Glossary

Moving, translated.

Every term you'll meet while buying, selling or renting — explained in plain English. 52 definitions and counting.

A

Agreement in Principle (AIP): A statement from a lender saying how much they'd likely lend you, based on a soft check of your finances. Also called a Mortgage in Principle or Decision in Principle. It isn't a guarantee, but estate agents often want to see one before taking your offer seriously.
Arrangement fee: A fee your mortgage lender charges for setting up the loan — typically £0 to £2,000. You can usually add it to the mortgage, but you'll pay interest on it for the whole term if you do.

B

Bridging loan: A short-term, high-interest loan that 'bridges' the gap when you need to buy before you've sold — for example, to avoid losing a purchase when your own sale falls through. Expensive; treat as a last resort.
Building survey (Level 3): The most thorough property survey, recommended for older, larger or unusual properties. A surveyor inspects everything reasonably accessible and reports on defects, repairs and maintenance options.
Buildings insurance: Insurance covering the structure of the home — walls, roof, floors. If you're buying with a mortgage, the lender requires it to be in place from exchange of contracts, not completion.

C

Chain: A line of linked sales where each purchase depends on another completing — you're buying from someone who is buying from someone else. The longer the chain, the more places it can break.
Chain-free: A property whose seller doesn't need to buy another home for the sale to complete — for example a new build, a probate sale, or a landlord selling up. Usually means a faster, lower-risk purchase.
Completion: The day the money moves, ownership transfers, and you get the keys. Usually one to two weeks after exchange of contracts, though it can be the same day.
Conveyancing: The legal work of transferring property ownership from seller to buyer — contracts, searches, Land Registry, and moving the money. Done by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer, typically taking 8–16 weeks.
Council tax band: Every home in England and Wales is placed in a band (A–H in England, A–I in Wales) based on its value in 1991 (2003 in Wales). The band sets how much council tax you pay — check it before you move, not after.
Covenant: A legally binding rule attached to a property's title — for example, no extensions without a developer's consent, or no commercial vehicles parked outside. Restrictive covenants survive changes of ownership, so your solicitor will flag them.

D

Deposit (buying): The part of the purchase price you pay from your own money rather than the mortgage — usually 5–20%. Paid at exchange of contracts. Not to be confused with a tenancy deposit.
Deposit (renting): Money a tenant pays as security against damage or unpaid rent — capped at five weeks' rent in England (six if annual rent exceeds £50,000). It must be protected in a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days.
Disbursements: Costs your conveyancer pays out on your behalf and bills back to you — searches, Land Registry fees, bank transfer fees. Listed separately from the conveyancer's own legal fee on your quote.

E

Early repayment charge (ERC): A penalty for paying off a mortgage (or overpaying beyond a set allowance) during the initial deal period — often 1–5% of the amount repaid. Matters if you might move or remortgage before the deal ends.
Easement: A legal right someone else holds over your land — most commonly a right of way, or a utility company's right to access pipes and cables. They appear in the title and your solicitor will explain any that exist.
EPC (Energy Performance Certificate): A certificate rating a property's energy efficiency from A (best) to G (worst), valid for 10 years. Legally required to sell or let a home. It also estimates running costs and suggests improvements.
Equity: The part of your home you actually own — the property's value minus what's left on the mortgage. Negative equity means you owe more than the home is worth.
Exchange of contracts: The moment a sale becomes legally binding. Both sides' solicitors swap signed contracts and the buyer pays the deposit. Pull out after exchange and you lose the deposit — before exchange, either side can walk away freely.

F

Fixtures and fittings: What stays and what goes with a sale. Fixtures are attached to the property (built-in wardrobes, boiler); fittings are freestanding (curtains, washing machine). The seller completes a TA10 form listing exactly what's included.
Flood zone: The Environment Agency's classification of flood risk from rivers and the sea. Zone 1 is low risk, Zone 2 medium, Zone 3 high. Separate maps cover surface water flooding, which is harder to predict and just as important to check.
Freehold: You own the building and the land it stands on outright, forever. Most houses in England and Wales are freehold. Compare leasehold.

G

Gazumping: When a seller accepts your offer, then ditches you for a higher offer before exchange of contracts. Legal in England and Wales, and one of the main reasons to push for a quick exchange.
Gazundering: The reverse of gazumping — a buyer lowers their offer at the last minute, just before exchange, betting the seller won't want to restart the sale. Also legal, also unpopular.
Ground rent: An annual charge some leaseholders pay to the freeholder. For new residential leases in England and Wales it's now legally capped at a token 'peppercorn' (effectively zero), but older leases can carry significant — sometimes escalating — ground rents.
Guarantor: Someone — usually a parent — who agrees to cover the rent or mortgage payments if you can't. Common for renters without UK credit history and first-time buyers on some mortgage products.

