Guides

Guides to buying and renting a home in the UK

Each guide is checked against the official sources it cites, with the date of the check.

Buying rules depend on the nation. On a £300,000 home bought by a home mover, the purchase tax is £5,000 of Stamp Duty in England and Northern Ireland, £4,600 of LBTT in Scotland and £4,500 of Land Transaction Tax in Wales. Each of the 34 guides below answers one question, with its official sources and their date.

Buying

Buying a home in England: the steps, offer to registration

Buying a home in England follows a fixed sequence: you arrange finance, make an offer, instruct a solicitor, order searches and a survey, exchange contracts and complete, and the Stamp Duty Land Tax return is then due within 14 days.

Buying a home in Scotland: Home Report, offers and missives

Buying in Scotland works differently from England, with the Home Report due within nine days of your request. Before you offer you read the seller's Home Report, which the seller or agent must give you within nine days of your request.

Buying a home in Northern Ireland: process and registers

Buying in Northern Ireland follows the same broad order as in England: offer, solicitor, survey, mortgage, exchange of contracts, completion, usually in around two to three months with a deposit of at least five per cent at exchange (nidirect). nidirect says the whole process usually takes around two to three months and that you will usually pay the seller a deposit of at least five per cent of the price at exchange.

Stamp Duty Land Tax: rates, who pays and the 14 days

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is the tax on buying a home in England and Northern Ireland, with a 0% rate on the first £125,000 for a single-home buyer.

LBTT in Scotland: rates, first-time buyers, ADS, 30 days

Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is the tax on buying a home in Scotland, with a 0% rate up to £145,000.

Land Transaction Tax in Wales: rates, higher rates, 30 days

In Wales the tax on buying a home is Land Transaction Tax (LTT), with a 0% rate up to £225,000, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority, not Stamp Duty Land Tax.

First-time buyer relief: England, Scotland and Wales

The UK has no single first-time buyer relief: it depends on the nation where the home is.

Buying a second home: SDLT, ADS and LTT higher rates

Buying a home when you already own another one costs more tax in all three tax systems of the UK. In England and Northern Ireland you usually pay an extra 5 percentage points of Stamp Duty Land Tax on every slice of the price.

Non-UK resident SDLT surcharge: the 2% and how to reclaim it

If you buy a home in England or Northern Ireland and you were not in the UK for at least 183 days in the 12 months before the purchase, you are treated as non-UK resident and pay a 2 percentage point surcharge on top of every other Stamp Duty Land Tax rate.

Conveyancing explained: who does it and what it covers

Conveyancing is the legal work of moving a home from seller to buyer: checking the title, dealing with the other side, handling the money and registering the change; in England and Wales licensed conveyancers have been able to act instead of a solicitor since 1987.

Property searches when buying a home in the UK

Property searches are enquiries your conveyancer makes to public bodies and registers before you commit to buying; in England and Wales, a Land Registry title register costs £7 (GOV.UK).

Home survey levels 1, 2 and 3: which one to choose

In Scotland, the Home Report's Single Survey rates defects in three categories, while the RICS Home Survey comes in three levels.

The Home Report in Scotland: contents and your rights

In Scotland, a seller or selling agent must give you the Home Report within nine days of your asking for it (mygov.scot).

Leasehold and freehold: what you own, and 2024 reforms

In England and Wales, only some provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 were in force on 14 October 2026. Freehold means you own the property outright, without a time limit.

Exchange and completion: when you are bound to buy

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you are legally bound to buy only at exchange of contracts, when the buyer pays a deposit and both sides are committed. Completion, when the rest of the money passes and you get the keys, follows.

The title register: what it shows and how to get it

In England and Wales, the title register at HM Land Registry records who owns a property, any mortgage or restriction, and rights such as rights of way.

Financing

UK mortgage affordability rules: FCA checks, 4.5x limit

Across the whole United Kingdom, a lender that offers you a regulated mortgage must be able to show that you can afford it.

UK mortgage deposit and loan-to-value (LTV) explained

Your deposit is the part of the price you pay yourself. The rest is the mortgage. Loan-to-value (LTV) expresses that mortgage as a percentage of the property's value: it is the loan divided by the value, times 100.

Mortgage in principle in the UK: what to know first

In the United Kingdom, FCA rules require a lender assessing a full mortgage application to assume an interest-rate rise of at least 1% and to obtain evidence of your income.

Lifetime ISA for a first home: rules, 25% charge, cap

In the UK, a Lifetime ISA lets you save up to £4,000 a year towards a first home, and the government adds a 25% bonus, up to £1,000 a year.

Shared ownership in the UK: shares, rent and who can apply

With shared ownership you buy a share of a home and pay rent to a landlord on the rest. In England, GOV.UK says you buy 10% to 75% of the full market value, with the usual range 25% to 75%.

Selling

Costs of selling a home in the UK: agent, legal, EPC, tax

Selling a home in the United Kingdom has no single official price list, but in England, Wales and Northern Ireland you need an EPC, valid for 10 years, before you market the property.

Capital Gains Tax on a home: relief and 60-day report

Selling your own home usually means no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in the United Kingdom, thanks to Private Residence Relief, which applies automatically if you meet its conditions.

Energy performance certificate (EPC) rules by UK nation

In England and Northern Ireland, an energy performance certificate (EPC) rates a building from A (best) to G (worst) and is valid for 10 years. In England, you must order one before you market a property to sell or rent.

Renting

Renting in England: the rules since 1 May 2026

In England, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 took effect on 1 May 2026. Section 21 "no fault" evictions ended, most existing assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies with no end date, and new private tenancies are periodic from the start.

Tenancy deposit protection in the UK, nation by nation

In every UK nation a landlord who takes a tenancy deposit must put it in a government-approved scheme, but the deadline and the penalties differ. The deadline is 30 days in England and Wales, 30 working days in Scotland and 28 days in Northern Ireland.

Private residential tenancy in Scotland: your rights

In Scotland, most private lets are a private residential tenancy (PRT), and a landlord can end one only on one of 18 eviction grounds.

Renting in Wales: occupation contracts explained

In Wales, since 1 December 2022, nearly everyone who rents a home holds an occupation contract under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. In the private sector this is usually a standard contract.

Renting in Northern Ireland: notice, rent and deposits

In Northern Ireland the private rented sector is governed by its own legislation, including the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, not by English law. A deposit cannot exceed one month's rent and must be protected within 28 days.

Right to rent checks in England: what landlords must do

In England, a landlord or letting agent who does not check that every adult who will live in a rented home has the right to rent before the tenancy starts risks a civil penalty of £5,000 to £20,000 per person.