Closing Cost Calculator

Closing costs are separate from the deposit

The deposit reduces the amount borrowed. Closing costs are additional money that leaves your account on completion and buys nothing you keep. Budgeting only for the deposit and discovering the completion figure is several percent higher is the most common financial shock in a first purchase, and it arrives at the point when it is hardest to solve.

What makes up the total

Transfer tax or stamp duty is usually the largest single item and is tiered, so a purchase price just above a threshold can cost disproportionately more. Legal or conveyancing fees cover the transaction and searches. A survey is separate from the lender's valuation, which protects the lender rather than you. Lender charges cover arrangement and sometimes booking. Then registration, insurance starting from exchange, and removals.

The lender's valuation is not a survey

It confirms the property is worth roughly what is being lent against it. It does not assess condition, and it carries no duty to you. A homebuyer's report or a full structural survey costs several hundred to a few thousand and routinely identifies issues worth many times that, either as a reason to renegotiate or to walk away.

Costs after completion, which nobody budgets

The first months of ownership generate spending that feels unexpected but is entirely predictable: immediate repairs the survey flagged, appliances, furniture for rooms you did not previously have, and the deposit-to-first-payment gap. Keeping several thousand in reserve after completion prevents the first repair going onto a credit card.

What is negotiable

Conveyancing fees vary substantially between firms for identical work and are worth quoting three ways. Lender arrangement fees can sometimes be added to the loan, which spreads the cost but means paying interest on it for the full term. Transfer taxes and registration fees are fixed by statute and are not negotiable, so ignore anyone suggesting otherwise.