Residential property price transparency

The above charges include dealing with and advising upon all legal aspects of the transaction, all telephone calls, general and incidental correspondence and complying with money laundering and regulatory requirements. The above does not include any tax advice save for the preparation and submission of the Stamp Duty Land Tax return.

Our fees set out above also include our acting on behalf of your lender as part of the conveyancing process (whether in terms of releasing the mortgage as part of a sale or a lender taking security over the property on a purchase).

There will also be sums that will be payable to third parties. These may include:

1. Search fees

We shall apply for a local authority search, drainage and water search, environmental/flood combined search and DevAssess search. You should budget for around £500 plus VAT for these searches. If additional searches are required, we shall advise you of the likely costs.

2. Land Registry fees

There will be fees payable to the Land Registry as part of any application that needs to be made after completion of a matter and are available to view on the Land Registry website. There will also be costs involved in obtaining documents from the Land Registry portal and these vary from £3 to £10 per document.

3. Bank transfer fee

We charge £30 plus VAT for any bank transfers made on your behalf.

4. Stamp duty land tax

As part of the fee estimate, we shall set out what your anticipated stamp duty liability will be based on the anticipated completion date.

5. Other costs payable to third parties

Depending on the transaction, you may also be responsible for additional payments (the exact cost of which are set by third parties and so the figures below are indicative only). These may include:

• Replies to standard form management enquiries – £350 to £600 plus VAT
• Landlord/third party notice fees – £75 to £150 plus VAT
• Licences to assign – £450 to £750 plus VAT
• Deeds of covenant – £100 to £250 plus VAT
• Management company/freehold share transfer – £75 to £100 plus VAT

Value Added Tax

VAT is charged at the prevailing rate which is currently 20%. Where we refer to fees on this page, we refer to VAT exclusive fees and VAT should be added. We are registered for VAT and as such VAT will be payable on our fees. VAT may also be payable on third party charges referred to above.

UNANTICIPATED COSTS

Our above fees are based on our experience of the work a typical transaction will involve. If our fee estimate has to change for any reason, we shall let you know as soon as circumstances arise which necessitate that.

We will always discuss and agree with you beforehand any necessary fee increase (for example, if there is a defect in the title which requires remedying).

If your transaction does not proceed for any reason then we shall charge fees depending on how far the matter has progressed. We shall discuss with you at the relevant time what proportion of our fees will be payable.

We are members of the Law Society accredited Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).

DURATION AND STAGES OF PURCHASE AND SALE

How long will my transaction take?

• We shall progress your sale or purchase promptly but time scales will vary depending on a number of factors many of which will be outside our control. These may include:
  The chain that your sale or purchase may be part of. The more properties in the chain the more transactions there are to co-ordinate, each with their own time scales.
• The speed with which you and other parties are able to obtain mortgage offers and surveys.
• The speed with which the parties are able to deal with requests for information about the property.
• Whether the property is freehold or leasehold.
• If there are any issues in the title, planning history, surveys or any other investigations which need to be resolved in respect of your transaction and/or others in the chain.

In our experience:

• The purchase or sale of a freehold property will usually take between 8 and 10 weeks from the date we receive the sales memorandum from the estate agents confirming the agreed terms of the transaction;
• The purchase or sale of a leasehold property will usually take between 10 and 14 weeks from the date we receive the sales memorandum from the estate agents confirming the agreed terms of your transaction.
  
  

Key stages in the process

The key stages involved in a standard sale or purchase transactions are broadly as follows. Please note these may vary depending on the circumstances of a particular transaction.

• Taking instructions, providing fee information, client care documents and terms of business.
• ID and other money laundering checks
• Obtaining information and documentation from you.
• Arranging completion of information forms.
• Contacting the buyer’s or seller’s solicitors; obtaining title documents; drafting sale contract and considering the same.
• Dealing with mortgage lenders and obtaining information from them.
• Obtaining information from a landlord or managing agents. To obtain a management pack for leasehold property.
• Dealing with queries arising pre-contract; dealing with any amendments to the documents and agreeing a completion date and providing you with a full report if purchasing.
• Exchange of contracts.
• Dealing with pre completion matters and completing post completion matters to include mortgage redemption, paying estate agents, SDLT (or LTT if the property is in Wales) remitting monies to you and completing the matter satisfactorily to include registering your new title if it is a purchase.