Jargon buster
We’re always on a mission to hunt down jargon and eliminate it from our communications. But conveyancing has a long attachment to its particular brand of lingo and legal phrasing, and sometimes there’s just no avoiding it. So, for those times when we just need to insert the old-school word we thought a round up of conveyancing blurb and acronyms might be helpful.
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Disbursements: payments we make on your behalf to third parties e.g. stamp duty or for property searches.
Stamp Duty: a tax you pay when purchasing a property; first time buyers are exempt up to £300,000. See here for a calculator on how much you’ll need to pay for your dream home.
Searches: a collection of reports about the land surrounding your new home.
Freehold: you own the building and the land in perpetuity.
Leasehold: you own the property for the length of your lease agreement, you’ll usually pay maintenance fees and annual ground rent.
Peppercorn rent: a token or nominal rent, fairly common on very long leaseholds, can be as small as £1 per annum.
Exchange: solicitors exchange contracts and your moving in date gets arranged.
Completion: you now officially own your new home!
Gazump: a seller reneges on your offer and accepts a higher offer from another buyer.
Chain: a group of buyers and sellers connected in a property chain.
Homebuyers report: a report giving an overall opinion on the condition of a property that helps you decide whether or not to go ahead with the purchase.
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS): RIC surveyors conduct homebuyers reports.
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Mortgage in principle: a document from your lender indicating how much they will lend in order for you to purchase a property, it’s not a full loan agreement at this stage.
Mortgage valuation: an assessment undertaken by the mortgage lender to confirm a property’s value.
Mortgage broker: a person or company that arranges a mortgage between you (the borrower) and a mortgage lender.
Standard variable rate (SVR): an interest rate set by your lender. It is usually based on the Bank of England base rate and so can go up or down.
Early repayment charges (ERC): a fee payable to your mortgage lender for overpayment or leaving your deal early.
Fixed rate mortgage: means your interest rate is guaranteed for a fixed period, usually between 2 and 10 years, so your monthly repayments stay the same.
Interest only mortgage: each month you pay the interest owing, but nothing towards the loan itself. At the end of the period you owe the remaining balance in full.
Tracker mortgage: works on a variable rate by ‘tracking’ a base rate, set by the Bank of England. Your repayments may go up or down depending on current interest rates.
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Sold subject to contract (SSTC): when an offer is accepted, a listing site will update the property to SSTC until completion.
Subject to planning permission (STPP): a property with potential to renovate or convert may have this tag included on its page.
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Get in touch todayWe could go on indefinitely, and it’s likely you’ll see this page being updated every now and then. If you think we’ve missed anything do let us know – we’re always happy to explain any confusing conveyancing terminology. In fact, it brings us joy!
Home move FAQ
If you’re looking for more advice on the home move process, and need help understanding the complex language you may encounter when buying or selling a property, our home move FAQ contains a ton of useful facts that you may find useful.
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Owning a freehold property means that you own the whole of that property including the land it is built on and any rights which come with it (like access or parking for example), for an unlimited period of time. You are also free to enjoy and do with the property as you wish (within reason and subject to things like planning regulations)
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Owning a leasehold property means you only own the property itself and not the rest of the building around it or the land it sits on. The building and the land are owned by the landlord. Leases are also usually only for a limited amount of time, for example 99 years, and you will likely have restrictions on what you can do with your property during that time.
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Aside from any additional legal fees due to the added complexity of buying a leasehold property, there are additional property searches and information that should be obtained, such as obtaining information about the land the property sits on or in the case of a flat, the building the property is situated within and who owns it, and information about the lease and other agreements attached to the property you are buying.
Often the parties involved such as the leasehold management company or the buildings owner often charge for this information, which you should take into account as this can be on average £200-400 and sometimes more. Brevis will obtain and confirm the exact cost once the process is under way and contact has been made with the appropriate organisations, as the amount each charges varies on a property-by-property basis.
There are often additional costs associated with owning a leasehold property and you can find more information here
Please note that all information provided in this FAQ is for general reference only. It should not be used as a sole or definitive source, nor is it intended to be used for decision making in place of appropriate advice from a qualified legal professional. As such the information is provided as-is and Brevis cannot accept any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage resulting from any errors or omission in, or any reliance on, information contained in this guide.