Glossary

These are the terms that recur across the rest of the site. Where usage differs between jurisdictions the definition describes the general idea rather than any one country's statutory meaning.

Amortisation: The schedule by which a loan is repaid over its term, splitting each instalment between interest and a reduction of the principal.
Asking price: The figure at which a home is advertised. It is a marketing position, not a record of what anyone paid.
Building line: The common distance at which the fronts of buildings sit back from the road along a street.
Chain: A series of linked transactions in which each buyer is also a seller, so that all must complete together.
Charge: A lender's registered interest in a property, securing a loan against it.
Completion: The point at which funds are transferred, possession passes and the change of ownership is registered.
Condition report: The lightest level of buyer's survey, categorising visible elements without detailed analysis.
Conveyancing: The legal work of transferring ownership of property from one party to another.
Covenant: An obligation or restriction attached to land, binding on whoever owns it.
Deposit: Cash contributed by a buyer that is not borrowed, or in renting, a sum held against damage and arrears.
Easement: A right one piece of land enjoys over another, such as access along a shared drive or the passage of drainage.
Equity: The share of a property's value not owed to a lender.
Fixed rate: A mortgage rate held at an agreed level for a stated period, after which the loan reverts to another rate.
Freehold: Outright and indefinite ownership of land and what stands on it, where the jurisdiction recognises that form.
Ground rent: A periodic payment made under a lease for the land on which a property stands.
Infill: New building inserted into the gaps of an existing developed area, often in long rear plots.
Loan to value: The size of a mortgage expressed as a percentage of the property's value.
Mix effect: The distortion in an average price caused by a change in what kinds of home happened to sell, rather than by any change in value.
Principal: The amount of money borrowed, as distinct from the interest charged on it.
Searches: Enquiries made of public bodies and data holders during a purchase, covering planning, environment, drainage and local risk.
Service charge: A recurring payment towards the maintenance and management of parts of a building shared by several households.
Tenure: The legal basis on which property is held: outright, for a term of years, or through a shared or managed arrangement.
Title: The record of ownership of a property, together with the rights and obligations attached to it.
Valuation: An assessment of a property's worth as security for a loan, commissioned by and for the lender.