically bank statements showing the funds building up or arriving, for example from savings, the sale of a property or an inheritance.
• A signed gift declaration or gift letter confirming the money is a gift, not a loan, and that the giftor will not own a share of the property.
• Sometimes, confirmation from the giftor that they will not live in the property, or that they give up any claim to it — especially if they will be living with you.

Your solicitor will tell you exactly what they need. This page cannot provide a gift letter template: the wording depends on your lender and your solicitor.

How to avoid delays

1. Tell your mortgage broker or lender about the gift at the start. A gift that the lender does not know about can hold up your mortgage offer.
2. Mention it on your quote form. Extra fees may apply for the additional checks on a gifted deposit. Your quote shows them itemised, so it is better to complete a quote with the gift included and see everything on day one.
3. Ask the giftor to gather their documents early — at the same time as you gather yours.
4. Move the money in good time. Transfers of large sums can take time to clear, and some banks hold payments for checks. Do not leave it until the day before exchange.
5. More than one giftor? Each person giving money will usually need their own ID and evidence.

The person giving the money may also want independent advice on the tax side of a large gift. That is outside the conveyancing, but worth raising early.

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Using a Lifetime ISA

If you have saved into a Lifetime ISA (LISA), the government bonus can go towards your first home. Your conveyancer is usually involved in releasing the money for your purchase, so it needs planning into the timetable.

What to know:

• Tell your solicitor at instruction. The request has to be made in time for the money to arrive before completion, so it is better not to raise it late.
• The rules are set by the scheme, not the solicitor. There is a property price limit and a minimum time the account must have been open, among other conditions. Check the current rules on GOV.UK before you rely on the bonus.
• Extra fees may apply for the additional paperwork. Flag the Lifetime ISA on the quote form and your quote will show them itemised.

If you have an older Help to Buy ISA, tell your solicitor too; the process is similar.

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Stage 2 — Looking at property

• Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves.
• Register with agents and set portal alerts.
• Look at sold prices on comparable streets, not only asking prices.
• Note freehold or leasehold on the listing. If leasehold: remaining term, ground rent, service charge. Freehold vs leasehold. Many lenders look more closely at leases under about 80 years — that is typical practice, not a legal cap.
• View more than once if you can, including at a different time of day. That is practical, not a legal step.

Stage 3 — Making an offer

• Offers are commonly put in writing (email) and often mention first-time-buyer status and an AIP, because sellers care about deliverability.
• Ask how quickly the seller wants to move, and whether there is a chain.
• Clarify fixtures and fittings — what stays, what goes.
• In England and Wales an accepted offer is not usually a binding contract. That comes later, at exchange. What exchange and completion mean.

Stage 4 — Offer accepted: instruct the legal work

This is the point in the process where the legal file actually starts. Typical next steps:

• Instruct a conveyancing solicitor (or, through an introducer such as Ethical Conveyancing, be matched with a panel solicitor).
• Submit the full mortgage application with the documents the lender asks for.
• Complete identity and anti-money-laundering checks with the solicitor promptly — files cannot move without them.
• Be ready to fund searches when the solicitor requests the disbursement. Property searches.
• Decide whether to instruct a survey. See the box below — a lender valuation is not a survey.

Surveys and valuations — they are not the same thing

A mortgage valuation is for the lender. It is a check that the security is worth what they are lending. It is not a survey of the condition of the building for you.

RICS survey types exist at different levels of detail (commonly discussed as Level 1 Condition Report, Level 2 Home Survey, Level 3 Building Survey). Which, if any, is useful depends on the age, type and condition of the property and on your own appetite for risk. That is a conversation with a surveyor or adviser, not a recommendation from this page.

Ethical Conveyancing can connect you with RICS surveyors — property surveys — separately from the legal quote.

Stage 5 — During the legal process

• Read what the solicitor sends. Enquiries only move when someone answers them.
• The draft contract, title, search results and (if leasehold) the lease and management pack are the heart of the file. Questions belong with the solicitor, not the estate agent’s memory.
• When the mortgage offer arrives, read the term, rate, conditions and any retentions. Conditions often have to be satisfied before exchange.
• Reply to requests for source-of-funds documents without leaving them until the week of exchange — that is a common delay for first-time buyers with gifted deposits or savings built up over several accounts.

Timescales vary widely. Some straightforward chain-free freeholds complete in around 8–12 weeks; the GB average from sale agreed to completion is much longer (Rightmove, July 2026, 154 days). How long conveyancing takes.

Stage 6 — Approaching exchange

• The deposit for exchange is often around 10% of the price, though the figure is a matter for the contract and the solicitors — not a universal rule. First-time buyers sometimes use a smaller contractual deposit if the other side agrees; that is negotiated, not assumed.
• Completion dates are usually agreed before exchange, because exchange is when that date becomes binding.
• Buildings insurance is typically arranged to start from exchange in England and Wales, because the buyer often takes on the risk in the property from that point. Your solicitor and lender will say what applies on your file. See insurances.
• Removals are easier to book once a completion date is in the contract — booking a van against an estimated week, then exchanging onto a different Friday, is a common tangle.
• Signed contracts go back to the solicitor ready for exchange. After exchange, pulling out can have serious financial consequences. This page does not describe those remedies. Exchange and completion.

Stage 7 — Completion day

• Remaining funds (balance of price, plus any SDLT the solicitor is collecting, plus remaining costs on the completion statement) typically need to be with the solicitor before completion day, because bank payments have cut-off times.
• Keys are usually released by the agent only when the seller’s solicitor confirms that completion has taken place — not when the van arrives.
• Meter readings, boiler paperwork and stopping at the stopcock are practical moving-in jobs, not legal ones.
• Many buyers change the locks after completion because they do not know how many keys exist. That is a practical choice, not a legal requirement.

Stage 8 — After you move in

Typical admin: Royal Mail redirection; HMRC, DVLA, bank, employer, GP; electoral roll; council tax and utilities; keeping the completion statement, stamp duty submission and title documents somewhere you can find them. The solicitor registers the purchase at HM Land Registry after completion; that registration can take time and is separate from getting the keys.

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Why people instruct through Ethical

Ethical Conveyancing is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors do the legal work. What you get with us:

• Fixed legal fees — from £400 on a sale or purchase, from £230 on a remortgage. The legal fee we quote is the legal fee you pay. Disbursements (searches, Land Registry, and the like) sit on top.
• No Move, No Legal Fee — if the transaction does not complete, you do not pay our legal fee. Disbursements already incurred are still payable.
• A highly rated solicitor on our panel — not a call-centre file. Rated 4.9/5 or higher on review sites.
• A dedicated support manager and an online portal so you can track the file without chasing.
• A clear quote in under 60 seconds. We are not always the cheapest headline on a five-quote shop. We sell a fixed, itemised legal fee and a file you can actually follow.

Offer accepted? Get a buying quote — about 60 seconds. The solicitor on your file advises on your transaction.

Frequently asked questions

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Related reading

• Understanding SDLT
• What exchange and completion mean
• Property searches
• Freehold vs leasehold
• The conveyancing process, demystified
• How much does conveyancing cost in 2026?

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