Fees
Conveyancing /
Residential Property
At Abbey Court Solicitors, we pride ourselves on offering the most competitive prices for any of your residential conveyancing needs. Whilst we can usually offer to beat any genuine quotation you have received from another firm of solicitors, we have set out our anticipated legal fees below. As always, in order to ensure you are provided with a more accurate estimate of our costs, including VAT and any necessary disbursements, please contact us on 01254 385104.
Sale
| Sale price | Anticipated Legal Fee (Excluding VAT) |
|---|---|
| £0 - £100,000 | £525.00 |
| £100,000 - £200,000 | £575.00 |
| £200,000 - £300,000 | £625.00 |
| £300,000 - £400,000 | £675.00 |
| £400,000 - £500,000 | £725.00 |
| Over £500,000 | 0.150% of sale price |
The typical services included within the above anticipated legal charges are as follows:
- Taking initial instructions.
- Sending out our terms of business letter together with appropriate forms for completion and return by the seller.
- Contacting the buyer’s solicitor to request confirmation of instructions.
- Obtaining official copy entries from the Land Registry or obtaining the title deeds in order to establish and confirm ownership of the Property.
- Preparing draft contract documents.
- Sending the draft contract documents to the buyer’s solicitor.
- Dealing with any enquiries raised and obtaining any indemnity insurance policies if required.
- Agreeing a completion date and obtaining a redemption statement to redeem any mortgages (if applicable).
- Exchanging contracts.
- Completing the sale.
- Exchanging contracts.
- Discharging any mortgages secured against the property.
- Sending deeds/documents to the buyer’s solicitors.
- Accounting to the seller for the net proceeds of sale.
Disbursements will also be payable in addition to our legal fees.
In relation to the disbursements, if your property has a registered title at HM Land Registry there will be a disbursement incurred of at least £6.00 in relation to us obtaining a copy of the Land Registry Official Entries and Title Plan relating to the property. This may be slightly more if other documents need to be obtained, such as a lease (usually £3.00 per document).
There will also be a CHAPS fee of £48.00 (made up of £23.00 for the bank fee and £25.00 inclusive of VAT for our administration fee) incurred for any immediate bank transfers required, such as discharging a mortgage or transferring the proceeds of sale to the seller. There will be no costs for a standard 3-day BACS transfer.
If there is documentation within the title to your property which is either missing or does not exist, or you do not have the necessary certificates for certain works, such as replacement windows/doors or a new boiler, then it is likely that we will have to obtain an indemnity insurance policy. If we are required to take out a policy on your behalf then we will charge £15.00 plus VAT, in addition to the premium.
If there are any other disbursements likely to be incurred, we will advise you accordingly during the transaction.
Purchase
| Purchase price | Anticipated Legal Fee (Excluding VAT) |
|---|---|
| £0 - £100,000 | £550.00 |
| £100,000 - £200,000 | £600.00 |
| £200,000 - £300,000 | £650.00 |
| £300,000 - £400,000 | £700.00 |
| £400,000 - £500,000 | £750.00 |
| Over £500,000 | 0.150% of sale price |
The typical services included within the above anticipated legal charges are as follows:
- Taking initial instructions from the buyer.
- Sending out our terms of business letter.
- ID checks and checking proof of funds.
- Contacting the seller’s solicitor to request draft contract documents.
- Advising on the initial contract documents and investigating title.
- Ordering searches.
- Raising enquiries.
- Reviewing conditions of the mortgage offer.
- Taking instructions regarding joint ownership (if applicable).
- Reviewing replies to enquiries and search results and reporting to the buyer.
- Arranging for the buyer to sign the contract and Transfer.
- Agreeing a completion date.
- Exchanging contracts.
- Requesting funds from the buyer and lender.
- Completion the purchase.
- Submitting an SDLT return to HMRC.
- Serving necessary notices on the Freeholder if the property is leasehold.
- Application to Land Registry for registration.
- Notifying the buyers and any lender following registration and sending out deeds.
Disbursements will also be payable in addition to our legal fees.
If mortgage finance is required, a purchaser will be expected to carry out a full range of standard pre-contract searches. As a guide, the cost of pre-contract searches at the present time may total approximately £200.00.
There will be a CHAPS fee of £48.00 (made up of £23.00 for the bank fee and £25.00 inclusive of VAT for our administration fee) incurred for transferring the funds to the seller’s solicitor.
There will be a Land Registry registration fee, which is dependent on the purchase price. Below is a link to a fee calculator on the Land Registry’s website which provides details of their fees. The second link takes you to similar information on the Government website.
https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/fees-calculator.html
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees
Stamp Duty Land Tax may also be payable, which is dependent on several factors including purchase price, the type of property being purchased and whether or not the purchase will be classed as an ‘additional property’. Below is a link to the Government online calculator so that you can work out how much stamp duty you will be liable to pay.
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro
There will also be a pre-completion Land Registry search fee of £3.00 and, if there is mortgage finance, a bankruptcy search fee of £2.00 per person.
If you are purchasing with the assistance of a Lifetime ISA or Help to Buy ISA, then there will be a charge of £25.00 plus VAT for each drawdown.
If there are any other disbursements likely to be incurred, we will advise you accordingly during the transaction.
Our Property Team
Our conveyancing team is made up of 3 qualified solicitors, who have a combined post qualification experience of over 50 years. All matters will be overseen by Mr Anthony Wardle, the head of residential conveyancing, who qualified in 2012.
Timescales
It is difficult to estimate how long the conveyancing process will take as it depends on a number of factors, including number of people in a chain, waiting for searches and of course how quickly the other solicitor responds. However, typically, we estimate it will take 4 to 12 weeks to completion. If this changes significantly during the course of the transaction, then we will advise you accordingly.
Re-mortgages and Transfer of a property by gift
Re-mortgage – £250.00 plus VAT
Transfer by gift – £200.00 plus VAT
Similar disbursements may also be payable as explained above.