Completing a house purchase in England involves one large transfer and a cluster of smaller ones. On completion day, the balance of the purchase price is the biggest sum a buyer sends — but it sits alongside a legal fee, a stack of disbursements, a registration fee, a same-day bank-transfer charge and, for most buyers, stamp duty. At the £295,000 national median price — the midpoint of 778,998 completed sales recorded across England and Wales in 2025 (HM Land Registry) — the extras are modest and largely fixed. The one figure that swings widely is stamp duty, and that turns entirely on price and buyer status.
Here is what actually leaves a buyer's account on or before completion, what each item is, and where the numbers come from.
What "completion" means for the money
Completion is the day legal ownership transfers from seller to buyer. The buyer's conveyancer sends the balance of the purchase price to the seller's conveyancer, usually by CHAPS same-day transfer, and the keys are released. Most of the cash a buyer needs must be cleared in the conveyancer's client account a day or two beforehand, so completion day itself is mostly the money moving — not the moment to discover a shortfall.
The mortgage lender advances the loan on completion, so the buyer funds only the gap: purchase price, minus the mortgage advance, minus the deposit already paid at exchange (commonly 10%). Everything below is on top of that balance.
The completion-day checklist
| Item | Typical amount | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Balance of purchase price | Price − mortgage advance − exchange deposit | The main transfer to the seller |
| Conveyancer's legal fee (+ 20% VAT) | ~£800–£1,800 + VAT | The solicitor's own charge for the work |
| Stamp Duty Land Tax | £0 to tens of thousands | Filed and paid within 14 days of completion (HMRC) |
| HM Land Registry registration fee | £20–£500 online (£45–£1,105 by post) | Registering the buyer as the new owner |
| Local, water & environmental searches | ~£250–£450 combined | Set by the council and search providers |
| Priority, bankruptcy & official-copy searches | A few pounds each | HM Land Registry pre-completion checks |
| Telegraphic transfer / CHAPS fee | ~£20–£40 | The bank's same-day transfer charge |
| Leasehold notice & registration fees | ~£100–£300+ (if leasehold) | Paid to the freeholder or managing agent |
The legal fee and search costs are shown as typical ranges because solicitors set their own fees — the Solicitors Regulation Authority requires firms to publish price information — and search prices vary by local authority. The two lines anchored to published national sources, stamp duty and the registration fee, are worked through below.
Stamp duty: the item that swings most
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in England and Northern Ireland is the single most variable line on the list. At the £295,000 median, the Homecost calculator returns three very different answers depending on who is buying (rates: HMRC, 2026):
| Buyer at £295,000 | SDLT due | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| First-time buyer (main residence) | £0 | 0% |
| Home mover (standard rate) | £4,750 | 1.61% |
| Additional property (+5% surcharge) | £19,500 | 6.61% |
A first-time buyer pays nothing because £295,000 sits below the £300,000 first-time-buyer nil-rate threshold. A mover pays 2% on the slice from £125,001 to £250,000 and 5% on the slice above, while an additional-property buyer pays the 5% surcharge across the whole price. The buyer's conveyancer files the SDLT return and pays the tax within 14 days of completion — the money is provided on completion, even though it reaches HMRC shortly after. What changed with stamp duty since April 2025 sets out the current thresholds, and any price can be run through the Homecost stamp duty calculator.
A conveyancer confirms which rate applies: eligibility for first-time-buyer relief and for the surcharge turns on individual circumstances.
The registration fee: small, fixed, and banded by price
HM Land Registry charges a fee to register the new owner. It is set on a published scale (Scale 1) by property value, and is markedly cheaper when the conveyancer files electronically — which most do (fees effective 9 December 2024, HM Land Registry):
| Property value | Online fee | Postal fee |
|---|---|---|
| £0 – £80,000 | £20 | £45 |
| £80,001 – £100,000 | £40 | £95 |
| £100,001 – £200,000 | £100 | £230 |
| £200,001 – £500,000 | £150 | £330 |
| £500,001 – £1,000,000 | £295 | £655 |
| £1,000,001 and over | £500 | £1,105 |
Most buyers land in one band. Of the 778,998 sales recorded in 2025, 56.3% fell in the £200,001–£500,000 bracket — an online registration fee of £150 — and 81.9% were at or below £500,000, capping the fee at that level for four buyers in five. Only 2.9% of sales crossed £1m, where the fee reaches £500 online.
Leasehold adds a few more lines
About 21.2% of homes sold in 2025 were leasehold (HM Land Registry). A leasehold purchase carries extra completion-day items that a freehold one does not: a notice of transfer and notice of charge served on the freeholder or managing agent (often £100–£300+ in total), sometimes a deed of covenant fee, and any apportioned ground rent or service charge owed from the completion date. These are set by the lease and the managing agent, not by statute. The difference between freehold and leasehold explains why nearly all flats — but few houses — carry these charges.
Planning the cash
The dependable way to avoid a completion-day surprise is to add the fixed, sourceable items — registration fee, stamp duty, transfer fee — to the conveyancer's quoted fee and searches, and to hold that total as cleared funds ahead of the day. How a conveyancing bill is built up breaks down the fee-plus-disbursements structure; the hidden costs of buying a house and how much cash reserve to hold by purchase price place completion day within the whole buying budget. To see the ongoing all-in monthly cost of a home once the keys change hands — mortgage, council tax and energy combined — try any street on Homecost, or browse more buyer guides.
This is general information, not tax, mortgage or legal advice. Figures are typical ranges or national published rates and will differ by property, lender and conveyancer. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.