Buying a home, explained straight.

Buying a house involves a lot of paperwork. Some of it comes from you, most of it from the seller, and the rest from searches your solicitor orders.

With a leasehold flat you own the space, but not the building or the ground under it. The years left on the lease matter more than almost anything else about the flat.

Your mortgage lender runs its own valuation. If it comes in below the price you agreed, you have to cover the gap in cash.

Stamp Duty Land Tax is one of the biggest costs on top of the price. It's charged in bands, first-time buyers get relief, and second homes carry a surcharge.

The lender's valuation is not a survey. A survey is for you, and it finds the property's problems before you've bought them.

The Energy Performance Certificate rates efficiency. It also records the floor area, the construction, and how many rooms a home has.

Your band is based on what the property was worth in 1991, not today. It's a big monthly cost, and the same band costs different amounts depending on the council.

You buy a share of the home and pay rent on the rest. It gets people onto the ladder with a smaller deposit, but it has drawbacks, and every shared-ownership home is leasehold.

In a flood area, the harder part is often getting affordable insurance, and the scheme that keeps it affordable has a cut-off that leaves out newer homes.