First-Time Buyer Conveyancing in Maidenhead
Beyond your deposit, the legal side of buying your first home costs in the region of £1,800 including VAT on a freehold purchase, plus the HM Land Registry fee, plus any stamp duty.
Stamp duty is the item that surprises people, because the threshold changed in April 2025 and a great deal of advice still online is out of date. A first-time buyer now pays nothing up to £300,000, not £425,000.
Everything is itemised below.
What you pay us, and what you pay to other people
Our fee is what we charge for the legal work. Fixed, and quoted before you instruct us.
Disbursements are payments we make to third parties on your behalf and recharge at cost. Search providers, HM Land Registry, the banks. We do not mark these up.
Taxes and third-party charges go to HMRC, HM Land Registry, or a managing agent, and are not ours to set.
Our legal fee
| Property value | Freehold | Leasehold |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £500,000 | £1,000 + VAT | £1,500 + VAT |
| £500,001 to £1,000,000 | £1,250 + VAT | £1,750 + VAT |
Leasehold costs more because there is more work: the lease to review, the management pack to obtain and report on, the freeholder to deal with, and notice to serve after completion.
| Situation | Additional fee |
|---|---|
| Lifetime ISA or Help to Buy ISA used towards the deposit | £200 + VAT |
| Unregistered property | £250 + VAT |
| ID1 form required | £50 + VAT |
The Lifetime ISA addition applies to a lot of first-time buyers. The funds have to be requested from the provider within a set window and evidenced to HMRC's requirements.
Fees correct as at 5 August 2026. Full schedule on our fixed-fee quote page.
Disbursements
| Item | Cost | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | £350 + VAT | The search pack on your property |
| Official copies | £9 + VAT | Title register and plan from HM Land Registry |
| AML checks | £35 + VAT | Identity and source of funds verification |
| Priority search | £9 + VAT | Protects your registration priority at completion |
| Bankruptcy search | £8 + VAT | Required by your lender |
| CHAPS transfer | £36.67 + VAT (£44) | Sending the money on completion day |
| Lender portal fee | £40 + VAT | Where your lender requires it |
| HM Land Registry fee | Varies by price | Registering you as owner |
On a leasehold purchase, add the managing agent's charge for the management pack, which they set. On a new build, the developer's solicitor charges an engrossment fee.
Work out the HM Land Registry fee on their own calculator rather than budgeting a round number.
Stamp duty for a first-time buyer
England, from 1 April 2025 and unchanged at the 2026 Budget:
| Portion of the price | First-time buyer rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £300,000 | 0% |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | 5% |
| Above £500,000 | No first-time buyer relief. Standard rates apply to the whole price |
Three conditions. Every buyer on the title must be a first-time buyer. The property must be your main residence. The price must not exceed £500,000, and if it does, relief is lost entirely rather than tapered.
That last point is a cliff edge worth understanding before you set a search filter. Relief disappearing at £500,001 rather than reducing gradually means the difference between two similar asking prices either side of that line is larger than it looks.
Worked example, illustration only, freehold at £400,000:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Our fee, freehold, including VAT | £1,200.00 |
| Searches, including VAT | £420.00 |
| AML checks, including VAT | £42.00 |
| Official copies, including VAT | £10.80 |
| Priority search, including VAT | £10.80 |
| Bankruptcy search, including VAT | £9.60 |
| CHAPS transfer | £44.00 |
| Lender portal fee, including VAT | £48.00 |
| Legal costs subtotal | £1,785.20 |
| HM Land Registry fee | Per HMLR scale |
| Stamp duty | £5,000.00 |
Note what stamp duty does at that price. Under the thresholds that applied until 31 March 2025 the figure would have been nil. Under the current rules it is £5,000, because 5% is charged on the amount above the £300,000 threshold.
Stamp duty figures correct as at 5 August 2026. Check the current position on the HMRC website or ask us before you offer.
What can change a quote after it is given
Our fee is fixed for the transaction as described when we quote. These change the description:
- The property turns out to be leasehold, or freehold with an estate management company
- The title is unregistered, requiring first registration
- You are using a Lifetime ISA or Help to Buy ISA and did not mention it at the outset
- A gifted deposit, needing a declaration and identity checks on the person gifting
- The seller cannot produce building regulations sign-off and an indemnity policy is needed
- You are buying a new build, where the developer's solicitor charges an engrossment fee and exchange deadlines are usually fixed and non-negotiable
Tell us about the first four at quote stage and the fee will not move.
What you need on exchange day, and on completion day
On exchange you need your deposit as cleared funds in our client account. Not on its way, not pending. Cleared. A bank transfer sent on the morning of exchange may not clear that day, so send it the working day before at the latest.
On completion you need the balance of the purchase price, our fee, the disbursements and the stamp duty, all as cleared funds. In practice we ask for the whole completion figure a few days ahead so nothing is waiting on a bank.
You also need buildings insurance in place from exchange, not completion. From the moment contracts are exchanged the risk in the property is yours, even though you do not yet own it.
For the order the legal work happens in, see conveyancing in Maidenhead.
Get a fixed-fee quote
Call 01628 777233 or email enquire@jscottlegal.co.uk with the price, whether it is freehold or leasehold, and whether you are using a Lifetime ISA. We will send a fixed fee and an itemised list of disbursements before you commit.
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