Legal Costs
Fee Estimates
The following is an illustration of our average conveyancing fees for sale and purchase of property in England and is based on a straightforward freehold transaction without a mortgage. However, every transaction is different and so for a tailored estimate for your transaction please do contact us.
£0.00 - £125,000 |
£555 |
£125,001 - £250,000 |
£655 |
£250,001 - £500,000 |
£825 |
£500,001 - £750,000 |
£950 |
£950,001 - £1,250,000 |
£1500 |
£1,250,001 - £1,500,000 |
£2000 |
Above £1,500,000 please contact us with details of your transaction and we will calculate your estimate for you.
Where your transaction is more complicated than state above additional fees will apply. The following are the most common additional fees that may be charged where the relevant circumstances apply:
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Acting for your mortgage lender on a new mortgage : A minimum fee of £150 plus VAT of £30 |
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Acting for your mortgage lender on a redemption of mortgage : A minimum fee of £115 plus VAT of £23 |
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Dealing with a leasehold: a minimum fee of £250 plus VAT of £50 |
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Dealing with Help to Buy: a minimum fee of £295 plus VAT of £59 |
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Electronic Identification: a minimum fee of £18 plus VAT of 3.60 |
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Dealing with ISA Help to Buy transactions £50 plus VAT of £10 |
In addition to our legal fees, on a purchase or mortgage transaction you
are likely to have to pay for property searches of between £100 and £400
(depending on the locality of the property and the type of searches
needed), Land Registry fees (which are based on the value of the
transaction and can be checked on the Land Registry website here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees
and either Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) (if your property is in England) or
Land Transaction Tax (LTT) (if your property is in England or in Wales).
You can find out how much SDLT or LTT you will have to pay here:
https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax/residential-property-rates
https://lttcalculator.wra.gov.wales/
What is included in your legal fee?
Our estimate of legal fees for the conduct of your transaction will be
based on carrying out the usual steps in connection with the standard
conveyance of a freehold property that is registered at the Land
Registry. Should your transaction not be a typical freehold registered
property then the work we do will increase depending on what is required
to be done and our fees will increase. We will supply you with a menu of
additional services at the outset showing our fees for the various items
of additional work that may arise. We cap our charges for this work at
the fee shown in the menu in order that you have clarity and certainty.
The usual steps in connection with a standard purchase conveyance of
freehold property are as follows:
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Checking and approving the contract for
purchase
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Carrying out and reporting to you upon
the usual searches (local authority, drainage and environmental
searches)
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Checking and reporting to you on the
title to the property
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Preparing and obtaining your signature
to the Transfer deed
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Collecting your purchase funds/deposit
and arranging the exchange of contracts
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Carrying out pre-completion official
searches
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Completing the purchase |
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Registering the purchase at the Land
Registry
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The usual steps in connection with a standard sale conveyance of
freehold property are as follows:
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Obtaining your title documents from the
Land Registry and checking it
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Preparing the contract for sale |
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Dealing with the buyer’s enquiries |
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Obtaining your signature to the
contract and Transfer deed
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Arranging the exchange of contracts
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Completing the sale and accounting to
you with any balance due to you
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Our basic legal fee does not include the additional work involved in
dealing with leases, mortgages, management companies, unregistered land,
title restrictions, delayed completion or defective titles. We will
supply you with full details of the charges for these aspects of the
matter at the outset when we provide your fee estimate.
Time scales
Once a sale or purchase of a property has been agreed, an average
freehold conveyancing transaction is likely to take between 12 and 16
weeks to reach exchange of contracts from when you provide us with your
instructions to act for you. An average leasehold transaction is likely
to take between 2 and 4 weeks longer than this, due to the need to
obtain information from landlords and management companies. However, it
is important to remember that your matter may take a shorter or longer
time than this due to specific factors affecting it that may be outside
our control. We try to ensure that you are kept informed throughout your
matter of the stage it has reached and what remains to be done, so that
you can understand the likely time scale that applies to your particular
matter.
Referral Fees
We sometimes pay a referral fee to the person or body that introduces a
client to our firm. This does not affect your legal fee, and is paid by
us, not you. This fee covers the cost of services provided by the
referrer such as sales progress assistance, search provision, assistance
with identification procedures and other services. Referral fees are
usually between £150 and £300 depending on the type and value of the
service provided. If this applies, we will tell you when we send you
your fee estimate. These arrangements do not affect you or your case in
any way and we remain independent of the introducer. We will use our
professional judgement to advise you and act in your best interests at
all times, and you are free to raise questions on all aspects of the
transaction.”
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