You know what it's like when you buy or sell a house. Many Estate Agents, Building Societies and Solicitors bombard you with a variety of different "words" or "phrases" associated to the house buying process that they understand, and use as a part of their everyday language, - the question is do you understand? In many cases probably not! So, to assist you with some of the jargon commonly used when buying or selling a home we have listed them out in an A-Z format. You may find this section useful to print out, and then have to hand, before embarking on what is going to be probably the "biggest financial decision of your life"!

APR
This stands for 'Annual Percentage Rate' which is an interest rate intended to reflect the true cost of lending. It is always higher than the interest rate as it takes into account how the interest is paid and the costs of arranging the loan. All lenders must now quote an A.P.R. and it is a useful way for you to compare different sources of finance.

Bridging loan
A loan, often from a bank, to enable the purchase to be completed before the sale of an existing property.

Chain
The people whose house sales and purchases are linked.

Completion
The moment a contract actually takes effect. There is a completion date for both sale and purchase, as well as for the mortgage.

Contract
Any legally binding agreement. On the sale of a house there are two identical copies, one signed by the buyers and the other by the seller. When exchanged, they are committed respectively to paying the purchase money and to transferring ownership.

Conveyancing
Legal work concerned with the transfer of property.

Deed
A legal document which, instead of being merely signed, is 'signed, sealed and delivered'. Property can only be transferred by a deed. Title Deeds are those relating to the property's ownership.

Freehold
The absolute ownership of property, as opposed to leasehold. Most houses are owned freehold, whereas most flats are leasehold.

Interest
Regular charges made for borrowing money.

Land registry charges
A government department in Plymouth which keeps a register open to public search, of interest in land and property in England and Wales, the title of which is unregistered.

Leasehold
Ownership of property for a fixed number of years controlled by a lease which includes the power for the landlord to collect ground rent.

Legal charge
A type of mortgage deed.

Mortgage
Strictly speaking, the rights over a property given by one person (the Mortgagor or Borrower) to another (the Mortgagee or Lender). More commonly it is used to mean the loan itself.

Mortgage indemnity policy
Mortgage lenders granting generally more than 75% of the valuation may require this sort of insurance policy. Although it is you who pays the premium, its purpose is to protect the lender against loss in the event of your failing to make payments. The premium is a one-off payment at the start of a mortgage. The premium rates vary from about 6% to 10% of the amount by which the loan exceeds the lender's normal loan limit. Sometimes the premium can be added to the loan.

Mortgage protection policy
A policy designed to give decreasing life insurance cover at a reasonable cost to a client who has a repayment mortgage.

Premiums
Payments made to an insurance company on a policy.

Registered title
Title which has been registered at the Land Registry.

Redemption
The action of completely repaying a mortgage loan.

Searches
Searches are requests for information from the Local Authority, the Land Charges Register and, if appropriate, the Land Registry. The Local Authority search nearly always takes longest.

Stamp duty
A duty payable to the Inland Revenue on the whole of the purchase price for a home, where the purchase exceeds £125,000. For purchases between £125,001 and £250,000, the duty payable is 1%. For purchases between £250,001 and £500,000 the duty payable is 3%, and for purchases over £500,001, the duty is 4%. Stamp duty is payable by the purchaser.

Tax relief
Available on mortgage interest until April 2000.

Title
The right of ownership of a property.

Valuation report
An assessment of the value (and general condition) of a property for mortgage purposes by the building society's surveyor. It is not as detailed as a structural survey report. Most building societies will give the client a copy.

Vendor
Title seller.