You know the moment. It's a Tuesday night, the group chat is arguing about whose turn it is to buy bin bags, and you're scrolling listings instead of replying. Buying your first home after years in a London flat share is exciting, but it is mostly admin — and the order matters.
Get the sequence right and the final few months of renting stop feeling like chaos.
Start with the numbers, not the listings
Estate agents will happily show you flats at the very top of your budget. Before you book a viewing, work out three figures: the deposit you can put down, the amount you can borrow, and the monthly repayment you would be comfortable with once the mortgage is real rather than hypothetical.
Most lenders want at least 5% down, and more usually means a better rate. Note that the money you hand over at exchange is not the same as the deposit your landlord is holding — they share a name and little else.
Then add the costs people forget:
- solicitor or conveyancer fees, searches and Land Registry fees
- your own survey, plus any mortgage arrangement or valuation fee
- removals, and the quiet fortune spent on a kettle, hoover and curtains
- council tax, plus service charge and ground rent on a leasehold flat
Keep a cash buffer. Emptying your savings leaves you with nothing when the boiler fails in February. Stamp duty and first-time buyer relief change with political weather, so check the current rules rather than trusting what a friend paid last year.
Get mortgage-ready before you fall in love with a flat
A mortgage in principle is a lender's rough estimate of what it might lend you. It usually lasts a few months, helps when you make an offer, and costs nothing to arrange. Get one before you view anything, otherwise you will find the perfect one-bed in Walthamstow and then discover you can afford Zone 5.
Keep your paperwork in one folder: photo ID, proof of address, three to six months of bank statements, recent payslips and a P60. If you are self-employed, expect to provide two or three years of accounts or tax returns. If a relative is gifting part of the deposit, the lender will want a signed letter confirming it is a gift, not a loan.
Check your credit file with the main agencies and correct anything obviously wrong. Avoid new credit, a job change or a car on finance between offer and completion, because lenders do recheck. If your income is uneven, or you are buying with someone whose circumstances are complicated, a regulated mortgage adviser is the right person to ask.
The boring checks that decide whether a flat is a good buy
Most London flats are leasehold: you own the inside, and lease the building from a freeholder. The lease matters more than the paint.
Before you offer, ask for:
- how many years are left on the lease
- the last three years of service charge accounts
- ground rent, and whether it doubles at set intervals
- any planned major works, and who pays for them
- building safety information, including cladding or remediation plans
Short leases trouble lenders and buyers alike. Anything approaching 80 years is worth taking advice on before you commit, because extending a lease costs money and gets dearer as the clock runs down. Service charges on modern blocks can run into thousands a year, and major works bills can land shortly after you move in.
View twice if you can, once in daylight and once in the evening. Listen for neighbours through the party wall, find out where the bins live, and walk to the station in the rain. Victorian conversions are charming and thin-walled; new-builds are quiet with heftier service charges. Neither is wrong, as long as you know which trade-off you are making.
Surveys, searches and the slow middle
The lender's valuer protects the lender, not you. If you want to know about damp, the roof, woodworm or tired electrics, commission your own survey. A HomeBuyer report suits a flat in reasonable condition; a full building survey earns its fee on an older property. Skipping it to save a few hundred pounds is a common regret.
Your conveyancer runs the searches — local authority, water, drainage, environmental — and raises enquiries about the lease. Allow eight to twelve weeks, longer if there is a chain or a management company that answers emails once a fortnight. Ask for a written update every Friday; it is your money sitting in a client account.
You will be signing legal documents. If anything in the lease, the title or the searches is unclear, ask your conveyancer to explain it plainly before you exchange.
Giving notice without burning bridges
Read your tenancy agreement before you tell anyone anything. In a fixed term you may owe rent until the end, unless there is a break clause. On a periodic tenancy you can usually leave with one month's notice tied to your rent date.
Shared tenancies catch people out. In a joint tenancy, notice from one tenant can end the tenancy for everyone, and you are often all liable for the whole rent. Talk to your housemates before you email the landlord, and agree a date that works for all of you.
Put notice in writing, keep a copy, and ask for confirmation by reply. Then sort the deposit:
- check which government-approved scheme protects it
- agree the cleaning standard and inventory in advance
- photograph every room, the meter readings and the bin store on your last day
- if the return is late, chase in writing; the scheme offers a free dispute service
If you are mid fixed term, ask about finding a replacement tenant. Landlords often prefer a short gap to an empty room, and it is cheaper than paying double rent.
The overlap: rent, mortgage and moving day
Paying rent and a mortgage in the same month is the classic first-time buyer headache. Budget for the overlap, or time your notice so the dates barely touch. Completion dates slip, so do not hand back the keys before the money has landed.
Book removals weeks ahead — month-end is busiest and priciest. Arrange contents insurance from the day you move, and buildings insurance from completion if you are buying freehold. Redirect your post, take meter readings, and tell the council, your bank and your GP. Pack a first-night box: bedding, a towel, chargers, mugs and a kettle.
Your last eight weeks, roughly
- Confirm the mortgage offer and instruct your conveyancer.
- Book the survey and read the whole report, not just the summary.
- Check your tenancy terms and agree an exit date with your housemates.
- Serve notice in writing and book a van or a removals firm.
- Set up utilities, council tax, broadband and insurance for the new place.
- Exchange, complete, collect the keys, and clean the old room before the inventory check.
Then put the kettle on in your own kitchen. It has been a long few months.
Photo: cecigre / Pixabay