Guide
Glossary
The words used on this site and on our deal pages, in plain English, in alphabetical order. Nothing here is explained using another piece of jargon.
Annualised return
A return restated as a yearly rate, so that projects of different lengths can be compared side by side. The same gain made over six months and over three years is a very different thing, and annualising is what makes that visible. On our deal sheets it is arithmetic performed on estimates*, not a forecast.
Below market value (BMV)
A price under what a property is judged to be worth. The whole weight of the phrase sits on who is doing the judging: on this site the judgement is ours, it is an estimate*, and it is built from comparable sold prices. It is not a valuation and it is not a survey.
Cash buyer
Somebody who can pay for a property without borrowing — the money is already theirs and can be evidenced. Not somebody who will have it when another property sells, and not somebody with a mortgage offer. It matters to a seller because it removes the lender, the lender's valuation and the lender's timetable from the transaction.
Chain-free
A purchase or a sale that does not depend on another transaction completing. It is not the same as being a cash buyer: you can be chain-free and still need a mortgage, and you can be a cash buyer stuck in a chain.
Comparable (a “comp”)
A property similar enough to the one being valued that its sold price says something useful about it — nearby, the same sort of property, a similar size, and sold recently enough to still mean something. The comparables on our deal pages are completed sales recorded by HM Land Registry, shown with their dates.
EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)
A certificate rating a building's energy performance, required when a property is sold or let. It matters here for a second reason: the EPC register also records a floor area, which is very often the only published measurement of a property. That is where the square-foot figures on our comparables tables come from.
Freehold
You own the building and the ground it stands on outright. There is no lease counting down, no landlord, no ground rent. Most houses are freehold. Some flats are sold with a share of the freehold, which means the flat is still leasehold but the leaseholders collectively own the freehold too.
Gross margin
On a costed deal sheet, what is left of the modelled sale price after the modelled costs of buying, doing the work, holding, financing and selling. It is gross because it is stated before tax and before anything the sheet has not been able to cost. It is an estimate*, and it is not a statement of what anybody will make.
Gross uplift
The gap between the price being asked for a property and what we think it is worth*. Nothing has been spent at that point — buying costs, works, finance and the cost of selling all come out of it — so it is neither a gain nor a return, and we use this term rather than any word implying money made.
Lease extension
The process by which a leaseholder adds years to a lease and usually removes the ground rent, in return for a premium paid to the freeholder. There is a statutory route with conditions attached and a negotiated one. What it costs depends mostly on how many years are left, and rises sharply once a lease drops below about eighty years. Leasehold law in England and Wales has been under reform, so the position on any particular flat is a question for a solicitor and a specialist valuer.
Leasehold
You own the right to occupy a property for a fixed number of years, which counts down; somebody else owns the building. Most flats are leasehold. The lease sets the ground rent and the service charge, and the shorter the remaining term, the harder the flat is to mortgage and the more it costs to put right.
Not yet assessed
What a line on our deal sheet says when we have not established that cost. It is deliberately not left blank and never set to nil: a blank line in a ledger reads as nothing to pay, and on these properties the lines most likely to be unknown — a lease extension and the works — are usually the largest. The page also flags the sheet as incomplete and states that the return above is stated before that cost.
Price per square foot (£/sq ft)
A sold price divided by the internal floor area. It is the most useful single way of comparing two similar properties because it takes size out of the comparison. It only means anything where a floor area is actually on record — where none is, our tables leave the cell blank rather than estimate one.
Probate sale
A sale by the executors or administrators of the estate of somebody who has died. A sale cannot normally complete until the grant of probate, or letters of administration, has been issued. Those selling are usually dealing with an asset they did not choose and cannot easily hold, and are accountable to the beneficiaries for handling it properly.
Repossession
Where a lender has taken possession of a property after the borrower defaulted, and is selling it to recover what it is owed. The lender has a duty to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable, which is why on these sales a later offer can often be considered right up to exchange.
Stamp duty
Stamp Duty Land Tax, a tax the buyer pays on a property purchase in England and Northern Ireland; Scotland and Wales have their own equivalents. What is due depends on the price, on what else you own and on any relief that applies. The rates and thresholds change, so take the current position from HMRC or your solicitor rather than from any guide. On our deal sheets it appears in the Acquisition section, with a separate saving line where one applies.
*Estimates based on comparable sales and local data; not a valuation and not guaranteed. Always do your own due diligence.
These are working definitions written to make the deal pages readable. They are not legal or tax definitions, and nothing here is advice — take your own legal and professional advice on any purchase. Property values can go down as well as up.
The other guides
- Why a seller takes less — Motivated sellers, probate, short leases, repossessions, broken chains and tired listings — what each situation is, and why it produces a lower price.
- How we value a property — What our figures are built from, which costs we model, and why an uncosted line says “not yet assessed” rather than nothing.
- How to buy below market value — What the seller is really buying, what cash and chain-free mean in practice, and the checks these purchases need.
See the words used on a real deal.
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