There are three levels of assessment that can be carried out on your property a basic valuation, a home-buyers report and a full structural survey. The latter two are prepared for the client whilst the first is for the Lender although often the applicant receives a copy.

All lenders need a “basic survey” to ensure that the property they are providing a mortgage for is of sound quality, with no obvious structural defects.

Some lenders offer this free of charge. However, most do not, in which case you can expect to pay around 300.

The second option is a “homebuyers report” which gives a more detailed assessment of the superficial condition of the property and costs around 500

The most comprehensive assessment is a “full structural survey“. This is a far more detailed version of the basic survey, which will usually uncover defects which are not immediately obvious. It is recommended for older properties.

Such surveys are far more costly and you can sometimes expect to pay over 1000. However, if any problems are found with the property, then buyers will be in a good position to negotiate a discount, and thus get a cheaper mortgage. In addition, it ensures you are aware of all defects before committing to a purchase that could have been a very expensive mistake.

Either a homebuyers report, or a full structural survey are useful to have done if you are buying a property for the first time.

For many people who are re-mortgaging their property, a “mortgage valuation” will ensure that the amount they are lending is relative to the property being mortgaged.

You can expect to pay upwards of 150, depending on the size and purchase price of the property.

As with other surveys, some lenders will offer this service free of charge. It is also common practice for when obtaining a homebuyers report or full structural survey that they are bundled together with the Lenders valuation - and the fee for the homebuyers survey of full structural survey covers both reports..

Conveyancing is the term given to all of the legal work involved with purchasing a home, the costs of which varies considerably from 400 to 1,500.

The exact cost will depend on the solicitor used, the area, the value of the house and the work involved. Conveyancing is often a slow process, as the solicitor has quite a lot of work to do.

In most cases the overall fee will be made up of: Local authority search fees Environmental and drainage search fees Land Registry fee Telegraphic transfer fee Solicitors administration costs Stamp duty (currently for properties over 120,000)

It is worth noting that some of the searches that used to be carried out by solicitors on buyers behalf are now part of the Home Information Packs (HIPs) that sellers must provide would-be buyers before a purchase goes through.

An easy way to save on legal costs is to use a licensed conveyancer instead of a solicitor. Although they are often harder to find, the work they do is often of no less quality than a solicitor. With both though, it pays to check out their credentials and for extra peace of mind, get one through personal recommendation.

You also need to check that your legal representative is acceptable to the Lender. Most Lenders have restrictions and will not accept every firm to carry out the conveyance on their behalf.

Liam G is a UK based financial author, currently focusing on mortgages, in particular the hidden costs associated with taking out a mortgage.

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The rocky years of the Depression shaped frugal and debt-shy consumers, but towering credit card balances now compel many seniors to seek help.

Their growing mortgage debt and credit card balances are of real concern, says George Gaberlavage, a director of policy research and development at AARP.

Some credit card holders older than 55 –already coping with fixed incomes and escalating medical expenses — court trouble with credit cards because they’re being “sandwiched.” A new survey by Ameriprise Financial Inc. shows seniors often assist parents and adult children with loans, health insurance, rent, utilities and other expenses.

“My experience is that credit card debt is one of the top reasons seniors seek bankruptcy protection,” says Barbara Whipple, a bankruptcy attorney in Latham, N.Y.

“Older consumers who turn to me for help are embarrassed, ashamed and often do not talk to their children about their financial problems. The biggest complaint I hear is,’I pay and pay every month, and my debt doesn’t go down, even when I don’t make purchases,’ ” Whipple says.

The availability of credit “has gone through the roof” over the past two decades, aided by the advent of credit scores and Wall Street’s buying and selling of credit card debt, says Liz Pulliam Weston, a personal finance author and columnist. Twenty years ago, older Americans were less susceptible to credit crises because lending standards were much more stringent, she says.

Cate Williams, vice president of finance at Money Management International, a nonprofit organization that offers financial guidance and debt management services, says she expects the percentage of older Americans seeking pre-bankruptcy counseling to climb.

They’re supposed to be in the best of their financial years, Williams says, but they’ve got “serious, serious debt” to get rid of.

Katie Porter, associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Law and project director of the 2001 Consumer Bankruptcy Project, says older Americans are especially vulnerable to the dangers of credit cards, because, among other things, they’re less likely to use debit cards as an alternative.

A report this year from the Institute for Financial Literacy indicated 14 percent of Americans seeking pre-bankruptcy counseling in 2006 were 55 to 64, yet that age group made up 10 percent of the U.S. population. Credit card bills often account for most of the debt.

The Administrative Office of U.S. Courts shows that seniors file for bankruptcy more often than young people.

Porter quotes a review of thousands of credit card accounts by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Economics which suggests that older Americans borrow at higher interest rates and cough up more late-payment, over-limit and cash-advance fees.

They try to pay their bills, only to be trapped by high interest rates and fees, Whipple says.

Facing rising costs for basic necessities, older consumers often are forced to make a choice to go without or borrow to pay,” says Bob O’Connell, a member of the AARP Executive Council. “Of course, many older people go without, often at serious expense to their own well-being. But for those who have chosen to rely on the plastic safety net, borrowing increasingly means sky-high costs and the very real prospect of endless … debt.”

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