MONEY COMMENT
Revealed: The Hidden Costs Of Moving Home

By Cliff D'Arcy
April 24, 2003

Just like millions of people across the UK, I'm thinking about moving house. Although I'm quite keen to take risks when investing in shares, I seem to be far more cautious when it comes to choosing a home! There are three things that I want to be comfortable with (there may be more but, currently, this is what I'm thinking):

• I must be sure that we're buying the right home for the right price
• I want an adequate "margin of safety" when buying (room for manoeuvre if disaster strikes and the mortgage becomes a burden)
• I need to do my sums carefully to ensure that I can afford a new property (and all the other connected costs) in the first place!

It was while thinking about the third point that I realised I'd underestimated the costs of buying a new home. I started by listing what I expected our five biggest expenses to be:

1. The price of the property itself
2. Stamp duty (up to 4% on top, but I'm aiming to buy for under £500,000, so call it 3%)
3. Estate agent's fee (but there is an alternative)
4. Legal and related fees
5. Professional remover's fees.

By my reckoning, (2) to (5) would add around 5% to (1), which is well within my comfort zone. However, an article on the Abbey National (LSE: ANL) website alerted me to the fact that I'd overlooked many incidental expenses, including the cost of:

• Minor repairs to our new home
• A boiler service and appliances check (or laundrette fees if the washing machine isn't ready)
• Plumbing in new kitchen appliances
• New locks and keys
• Cleaners to spring-clean both properties (and extra cleaning equipment and products)
• Travelling backwards and forwards between properties (before and during the move)
• New parking permits (and possibly parking fees on move day)
• Connecting the telephone (and upgrading to broadband later)
• Childcare (babysitter, childminder or nursery on moving day)
• Extra home insurance to cover goods in transit and on arrival
• Stocking up on food in the new house (and snacks and takeaways on moving day, plus house-warming party!)
• The Royal Mail's forwarding service, change of address cards, new driving licence, etc.
• Changing light bulbs.

Other typical expenses could include satellite TV dish (or cable TV) switching and/or installation fee and storage costs for pets (kennels or cattery).

By my reckoning, these extras could easily add anything up to £1,500 to the cost of our move, so we'll need to take account of them when working out how much we can really afford.

More: It's Still Cheaper To Buy Than Rent | Seven Signs Of A Housing Crash