Conveyancing

Residential Conveyancing

Work to be done by us

On purchase we will: –

Take your detailed instructions and give initial advice;
Deal with money laundering and identity check requirements;
Review and check title to the property, its plan, information provided on protocol forms, including a list of fittings and contents, report to you thereon and raise additional enquiries, e.g. for planning matters;
Make searches with the local land charges department of the local authority and with the drainage/water authority, environmental search and any other additional searches which are determined by the locality of the property.;
Review any mortgage offer and advise you on the terms of the mortgage and the legal aspects.
Consider the terms of the draft contract and approve this;
Then make a full report to you arranging for you to sign the contract and pay the deposit required then – usually 10%, but could be lower if your circumstances require that;
When all parties are ready, contracts are then exchanged and a date for completion (i.e. moving) is set;
Draft the Transfer deed and carry out pre-completion administration;
Statement and final account are prepared and sent to you; where you are taking a mortgage/loan we give the required Certificate of Title to your lender for draw-down of funds; we make final searches at the Land Registry including the official search of the whole of the title with priority and the bankruptcy search and complete the purchase;
Prepare, and you sign, the required stamp duty land tax return and, following completion, this is filed at HMRC and the tax paid. (In Wales there is now the Land Transaction Tax);
Then deal with registration of the Transfer of the property to you at the Land Registry and supply a copy with any other deeds and documents you should retain.

What does our fees cover?

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

What are Disbursements?

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

What is Stamp Duty or Land Tax (on purchase)?

This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website. Please click on the link below to calculate Stamp Duty Land Tax

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

How long will my house purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors.

On average Conveyancing takes around 12 -14 weeks, but this can be much shorter, with some transactions completing in as little as 4-6 weeks.

On the other hand, it could also take much longer, being delayed by matters outside of your control.

For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it could take less than 12 weeks provided there are no further queries raised by your lender or yourself in relation to the property you are buying. If you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer.

Timescale cannot be predicted as it depends on the parties involved.

The following is a guide only to likely fees:-

On purchase of Freehold Property: –

Property price	Fees
£0 – £150.000	£750.00 Plus VAT
£151.000 – £ 250.000	£850.00 Plus VAT
£251.000 – £ 350.000	£900.00 Plus VAT
£351.000 – £ 500.000	£1000.00 Plus VAT
£500.000 Upwards	Starting from £1050.00 Plus VAT
VAT	currently at 20% is payable upon all our fees and charges.

Note: Apart from the above, there will be an additional fee for the following transactions: –

Purchase of Leasehold Property – £200 (excl VAT). This is in respect of perusal of lease, dealing with the landlord/managing agents and the Freehold title, ground rent, service charges, insurance etc.

Unregistered property – £200 (excl VAT). This is in respect of considering the title and the epitome of title.

This is an indicative estimated cost based on the following assumptions:

There is no mortgage or Help to Buy ISA involved
There is one freehold property with a single registered (as opposed to an unregistered) title
There are no restrictions on the title
There are no problems or complications with the property or the title to the property which arise after
we do our investigations
There is a single individual purchaser
The instruction proceeds to the timescales given in the above example.

What other costs may be incurred?

In addition to the above, you will incur additional costs that you have to pay, which are disbursements. Examples include search fees, Land Registry fees, payments to a landlord/management company, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Telegraphic transfer fees.

Searches – The total cost that you will incur towards the searches may vary based on the different kinds of searches carried out against the property during the conveyancing process.

Stamp Duty Land Tax – This is a tax which is payable to HMRC when you purchase a property above certain value. Please click on the link below to calculate the Stamp Duty Land Tax you will pay when purchasing a property.

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

There will be a number of additional costs that will need to be paid as part of the process, these come under the category of disbursements mentioned above and examples of these are set out below:

DISBURSEMENT	COST (EXCLUDING VAT)
Anticipated Searches	£400.00 (approx.)
Bankruptcy search	£2.00
Lawyer Checker	£12.00
Priority search	£3.00
Telegraphic Transfer Fee (TT)	£20.00
Admin Cost for TT	£25.00
Admin cost for SDLT	£50.00
Land Registry Registration Fees	TBA
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)	TBA

SALE

The work we will do on sale is listed as follows:

Take your instructions and give initial advice requesting title deeds if held by you.
Deal with money laundering and identity check requirements.
Unless unregistered we obtain official copies of your title and plan from the Land Registry and notify any mortgage lender.
Forward to you the standard Protocol Forms to complete carefully and return.
Request for an up-to-date mortgage redemption statement from your lender to ensure that the purchase monies are sufficient to repay/settle your mortgage.
Draft the contract and submit this with the Protocol Forms to your buyer’s solicitors.
Usually they will raise enquiries on the papers upon which we may refer to you and then reply.
Any discounts due to problems flagged up by the survey will be discussed as per your instructions.
When the contract is approved prepare a signature copy and forward this for you to sign and check proposals for the completion date raised by the Buyer’s conveyancer.
Following exchange of contracts, we approve the draft Transfer Deed and reply to final requisitions on the title.
When you exchange contracts with the buyer you become legally committed to selling the property – and they are legally committed to buying it from you
If you pull out after this without due reason, the buyer’s deposit will be returned to them and you may be sued.
The length of time between exchange and completion (usually 7-28 days after the exchange of contracts)
Then obtain final redemption figure on your mortgage/s, prepare final figures including our account and those of any estate agent.
Upon receipt of the purchase monies on the day of completion we account to you with the net proceeds. We can arrange to transfer funds electronically to your account.

