Moving house is invariably a very emotional experience – whether you are well established on the property ladder or a first-time buyer.
 

RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING, FREEHOLD AND LEASHOLD

Our fees cover all the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

With regard to sales, we will tie these in with your purchase and deal with all enquiries and redeem any mortgages so your buyer obtains a good title. We will liaise with any agents involved, including payment of their commission from the proceeds.
 

We do not pay referral fees to introducers.
 

CONVEYANCER'S FEES AND DISBURSEMENTS
Sale and purchase fees are based upon a sliding scale according to value as follows (VAT throughout is calculated at 20%):
 

• £0 - £400,000 = £600.00 + VAT
• £400,001 - £550,000 = £700.00 + VAT
• £550,001 - £750,000 = £800.00 + VAT
• £750,001 - Please enquire

PURCHASES
Disbursements: these are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Typical examples are as follows (subject to variation from time to time):
 

• Search fees £339.80 (estimate based on standard searches ordered in November 2018 for a property in the Brighton & Hove area)
• HM Land Registry fee to register the property in your name based on value:
  £0-80,000.00 - £20.00
  £80,001.00-100,000.00 - £40.00
  £100,001.00-200,000.00 - £95.00
  £200,001.00-500,000.00 - £135.00
  £500,001.00-1,000,000.00 - £270.00
  Fees for new lease are approximately doubled
• Electronic bank transfer fee to remit funds to a seller’s solicitors £25.00
• VAT payable on electronic bank transfer fee £5.00
• LMS Fee charged by Lender (current major Lenders who subscribe to the LMS System to deliver mortgage documents include HSBC, Metro Bank, NatWest, RRBS, TSB and Virgin) £12.00
• Lawyer Checker Fee (to validate the seller’s solicitors’ bank details prior to sending completion funds) £12.00
• HM Land Registry bankruptcy search fee (£2 per name) £2.00
• HM Land Registry OS1/OS2 priority search fee (£3 per title) £3.00

STAMP DUTY AND LAND TAX
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC's website www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority's website beta.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-calculator.
 

HOW LONG WILL MY HOUSE PURCHASE TAKE?
How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between two and three months, but there can be substantial variations according to the individual circumstances of the case, and the intricacy of what is involved where there are several parties in the chain of transactions.
 

For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it should not be a lengthy process, but if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, since more than one legal firm will be involved. In such a situation an additional charge would apply: other examples of this are: of £250.00 + VAT
 

• Completing within four working days of exchange
• Becoming involved in a contract race
• Dealing with an additional Transfer of Title
• The preparation of a Trust Deed
• Dealing with third-party solicitors
• Carrying out personal searches
• Lease Extensions and Deeds of Variation
• Involved negotiations regarding any retention or contract conditions which normally attract a further fee of £250.00 +VAT

However, there are no additional charges for dealing with leaseholds or mortgagees.
 

STAGES AND PROCESS
 The precise stages involved in the sale or purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. The following sets out the basic key stages:
 

Purchase: Freehold
 

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice
• Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact lender's solicitors if needed
• Receive and advise on contract documents
• Carry out searches
• Obtain further planning documentation if required
• Make any necessary enquiries of seller's solicitor
• Give you advice on all documents and information received
• Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
• Meet you as required
• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
• Advise you on joint ownership
• 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

Purchase: Leasehold

All of the above and anticipated disbursements:
 

• Notice of Transfer fee – This fee if chargeable is set out in the lease
• Notice of Charge fee (if the property is to be mortgaged) – This fee is set out in the lease
• Deed of Covenant fee – This fee is provided by the management company for the property and can be difficult to estimate
• Certificate of Compliance fee ­ To be confirmed upon receipt of the lease

You will be advised as soon as any of the above are known.

STAMP DUTY AND TAX
See above

Our fee assumes that:
 

1. This is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction
2. This is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease
3. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complications arise
4. All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
5. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

SALES
Disbursements: these are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Typical examples are as follows (subject to variation from time to time):
 

• HM Land Registry office copy document fee £3.00 (typically a freehold sale will incur fees of £6.00 and leasehold sales fees of £15.00)
• Electronic bank transfer fee to redeem any mortgage £25.00
• VAT payable on electronic bank transfer fee £5.00
• Electronic bank transfer fee to remit net sale proceeds to you £25.00
• VAT payable on electronic bank transfer fee £5.00

HOW LONG WILL MY HOUSE SALE TAKE? 
How long it will take from you accepting an offer to moving out of your existing house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between two and three months, but there can be substantial variations according to the individual circumstances of the case, and the intricacy of what is involved where there are several parties in the chain of transactions.

For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it should not be a lengthy process, but if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, since more than one legal firm will be involved. In such a situation additional charges would apply (see above).

STAGES OF THE PROCESS
The precise stages involved in the sale or purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, below we have suggested some key stages that you may wish to include:

Sale: Freehold
 

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice
• Provide you with the property information form and fittings and contents form for completion and return to us
• Issue draft contract package to the buyer’s solicitors together with completed property forms
• Deal with enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors
• Obtain further planning or other documentation if required in order to deal with the enquiries
• Agree completion date (date from which you will vacate your existing property)
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
• Obtain redemption statement from your lender (if applicable) and the commission account from the estate agent (if applicable)
• Complete sale
• Deal with the redemption of any mortgage and payment of any commission account
• Arrange to remit the net proceeds of sale to you 

There are certain occasions when it is necessary to pay for an indemnity policy, which will become apparent during the transaction (normally £100.00 - £200.00)

Sale: Leasehold 
All of the above and anticipated disbursements:

• Leasehold Property Enquiries Form (LPE1) – Arrange to obtain responses from the freeholder or managing agents who usually charge a fee. We will not know the amount of this fee until we make enquiries of the freeholder or managing agents. Once the fee is known, we will ask you to remit this amount to us.

You will be advised as soon as any of the above are known.

Our fee assumes that:
 

1. This is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction
2. This is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease
3. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complications arise
4. All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
5. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required

"Thank you for being so supportive in the last stages of my achieving  sole ownership status! It's a great feeling and you have helped me along the way."
Sam