Residential Conveyancing

We have an experienced commercial and residential conveyancing team and are on the panel of most of the leading lenders.  We are conscious that moving house can be stressful at the best of times and our aim is to alleviate this by communicating with you fully as the transaction progresses. We always explain our proposed fees upfront, including disbursements (payments made to third parties on your behalf such as the Land Registry, a search provider and HMRC).  Please speak to Matthew Hann to obtain a quotation for residential conveyancing.

If you own the leasehold interest in your property and would like to pursue a lease extension or are interested in exercising your right to buy, we can assist with commencing the process with the freehold owner and taking the process through to completion.

Sales  –  Freehold

Our fees for the sale of a freehold property range from £750.00 to £2,500.00 plus VAT.  The sale of a freehold property with a value of more than £1,000,000.00 will fall outside this fee range.  On a straightforward sale, the usual fee is £850.00 plus VAT.  There would be additional charges on a sale which are an additional £150.00 plus VAT if help to buy applies, a fee of £50.00 plus VAT for each ISA bonus, an additional fee of £250.00 plus VAT where there is shared ownership and there is a bank charge fee of £35.00 plus VAT to redeem any mortgage or send monies to you on completion.

Our services would include the following:

• Providing an initial quotation at the outset to clarify the particulars of the conveyancing work.
• Taking your instructions and checking your identity for anti-money laundering compliance purposes.
• Providing forms for your completion to obtain information regarding your property and enable us to draft the contract documentation.
• Downloading the official freehold title from the Land Registry to check the position as to title.
• Sending the draft contract that we have prepared to the buyer’s solicitors.
• Responding to enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors.
• Agreeing a date for exchange of contracts and a completion date with you and any other parties in the conveyancing chain.
• Obtaining redemption figures for any mortgage over the property.
• Exchanging contracts.
• Dealing with pre-completion enquiries.
• Completing the sale and redeeming any or all mortgages and accounting to you on completion.

For a sale of the freehold the likely disbursements that you would incur are:

• HM Land Registry official title register and plan £6.00 plus VAT (£3.00 plus VAT each).  If there is any underlying leasehold interest then there would be additional Land Registry fees to obtain the leasehold title and leasehold plan of £6.00 plus VAT (£3.00 plus VAT each).
• Obtaining any documents referred to on the freehold title at HM Land Registry would be £3.00 plus VAT each.

A sale will usually take between 8 – 12 weeks depending on the length of the conveyancing chain.

Sales  –  Leasehold

Our fees for the sale of a leasehold property range from £850.00 to £2,500.00 plus VAT.  There would be disbursements payable to obtain from the Land Registry official copies of the freehold title and freehold plan and the leasehold title and leasehold plan (£3.00 plus VAT for each of these) and any additional documents required to be obtained as referred to on the freehold title or leasehold title would be £3.00 plus VAT for each copy.  You would also need to obtain a leasehold information pack.  This is provided by the agent for the freeholder or by the freeholder’s management company.  We would expect there to be a charge from the management company or the agent for the freeholder in providing the leasehold information pack of approximately £250.00-£300.00 plus VAT.

The sale of a leasehold interest is likely to take between 8 – 14 weeks.

Our services would include the following:

• Providing an initial quotation at the outset to clarify the particulars of the conveyancing work.
• Taking your instructions and checking your identity for anti-money laundering compliance purposes.
• Providing forms for your completion to obtain information regarding your property and enable us to draft the contract documentation.
• Downloading the official freehold title from the Land Registry to check the position as to title.
• Sending the draft contract that we have prepared to the buyer’s solicitors.
• Responding to enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors.
• Agreeing a date for exchange of contracts and a completion date with you and any other parties in the conveyancing chain.
• Obtaining redemption figures for any mortgage over the property.
• Exchanging contracts.
• Dealing with pre-completion enquiries.
• Completing the sale and redeeming any or all mortgages and accounting to you on completion.

