£3050+ pages
From renting to keys in hand — without a single nasty surprise.
First Home in the UK: The Complete First-Time Buyer Playbook
You've saved the deposit. Now the system throws words at you: gazumping, searches, exchange, ground rent. This playbook walks you through all eight steps of the English purchase process with real numbers, real timelines, and the mistakes that cost first-time buyers thousands.
What's inside
- The 8-step journey with a realistic week-by-week timeline
- Your true budget: deposit + all hidden costs itemised, with first-time buyer SDLT relief explained (£425k threshold worked examples)
- Leasehold decoded: lease length, service charges, ground rent — what's normal and what's a red flag
- Viewings: the 30 things to check that agents won't point out
- Making and negotiating offers when offers aren't binding
- Conveyancing without confusion: what your solicitor is doing in weeks 1–12 and the questions to ask
- Surveys: which level you need and how to use the report to renegotiate
- Exchange and completion day, step by step
- Government schemes in 2026: Lifetime ISA, shared ownership — honest pros and cons
- Full bilingual glossary of 60 property terms
