Calculator · Flagship
Full affordability calculator
What it actually costs to buy a home in England. Deposit, stamp duty, solicitor, survey, lender fees, moving — and the monthly payment at today's best-buy rate for your loan-to-value. Change any slider; everything updates live.
Your details
The numbers
| Deposit (10%) | £19,500 |
|---|---|
| Stamp Duty (SDLT) | £0 |
| Conveyancing / legal fees | £1,350 |
| Survey | £400 |
| Mortgage arrangement fee | £999 |
| Removals | £500 |
| ID / AML checks | £20 |
| Total cash required | £22,769 |
Your mortgage
- Loan amount
- £175,500
- Loan-to-value (LTV)
- 90.0%
- Applied rate
- 5.20%
- Term
- 30 years
- Total interest over term
- £166,761
- Total repaid over term
- £342,261
SDLT working
| Band | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| £0 – £300,000 | 0% | £0 |
First-time buyer relief applied (property ≤ £500,000).
Rate used is a representative best-buy for your LTV band on 18 April 2026. Your actual rate depends on the specific lender, product fee, credit score and affordability. This is not regulated advice. See the methodology.
How this calculator works
Mortgage Notes treats your purchase as a whole transaction, not a repayment-only exercise. The output number you care about is total cash required on day one and the monthly carry — everything else is working that gets you there.
Rate selection
We maintain a table of best-buy 2-year and 5-year fixed rates at the standard UK loan-to-value bands (60 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95%). When you move the deposit slider, we recompute the LTV and pick the best-buy rate for the band your loan now sits in. The rate is labelled with its source date; it will not match every specific lender's current product.
Stamp duty
SDLT uses the England and Northern Ireland residential bands effective from 1 April 2025: 0% to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5m, 12% above. First-time buyer relief: 0% to £300,000, 5% to £500,000, no relief above £500,000. Additional property surcharge of 5% (raised from 3% on 31 October 2024) applies to second homes and buy-to-let. Non-resident surcharge of 2% applies if the buyer is non-UK resident.
Fees
Conveyancing scales with property price and includes searches and Land Registry fees; survey is Homebuyer Report (RICS Level 2) by default, with Building Survey (Level 3) available for older or unusual properties. Mortgage arrangement fee defaults to £999 — common across 2-year products; some 5-year products are fee-free, some go higher. Broker fees vary: many brokers are paid by the lender (free to you), some charge £200-£1,000.
What this is not
Regulated mortgage advice, a lender's affordability assessment, or a binding figure. Lender affordability stress-tests against a higher hypothetical rate and reviews your committed expenditure; you need an FCA-authorised adviser or a direct lender application for a real decision.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from other affordability calculators?
We combine the mortgage payment, stamp duty, conveyancing, survey, arrangement and moving costs into one total. We also apply a representative best-buy rate for your exact loan-to-value band rather than a headline marketing rate. And we do it without asking for your email address.
Do I actually need all this cash on day one?
Most of it, yes. Deposit, SDLT, and legal fees are due at or around completion. Survey and mortgage arrangement fees usually go earlier. Removals obviously pays on moving day. Budget for all of it in the same pot — a lot of first-time buyers underestimate the non-deposit cash needed.
Why does the monthly payment change when I pick a different LTV?
Mortgage rates are tiered by loan-to-value. A 60% LTV loan attracts a lower rate than a 95% LTV loan — the lender's risk is lower. The calculator picks the best-buy rate for your band (60, 75, 80, 85, 90 or 95%) based on today's market.
What does the calculator NOT account for?
Lender affordability stress-tests (FCA MCOB requirements): your actual monthly committed expenditure, dependents, student loan, pension and other debt all factor in at application. Any leasehold or shared-ownership service charges and ground rent. Boiler/plumbing/electrics costs to bring an older property up to scratch. Home and contents insurance (typical £15-40/month). Council tax (significant — check the band on the specific property).
Are the scheme options actually applied to the numbers?
Currently the scheme selector links through to the scheme's detail page so you can model it manually (price cap, discount, maximum loan, and any gotcha). A future version will apply scheme-specific discount and price-cap logic automatically; it's disabled for now so the maths stays transparent.