The hidden costs of moving house

The whole process of moving house can be not only extremely stressful but also packed with hidden costs. For most people, the only money they tend to think about when it comes to buying a house is the value of the property but by the time you have added in the solicitor costs, estate agent fees and even the cost of setting up your broadband in a new property it really does all mount up.

There isn’t a whole lot of cost cutting that can be done when it comes to moving house. Sure you can use one of the ‘online only’ estate agents to try and save a few thousand pounds but, and I speak from personal experience, using one of them brings their own set of issues which in the end kind of make you feel like you haven’t actually saved that much money!

So what are the top 3 hidden costs when moving house?

Mortgage Arrangement Fee

This is the fee you that you pay your lender to have them set up your mortgage. Some people view it like in the days when if you went to rent a new house you had to pay the renting company an admin fee but thankfully this is somewhat substantially more work. The arrangement fee can tend to vary widely based on anything from the property size of where you live in the country and will range from being free to anything up to £2,000, but it typically sits around £1,000.

Moving Costs

For me, whenever I have moved house this has been the biggest cost I always end up forgetting about. It’s not even just the hiring of a moving van and getting some boxes and duct tape stuff. It’s everything! From putting our items in storage when there is sometimes a crossover between us selling the existing house and moving into the new one.

Another moving cost that sometimes needs to be considered is that of temporary accommodation. Not all moves take place on the same day and there can sometimes be a bit of an overlap and if you are a family of 4 you are going to need somewhere to go. This could be a B&B for the night, a hotel or even staying at families where you might have to contribute towards their running costs.

Stamp Duty Fee

Now, this is a cost that you can actually keep down but sadly it comes at the price of buying a smaller property or living in Scotland, neither of which are easy decisions for you to make.

In England, if you buy a property which is worth more than £125,000 you will also have to pay stamp duty. Luckily your solicitor will take care of all the paperwork and the fees changes depending on the house price.

The money you owe for stamp duty is worked out per bracket, so if you buy a house worth £251,000, you’ll pay nothing on the first £125,000, then 2% on the next £125,000 and 5% on the remaining £1,000.

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