RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING
Our charges: buying and selling residential property
How much do we charge?
You can find details of how we calculate our conveyancing charges below. For a quote specifically tailored to your case please just drop us an email info@meadows-legal.com and we can give you an exact quote.
Our charges are made up of:
- our fees for the legal work;
- ‘disbursements’ – disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to other people, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process; and
- for property purchases, Stamp Duty Land Tax (see below).
Our fees
Our fees depend upon the value of the property you are buying or selling and are listed below:
- We charge a sliding scale of £1,485 – £9,000 + VAT for a freehold sale.
- We charge a sliding scale of £1,600 – £9,000 + VAT for a freehold purchase.
- We charge a sliding scale of £1,950 – £9,000 + VAT for a leasehold sale.
- We charge a sliding scale of £2,400 – £9,000 + VAT for a leasehold purchase.
- We charge a sliding scale of £1,925 – £7,500 + VAT for a re-mortgage.
PLUS £825 (each) FOR NEW BUILD (£1100 FOR NEW BUILD LEASEHOLD PROPERTY) & HELP TO BUY
If you are buying and selling a property, then a charge would be made both the sale and the purchase.
Please note that VAT of 20% is also charged on all of our fees or legal work.
If, at any point during the transaction, money needs to be sent by telegraphic transfer, the bank charges are £15 plus VAT and we charge a fee of £20 plus VAT.
Disbursements
The ‘disbursements’ which you pay will depend upon whether you are buying or selling property or both, whether you are buying a freehold or leasehold property and 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 disbursements (please note that these are an estimate only at this stage):
- Search fees between £450-500 excluding VAT;
- HM Land Registry fees between £20 and £1105 depending on the value of the transaction and whether the application can be lodged electronically at the Land Registry;
- SDLT £6 submission fee;
- AP1 £6 submission fee;
- Bankruptcy Land Charges Search £7.80 per name;
- Land Registry Search £8.80 per search per title number;
- AML/online ID check £13 plus VAT for each check we have to carry out;
- Lawyer Checker fee £15 per firm.
When selling a property you will ordinarily need to pay the following disbursements:
- Land Registry Office Copy Entries and Title Plan £8 per title number;
- Client bank account checker £2.50 plus VAT
- If selling a leasehold property you will need to provide the buyer with a management pack. The fees will depend on the managing agent and are difficult to estimate but are often between £350 – £750 plus VAT (although some managing agents will charge much more).
If the property being purchased is a ‘leasehold’ property then in addition to the disbursements outlined above for buying a freehold property, there will be the following disbursements::
- Notice of Transfer fee – This fee if chargeable may be set out in the lease. Often the fee is between £75 – £150 plus VAT.
- Notice of Charge fee (if the property is to be mortgaged) – This fee is set out in the lease. Often the fee is between £75-£150 plus VAT.
- Deed of Covenant fee – This fee is provided by the management company for the property and can be difficult to estimate. Often it is between £150-350 plus VAT.
- Certificate of Compliance fee – To be confirmed upon receipt of the management pack and often will range between £75-150 plus VAT.
If you are re-mortgaging, then the disbursements will be similar to those set out above for buying a freehold property and there will also likely be Notice of Charge and Certificate of Compliance fees in line with the above for leasehold properties.
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 your circumstances and the price of the 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 here.).
Other costs to consider.
If you have a mortgage on the property or have incurred an estate agent’s fee, 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.
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 this we receive this information.
Examples of our charges
The table below is a typical example of what charges we would make to the client selling a freehold property for £490,000.00:
| · Our legal fees between £1485 and £2035 plus VAT | £1782 – £2442 |
| · Telegraphic Transfer Fee and Admin Fee (assuming only one transfer) | £42.00 |
| · Office Copy Entries | £8.80 |
| · AML Search Admin Fee (per name) | £15.60 |
| · Client bank account checker | £3.00 |
| TOTAL: | £1851.40 – £2511.40 |
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 between 10 and 14 weeks with leasehold properties usually taking considerably longer because of the additional documentation involved.
It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the ‘chain’. For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle and the transaction goes smoothly it could take as little as 8 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 3 and 6 months. In such a situation, additional charges would apply.
What legal work will you be doing for me?
The precise stages involved vary according to the circumstances. However typically in a property sale we need to do the following:
- Take your instructions and give you initial advice
- Download the title documents and filed plan from the Land Registry and obtain any other deeds and documents from you
- Obtain completed protocol documents from you
- If there is a mortgage on the property, obtain an indicative redemption figure from your lender
- Draft the contract and transfer and advise you further on any issues that have arisen on the documents obtained
- Deal with any additional enquiries raised via the buyer’s solicitor
- Liaise with your selling agent
- Agree final form of contract and transfer and send these to you for signature
- Once the completion date has been agreed via your selling agent (date from which you no longer own the property and move out) take your instructions as to exchange of contracts
- Once you are happy to proceed, exchange contracts with the buyer’s solicitors and notify you that this has happened
- If there is a mortgage on the property, apply for a final redemption statement from your lender
- Complete the transaction, redeem the mortgage and pay the selling agent from the proceeds of sale and account to you for the balance
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
- Confirm our instructions to the estate agent and the seller’s solicitors
- Obtain a contract pack and carry out an initial review of the title
- Carry out searches on the property you are buying
- Obtain further planning documentation if required
- Obtain a copy of your survey report from you
- Raise any additional any enquiries of seller’s solicitor once the results of the searches and survey have been obtained
- Give you advice on all documents and information received
- Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
- Agree final form of contract and transfer with the seller’s solicitor and send these to you (with the mortgage deed if required) and SDLT form
- Advise you to liaise with the estate agent to agree a completion date and once this has been agreed, obtain your instructions on exchange and completion(date from which you own the property and move in)
- 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 of your purchase and the lender’s charge if appliabable
- Provide you with the updated Land Registry title entries
- Notify your lender that the application for registration of the purchase and their charge has been complete
If we are simply helping you to re-mortgage your property, then we would generally speaking only need to:
- Take your instructions and give you initial advice
- Carry out searches on the property
- Obtain further planning documentation if required
- Obtain completed protocol forms
- 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 lawyers in the team as well as experienced paralegals specialised 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 [LINK TO STAFF INFORMATION PAGE] including the types of work normally undertaken.
Our people involved in doing the work will include
Piers Meadows, Partner
Alastair Hargreaves, Partner
Sarah Lewis, Consultant
Consultants, Trainees & Paralegals