Buying a house in England: nothing is certain until exchange — and read what you're actually buying

First the order that is fixed on this site: in your first year you don't buy — you rent, you get to know the town, and only then do you decide. This article is for the moment you are that far. And then England begins with a lesson in patience: the offer you just had accepted means nothing yet.

Until exchange, anyone can walk away

The English process has three phases: offer accepted, exchange of contracts, and completion. The sting is in the first gap: an accepted offer is legally not binding. For weeks your conveyancing solicitor does their searches while the seller can at any moment still go with a higher offer (the notorious gazumping) — and you can just as well leave at no cost. Only at exchange, when both parties swap the signed contract and you transfer your deposit, is the purchase real: after that, withdrawing costs you that deposit. Count on two to three months between offer and exchange, and plan your building survey and mortgage in that phase — not before it, not after it.

Freehold or leasehold: read what you're buying

Not every English "purchase" makes you the owner. With freehold you own house and land; with leasehold — the norm for flats — you buy the right to live there for a fixed number of years, with a freeholder above you and annual ground rent and service charges alongside your mortgage. The hard line to know: a lease with fewer than 80 years remaining makes a mortgage and resale difficult. So always ask: how many years remain, what is the ground rent and how does it rise, what were the service charges of the last two years, and which major works are planned. Your solicitor should find this out — but you have to ask for it.

The stamp duty: mind the two surcharges

The Stamp Duty Land Tax works in bands: nothing up to £125,000, then 2%, from £250,000 5%, and higher rates above £925,000 (first-time buyers have wider thresholds). But for emigrants the real amounts are in the surcharges:

• +5 percentage points on every band if after the purchase you own more than one dwelling — and your Dutch owner-occupied house counts. The surcharge only lapses if the new dwelling replaces your main residence and your old main residence has been sold (within 36 months). So whoever keeps the house in the Netherlands pays considerably more.
• +2 percentage points for whoever is not a UK resident at the time of purchase — and as a fresh arrival you easily are. Under conditions this surcharge can be reclaimed once you have lived enough days in the UK; have your solicitor factor that in from day one.

Your solicitor pays over the SDLT and arranges the registration at HM Land Registry — that part resembles the Netherlands. The art here lies not in the process but in the timing: the sale of your Dutch house and your English purchase belong in one plan.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but then for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to England.