Purchases  –  Freehold

Our fees for a freehold purchase range from £850.00 to £2,500.00 plus VAT.  Where the purchase price is above £1,000,000.00 we will provide you with a bespoke quotation separately.  We would expect the typical cost of a purchase to be £900.00 plus VAT.  There would be an additional bank charge of £35.00 plus VAT for sending the purchase monies to the seller’s solicitors on completion.

Our services would include the following:

• Providing an initial quotation at the outset to clarify the particulars of the conveyancing work.
• Taking your instructions and checking your identity for anti-money laundering compliance purposes.
• Considering the title documentation received from the seller’s solicitors
• Carrying out any necessary searches on the property being purchased and raising enquiries resulting from those searches.
• Considering the contract documentation received.
• Liaising with your mortgage lender if appropriate to obtain mortgage funds.
• Exchanging contracts and completing.
• Completing and submitting the Stamp Duty Land Tax/Land Transaction Tax and registering the purchase and any mortgage with the Land Registry.

We would anticipate that the likely disbursements relating to the purchase of a freehold property would be searches of £300.00-£350.00. Additional searches may be required depending on the area of the country where the property is located.

• Pre-completion searches of £3.00 plus VAT for a priority completion search plus bankruptcy searches of £2.00 plus VAT per person if there is a mortgage.
• The Stamp Duty Land Tax fee depends on the purchase price, if you are a first time buyer or if the property being purchased is an additional property.  For an indication of the Stamp Duty Land Tax payable there is a government website.  If the property is in Wales then Welsh Land Tax is payable.

The legal work for a purchase is likely to take between 6 – 12 weeks. The timing may be affected by requirements from a mortgage lender.  Exchange of contracts cannot take place until a mortgage offer has been received and all enquiries are satisfied.

Purchases  –  Leasehold

Our fees for a leasehold purchase would include all of those set out above in relation to the purchase of a freehold property.  Our services include all of those set out above in relation to the purchase of a freehold property together with:

• Notifying the agents for the freeholder or the freeholder’s management company that you are now the new owner of the leasehold property and serving the required notices as set out in the lease and a notice of mortgage if appropriate.
• There are likely to be additional disbursements relating to notice of transfer/mortgage where the amount payable is usually between £60.00 and £125.00 plus VAT per notice.
• A certificate of compliance fee would usually be between £100.00 and £200.00 plus VAT.
• There may also be a fee payable to the freeholder in respect of a deed of covenant.

The legal work for the purchase of a leasehold property is likely to take between 8 – 14 weeks.  Again, exchange of contracts cannot take place until a mortgage offer has been received (as appropriate) and all enquiries are satisfied.

Remortgage work

Our fees for dealing with a remortgage start from £575.00 plus VAT.  The fees would depend on how many existing mortgages or legal charges over the property need to be discharged.  There would be an additional bank fee of £35.00 plus VAT to redeem each existing charge over the property.

Our fees would include the following:

• Providing you with an initial quotation at the outset.
• Taking your instructions and checking your identity for anti-money laundering compliance.
• Carrying out any necessary searches on the property required by your lender.
• Checking and advising you in relation to the mortgage offer and obtaining your signature.
• Obtaining a redemption figure from your existing lender as appropriate.
• Obtaining any additional funds for completion from you.
• Corresponding with your mortgage lender as appropriate to obtain mortgage funds.
• Completing the remortgage and registering the mortgage with the Land Registry.

The likely disbursements are searches of £150.00-£300.00 depending on the requirements of your lender, pre-completion searches of £3.00 plus VAT plus £2.00 plus VAT per person for bankruptcy searches.  There would also be a registration fee payable to register the new mortgage or charge at the Land Registry, the details of which we will provide to you in our initial quotation at the outset.

A remortgage is likely to take between 4 – 12 weeks.

Hourly rates wherever it is possible, our fees are fixed.  However, should a conveyance not proceed then the time spent on the file would be calculated on an hourly rate.

The hourly rates are as follows:

• Partner £300.00 per hour.
• Associate Solicitor £280.00 per hour.
• Lead Conveyancer £240.00 per hour.
• Assistant Conveyancer £200.00 per hour.

All of the hourly rates are plus VAT.