H

HMO (House in Multiple Occupation): A property rented by three or more tenants from different households who share facilities like a kitchen or bathroom. Larger HMOs need a council licence, with stricter safety rules for landlords.

I

Indemnity insurance: A one-off insurance policy covering a specific legal defect with a property — missing building regulations sign-off, a breached covenant, lost title deeds. Often used to keep a sale moving rather than fixing the underlying issue.
Inventory: A detailed record of a rental property's contents and condition at move-in, ideally with photos. Your best evidence for getting the full deposit back — check it carefully and add anything the agent missed within the stated window.

L

Land Registry: The government body recording who owns land and property in England and Wales, and the price paid every time a home sells. MoveGrid's sold price history comes from Land Registry data.
Leasehold: You own the property for a fixed number of years but not the land — a freeholder owns that, and you may pay them ground rent and service charges. Most flats are leasehold. A lease below about 80 years gets expensive to extend and harder to mortgage.
Listed building: A building officially protected for its historic or architectural interest (Grade I, II* or II). Alterations need listed building consent on top of normal planning permission — even some internal works.
Loan-to-value (LTV): Your mortgage as a percentage of the property's value. A £180,000 mortgage on a £200,000 home is 90% LTV. Lower LTV generally unlocks cheaper interest rates.

M

Memorandum of sale: The document an estate agent issues once an offer is accepted, confirming the price and the parties' details to both solicitors. Not legally binding — it just kicks off the conveyancing.

O

Onward chain: The part of the chain above the seller — the home they're buying, and whatever their seller is doing next. 'No onward chain' means the seller isn't waiting on a purchase, which usually speeds things up.

P

Peppercorn rent: A token rent — historically a literal peppercorn a year — used to keep a lease legally valid while charging effectively nothing. All new residential leases now carry peppercorn ground rent by law.
Probate sale: A sale of a home belonging to someone who has died, handled by their executors. Often chain-free, but it can't complete until probate is granted, which can add months of waiting.

R

Restrictive covenant: A covenant that limits what you can do with a property — no fences at the front, no business use, no alterations without consent. Breaching one can carry real legal consequences, so check the title before you commit.
Right to rent check: A legal check landlords in England must run before letting to you, confirming you can lawfully rent in the UK. Expect to show a passport or share code before a tenancy is signed.

S

Searches: Checks your conveyancer runs with official bodies before you buy: local authority (planning, roads, enforcement), drainage and water, and environmental (flooding, contamination, mining). They take two to six weeks and often surface the surprises.
Service charge: What leaseholders pay towards maintaining the building and shared areas — cleaning, lifts, insurance, repairs. Check the current charge, recent increases, and whether any major works (and bills) are planned.
Shared ownership: You buy a share of a home (usually 25–75%) and pay rent on the rest, with the option to 'staircase' to a bigger share later. Lowers the deposit needed, but you'll pay rent, a mortgage and usually leasehold service charges together.
Snagging: Finding and reporting defects in a new-build home — sticking doors, cracked tiles, unfinished paintwork. A professional snagging survey before completion gives the developer a list they're obliged to fix.
Sold STC (subject to contract): An offer has been accepted but contracts haven't been exchanged, so nothing is legally binding yet. The listing stays visible because the sale can still fall through — roughly one in three do.
Stamp duty (SDLT): Stamp Duty Land Tax — the tax paid when buying property in England and Northern Ireland, tiered by price with reliefs for first-time buyers and surcharges for second homes. Wales has its own version (LTT), as does Scotland (LBTT).

T

Tenancy deposit scheme: A government-approved scheme (DPS, MyDeposits or TDS in England and Wales) where a landlord must protect your deposit within 30 days of receiving it. If they don't, courts can award you up to three times the deposit.
Tenure: How you legally hold a property — freehold, leasehold, or newer hybrids like commonhold and shared ownership. One of the first things to establish about any home, because it shapes cost, control and resale.
Title deeds: The legal records proving ownership of a property, now held digitally by the Land Registry for registered land. Your solicitor checks the title for covenants, easements and anything else attached to the home.

U

Under offer: An offer has been made and is being considered, or has been accepted very recently. Used loosely by agents — in practice it overlaps with Sold STC, and other buyers can often still view and bid.
UPRN: Unique Property Reference Number — the official ID every addressable location in Great Britain carries, issued by Ordnance Survey. It's how MoveGrid links every data source to exactly the right property.

V

Valuation (mortgage): A check the lender runs to confirm the property is worth what you're paying — protecting their loan, not you. It's not a survey: it can be a drive-by or done entirely from data, and it tells you nothing about the property's condition.
Vendor: The legal term for the person selling a property. You'll see it in contracts and agents' paperwork; it means nothing more mysterious than 'the seller'.

Met a term we haven't covered?

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