Jargon Buster

Fees that must be paid to third parties such as Local Authorities (for searches) and Land Registry.

A certificate that rates your home from A to G on how efficiently it uses energy. These must come from an accredited Energy Assessor who visits the property to collect the relevant data and provide the certificate. This data includes the date, construction and location of the house, and relevant fittings such as heating systems, insulation or double-glazing.

The point at which contracts become legally binding and a completion date is formally agreed.

A type of land ownership which, in effect, runs forever.

A type of land ownership for a fixed term of years.

The formal document making an offer of a loan under a mortgage which will say how much the loan is for, the period and the amount of repayment and all of the terms and conditions attached to the loan.

The buyer's Conveyancer will carry out searches as part of the Conveyancing process. They are done to check that there are no problems with the property. The usual searches that will carried out are a Local Authority search, Drainage and Water search and the Environmental/Contaminated land search. There are other more specific searches that may also be carried out depending on the requirement of a mortgage lender and which part of the country the property is in.

Examples of these are:

• Chancel Repair Liability search


• Coal Mining search


• Cheshire Brine search


• Tin Mining search

A tax payable to the Government on the completion of the purchase of a property or land. The amount of duty depends on its purchase price (see HMRC's SDLT Calculation page