Editorial Standards

Editorial ownership

Content is written and reviewed by James Whitfield, HomeBuyingCosts' editorial owner. James has a background in UK property buying costs, stamp duty and conveyancing, and verifies all tax rate claims, fee ranges and threshold figures against official UK government publications before publication.

For corrections or factual feedback, contact James via the contact page or at editorial@homebuyingcosts.co.uk.

Our editorial principles

• Factual accuracy first. All tax rates, band thresholds and fee ranges are sourced from official UK government publications. SDLT, LBTT and LTT figures are verified at each fiscal event and updated promptly when HMRC or the devolved authorities publish changes.
• Plain British English. Content is written for buyers making real offer and budget decisions — not for property lawyers. Jargon is explained on first use. Worked examples use actual £ figures.
• Practical usefulness over generic definitions. A page about stamp duty on a £400,000 house should tell the reader what they owe — not just define what stamp duty is. We prefer pages that answer a specific question.
• Transparency about limitations. Calculator pages state clearly that results are estimates based on standard assumptions. Where assumptions change the result materially (buyer type, country, leasehold), these are called out explicitly.
• No financial advice. HomeBuyingCosts is a planning and estimation tool. We do not recommend solicitors, mortgage products or financial strategies. Pages always recommend confirming final liability with your conveyancer and official calculators.
• No AI filler. We do not publish low-quality generated content to inflate page count. Pages are written for practical usefulness. If a guide section adds no decision value, it is removed.

Sources and data standards

All tax rates, thresholds and fee ranges used in guides and calculator outputs are sourced from:

• GOV.UK SDLT guidance — residential rates, first-time buyer relief, higher-rate treatment
• Revenue Scotland LBTT guidance — Scottish residential rates and ADS
• Welsh Revenue Authority LTT guidance — Wales residential rates and higher-rate treatment
• HMRC SDLT rates and allowances — official band thresholds and effective dates

Conveyancing fee estimates and survey cost ranges are drawn from publicly published solicitor fee guides and RICS survey cost data, reviewed annually. All figures are labelled as estimates and include a prompt to confirm with real quotes.

How we maintain content

• Calculator logic is updated at each relevant fiscal event when HMRC, Revenue Scotland or WRA publishes new rates.
• Guides are reviewed against updated thresholds at the same time. Where a rate change materially alters the worked examples in a guide, the guide is rewritten rather than just having a date updated.
• City and county pages are reviewed for accuracy of median price and tax examples annually.
• Internal links are checked when page content changes to ensure they remain relevant and accurate.

Last reviewed: May 2026.

Corrections policy

If you identify an error in a guide, calculator assumption or rate figure, report it via the contact page. We aim to review factual corrections promptly. Verified errors are corrected quickly and the page's last-reviewed date is updated. Significant corrections are logged internally. For methodology details, see the methodology page.

Commercial disclosure

Advertising may appear on some pages via Google AdSense. Where sponsored content appears, it is labelled clearly. Advertising relationships do not influence editorial decisions on tax rates, fee estimates or calculator outputs. HomeBuyingCosts does not accept payment for positioning in guides or for recommending specific solicitors, lenders or surveyors.