Any additional Expenses incurred on Sale

If you sell a house you are responsible for looking after it until the sale is completed so you should make sure you have buildings and contents insurance cover until then.

At the time of completion, the property has to be in the condition agreed in the contract – including all the fixtures and fittings

Typical fees incurred on Freehold sale

Value of Property	Our Fees £
£0 to £150,000	£750 Plus VAT
£151,000 to £250,000	£800 Plus VAT
£251,000 to £350,000	£850 Plus VAT
£351,000 to £500,000	£900 Plus VAT
£500,000 upwards	£1000 Plus VAT

Redemption of mortgage – £100 (excluding VAT) per mortgage

VAT currently at 20% is payable upon all our fees and charges

The following standard disbursements (among others) will arise: –

Telegraphic Transfer (TT): £24.00 (incl VAT)

Admin for TT: £30.00 (incl VAT)

Office copy entries: £3.00

Bankruptcy Search: £2.00

Estate agent’s commission: This may vary depending on the fee agreed by you with the agents..

Note: Apart from the above, there will be an additional fee for the following transactions: –

Sale of Leasehold property – £200 (excl VAT). This is in respect of perusal of lease, dealing with the landlord/managing agents and the Freehold title, ground rent, service charges, insurance etc.

Sale of Unregistered property – £200 (excl VAT). This is in respect of deducing the title and preparing the epitome of title. .

Apart from the above, if it becomes apparent that there are unforeseen circumstances in connection with the sale which we are required to deal with, we may be required to increase our charges, however, we shall inform you of the same before we incur any additional costs.

Re-mortgages

Our fees for dealing with a re-mortgage starts at £700.00 (excluding VAT), and will depend on the requirements of your lender as each lender has different requirements which affect the work which we have to do.

However, all of these figures may vary in cases with exceptional circumstances. This is why we will always give you an individual cost estimate at the start of the transaction, taking into account the specific features of your instruction or ‘matter’. If we identify unexpected complications, we will always inform you as soon as we can, and will discuss the potential consequences with you before any extra charges are incurred.

What is the basis of our charges?

The costs quoted here are based on our standard hourly rates for those individuals who work on these types of matters. Our standard hourly rates are £175 +VAT with different types and complexities of work being dealt with at different rates and levels of seniority.

The rates for those working on your matter, and an indication of timescale and costs, will be confirmed when you instruct us.

Additional payment towards Disbursement

In addition to our fees for our time spent dealing with the matter, there may be additional costs that you have to pay, these are called disbursements.

Disbursements are sums of money which we would pay out to third parties on your behalf in connection with your instruction. More details about disbursements are set out below.

Bankruptcy search

This is a small fee to check with the Official Receiver that no party to the transaction is a bankrupt. Where there is a bankruptcy interest it is necessary to deal with the trustee in bankruptcy or the Official Receiver in respect of the bankrupt’s interest in the property. This is most relevant in mortgaged transactions and is charged at £2 per name.

Land Registry Registration Fee

This is a fee charged by HM Land Registry to register the re-mortgage. The figure varies depending on the size of the mortgage, with thresholds changing at £100,000, £200,000, £500,000 and £1000,000.

Office Copy Fee

This is a fee charged by the Land Registry for providing copies of the current official record of the property and the relevant plans. We subscribe to a special scheme which allows us to get these at a reduced cost, which we allow you to benefit from.

Priority search (OS1 Search)

Your solicitor will check with the Land Registry that there have been no changes to the Register in the period since they obtained your Office Copy of the document. This is an official search of whole with priority which is used to protect a transaction for value that affects the whole of the land in a registered title, eg a purchase, a lease or a charge.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Some re-mortgage transactions result in a SDLT liability. This will primarily result from transfer of equity transactions, and most simple re-mortgages. We will advise you if SDLT applies to your transaction. If you are required to submit and pay the Stamp Duty Land Tax to the HMRC, we will charge you an administration fee of £50.00 plus VAT in respect of the completion and submission of the SDLT form to HMRC on your behalf. Please follow the link below for further information in relation to the Stamp duty Land Tax.

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

Bank Transfer Fee

A re-mortgage is actually the settling of one mortgage by taking out another. It therefore involves the transfer of money, and the banks charge solicitors for sending money via their system. This is the charge levied by the banks for this service.

VAT will also be charged on our fees and usually on disbursements. In every case we will be able to give you the details of the costs which would be incurred in relation to your transaction,

The table below gives a rough estimate of typical fees (excl VAT) on re-mortgage transactions.

Anticipated Disbursements	Fees (£)
Anticipated Searches	£400.00 (approx.)
Bankruptcy search	£2.00
Land Registry Registration Fee	TBA (to be advised)
Office Copy Fee	£6.00
Priority search	£3.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax (if applicable)	TBA (to be advised)
Bank Telegraphic Transfer Fee (TT)	£20.00
Admin Cost for TT	£25.00

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