UK Property Glossary
Plain-English definitions of UK property terms — tenure, conveyancing, lending, survey, valuation and rental vocabulary.
A
- Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) — The default private-rental contract in England and Wales — gives tenants a fixed term with defined eviction routes.
B
- Building Survey (RICS Level 3) — The deepest standard RICS survey — for older homes, major alterations, or anything out of the ordinary.
C
- Chain — A line of dependent property transactions — each buyer is also a seller, all moving on the same day.
- Completion — The day the money moves, the keys change hands, and the home is legally yours.
- Conservation Area — A neighbourhood-scale designation that adds planning controls on how buildings look and how they change.
- Conveyancing — The legal paperwork, searches and money-handling that takes you from accepted offer to getting the keys.
D
- Dormer — A box-shaped extension out the back of the roof, with vertical walls and a window. The default UK...
E
- Ensuite — A bathroom or shower room attached to (and only accessible from) a bedroom — typically the master. A...
- EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) — The A–G energy grade every UK home needs when it's sold or let — a combined measure of insulation, heating...
- Exchange of Contracts — The moment the sale becomes legally binding — no walking away without paying penalties after this.
F
- Freehold — You own the property and the ground under it, indefinitely. No landlord, no lease to renew.
G
- Garage Conversion — Converting an attached garage into habitable floor area — usually a ground-floor bedroom, study or extra...
- Gazumping — Accepting a higher offer from someone else after your offer was already accepted, but before exchange of contracts.
- Gazundering — A buyer drops their price at the eleventh hour, when the seller feels too committed to walk away.
- Ground Rent — A fee historically paid by a leaseholder to the freeholder — now restricted to a peppercorn on new long...
H
- HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) — A shared rental let to three or more people from different households — often requiring a council licence...
- HomeBuyer Report (RICS Level 2) — A mid-level survey that flags significant issues — suitable for most standard-construction homes in...
- House Extension — Adding floor area to a UK home by building out or up. Single-storey rear, side-return, double-storey and...
L
- Leasehold — You own the home for the life of the lease — often 99 to 999 years — and the ground belongs to the freeholder.
- Listed Building — A building the state has decided is historically or architecturally important — altering it is restricted.
- Loan-to-Value (LTV) — Your mortgage as a percentage of the property's value — the number that most determines your interest rate.
- Loft Conversion — Turning the loft into a habitable room — typically a bedroom plus an ensuite. The single most consistently...
M
- Mortgage in Principle — A soft statement from a lender saying roughly how much they'd lend you — useful when offering, but not a...
O
- Off-Plan — Buying a new-build home before it's finished — sometimes before construction has even started.
- Offerly or Offrly? — It's Offrly — no second 'e'. If you searched for 'Offerly' and ended up here, you found the right tool.
P
- Party Wall — A shared wall between two homes — alterations to it trigger formal notice to the neighbour under the Party...
- Permitted Development — Building work you can do on a UK home without a full planning permission application, subject to specific...
- Planning Permission — Council consent you need before you build, extend or change use — unless the work falls under permitted...
R
- Rental Yield — The annual rent a property earns, divided by its value — the headline metric for UK buy-to-let investors.
S
- Service Charge — What leaseholders pay toward shared upkeep — roof, hallways, lifts, gardens, building insurance.
- Share of Freehold — You hold a long lease on the flat AND a share in the freehold of the building — often the best of both worlds.
- Side Return — The narrow alley alongside a Victorian or Edwardian terrace. Filling it with a side-return extension is...
- Stamp Duty — A tax buyers pay on UK property purchases above a threshold — with different rules in England, Scotland and Wales.
T
- Tenancy Deposit — The refundable security deposit a tenant pays — capped by law and held in a government-approved scheme.