Our fees

Buying or Selling a Freehold Property

Our conveyanding work is generally undertaken on a fixed fee basis.  Our estimated fees vary according to the value of the Freehold property you are buying or selling. If the property is Leasehold then additional fees apply – see below:

* as an example, a property valued at £1.6m would be charged at £2,720 + VAT (£544) = £3264. 

If you are buying and selling a property then a charge would be made both the sale and the purchase.

Additional Fees for Purchases

If you are purchasing a property and it falls into any of the categories below, then estimated additional fixed fees shown will apply, where applicable:

See disbursements below for any additional charges.

Buying or Selling a Leasehold Property

If you are buying or selling a leasehold property then please add a fixed fee of  £250 + VAT (£50) = £300 to the pricing for the Freehold Property Scale shown above to give you an estimate of what the fee would be.

Remortgaging a Property

We will charge a fixed fee of £695 +VAT (£139) = £834 for a property remortgage. If a Transfer of Equity is required as part of the remortgage then an additional fixed fee of £300 +VAT (£60) = £360, is applied. See disbursements below for any additional charges.

Other Charges

The following additional fixed fees are likely to apply to your transaction and, if they do, will be included in any quote provided.

Disbursements

The disbursements which you pay will depend upon whether you are buying or selling a property (or both), whether you are buying a freehold or leasehold property as well as the location and type of property concerned. Properties in certain locations, for example, need more searches and checks than others.

Normally all clients who are buying a Freehold property will need to pay the following:

When selling a property you will ordinarily need to pay the following disbursements:

Land Registry Office Copy Entries and Title Plan £6 per title number no VAT.

If the property is a ‘leasehold’ property then the disbursements will be different and normally consist of:

a) Notice of Transfer fee – This fee if chargeable is set out in the lease. We can advise further on receipt of the documentation.
b) Notice of Charge fee (if the property is to be mortgaged) – This fee is set out in the lease. We can advise further on receipt of the documentation.
c) Deed of Covenant fee – This fee is provided by the management company for the property and can be difficult to estimate. We can advise further on receipt of the documentation.
d) Certificate of Compliance fee – To be confirmed upon receipt of the lease, as can vary.We can advise further on receipt of the documentation. 
e) Leasehold Management Pack – This fee is chargeable when selling a leasehold property and depends on what the Management Company charges. We can advise further on receipt of the documentation.

If you are simply remortgaging then we do not anticipate that you will incur any disbursements except for perhaps a Notice, Deed of Covenant and Certificate of Compliance fees in line with the above for leasehold properties only.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

If you are buying a property you will also need to pay stamp duty land tax. The amount which you need to pay to the government depends on the price of the property, along with a variety of other factors. 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 here.). This is not subject to VAT.

Other costs to consider

If you have a mortgage on the property, or have incurred Estate Agency fees, we would also typically need to pay the money owed directly to your lender and agent as needed from the sale money we receive for you.  Their fees may be subject to VAT depending upon whether or not they are VAT registered. 

You should also be aware that if you are purchasing a leasehold property then ground rent and service charges are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as we receive this information.  These are unlikley to be subject to VAT but we will confirm on receipt of further information. 

Examples of our charges

The table below is a typical example of our costs that could apply in selling a freehold property for £500,000 (not incl. Estate Agency Fees), where there is only one client selling:

Whereas the table below is a typical example of the costs that could apply in selling a freehold property for £500,000 and buying a freehold property for £575,000 (not incl. Estate Agency Fees), where there is only one client selling and buying and there is a mortgage :

How long will my house sale / purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted to completion will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes a minimum of 12 weeks. It can be quicker (rarely) or slower (not unusual), depending on the parties in the chain.

For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a freehold property with a mortgage in principle and the transaction goes smoothly it could take as little as 12 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer e.g. between 3 and 6 months, or more.

What assumptions have we made?

Our fixed fee assumes that:

• This is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including, for example (but not limited to), a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction.
• This is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease.
• The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complication arise.
• All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation.
• No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

What legal work will you be doing for me?

The precise stages involved vary according to the circumstances, however tupically in a sale we will need to do the following:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice
• Receive and advise on sale contract documents where applicable
• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate
• Give you advice on all documents and information received
• Send final contract to you for signature
• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
• Complete the transaction

In a property purchase we need to do the following:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice
• Check finances are in place to fund purchase where applicable and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate
• Obtain further planning documentation if required
• Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor where applicable
• Give you advice on all documents and information received
• Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
• Send final contract to you for signature
• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
• Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
• Complete purchase
• Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
• Deal with application for registration at Land Registry

If we are simply helping you to remortgage your property then we would generally speaking only need to:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice
• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate
• Obtain further planning documentation if required
• Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you.
• Send final documents to you for signature
• Apply for mortgage advance.
• Redeem any previous mortgages
• Deal with application for registration at the Land Registry.

Who will be dealing with my matter?

Your conveyancing transaction will be handled by a trusted member of our experienced conveyancing team. We have a number of qualified conveyancers in the team, as well as experienced paralegals specialising in this area of law.

Once we know who will be handling your case for you, we will introduce you to them and provide you with full details of their background and qualifications. Full details of the experience and qualifications of our team are available on our website here including the types of work normally undertaken.

Regardless of who is working on your case, the matter will be supervised by our Head of Department, Koysor Miah and our Senior Partner, Simon Robinson

Koysor Miah

• Solicitor
• 10 years + post qualification experience
• Deals with sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity of all levels of complexity, includingfreehold,  leasehold, shared ownership and new build. Koysor also undertakes Commercial Law and Litigation work. Koysor spends, on average, 95% of his working time undertaking residential conveyancing work. 

Simon Robinson

• Solicitor
• 19 years + post qualification experience
• Simon is our Commercial Law Partner but also deals with sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity of all levels of complexity, including freehold, leasehold, shared ownership and new build. Simon spends, on average, 20% of his working time undertaking residential conveyancing work.

Tracey Morris

• Conveyancing Executive
• 25 years  experience
• Tracey has extensive experience in handling sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity of all levels of complexity, including leasehold,  freehold, shared ownership and new build. Tracey spends 100% of her working time undertaking residential conveyancing work.