Owning your own home

Don't forget to budget for all the little things that add up. Some real life examples from my spreadsheet last time we moved:

1. Parking suspension for moving into new place (£80)
   
2. Printer ink for conveyancing (£50)
   
3. Dochub Pro so I could edit PDFs (for conveyancing, £15)
   
4. Visitor parking permits for moving from old place (£28)
   
5. Paying for things to be posted Special Delivery when your seller/buyer fucks something up
   
6. Resident parking permit at new place if you have a car (£55 but Waltham Forest is cheap)
   
7. Mail redirection (£42)
   
8. New wheelie bins if you have to pay for them (£40)
   
9. Stickers for the wheelie bins so they don't get pinched (£3)
   
10. Cost of car/home/building insurance going up/down (all of ours went up as our micro area is prone to flooding - car went up £50 for example)
    
11. Cost of fitting new locks when the agent only gives you one key and you don't trust the old sellers not to still have keys (£32 because I did this myself, a locksmith would be a lot more expensive)
    
12. Legal cover because the cash buyer you sold to is well off and you're paranoid something will fail and she'll try and sue you (£24)
    
13. Having to pay your neighbour's legal costs for a deed of variation when you realise you never amended the Land Registry plans after doing building work (£2k)
    
14. Paying half of your buyer's moving costs as an 'act of goodwill' because of (13.) and because you'd do anything to stop her reducing her offer (£800)
    
15. Gas safe/electrical safety/asbestos survey costs if required when selling your place (our gas was £60)
    
16. Home buyer's protection insurance (recommended, £50)
    
17. Land Registry searches on neighbours before you seal the deal (see bastard neighbours thread - £6)
    
    

YMMV of course. Don't forget all the possible conveyancing charges. You know, things like leasehold supplement, ID & anti-money laundering checks, financial transaction fees, Land Registry fee, file storage, mortgage fee, authentication of buyer's lawyers, VAT on legal charges...

Your conveyancer may well 'forget' to detail all of these in advance. Good luck!