It is normal for a deposit to be paid on exchange of contracts. Although many people think that 10 per cent is required, that is often untrue. If you are buying and selling we can usually use your buyer’s deposit in connection with your own purchase, so you may not have to find anything. If you are just buying the amount of the deposit will usually depend upon the size of your mortgage (if any). If your mortgage is less than 90 per cent of the purchase price then you will usually need to find 10 per cent, but if you are borrowing more than this we can often persuade the seller to accept whatever amount you are putting in or even just the amount of our costs and disbursements only if you are borrowing 100%.