Fixed Fee Conveyancing

• Property price - if it is an undervalue property then give the full market price as if it was being sold on the open market.
• Tenure - a solicitor's fee is higher for a leasehold or share of freehold because there is more work to do.
• Mortgage - dealing with a mortgage lender takes more time and makes the quote higher.
• Schemes - Help to Buy, Right to Buy, Shared Ownership, Discount Market Sale - these all take longer to complete and the solicitor will charge a much higher fixed quote.
• Postcode of the property - some areas require coal mining searches

• Buying
• Selling
• Remortgage
• Transfer of Equity
• Shared Ownership Staircasing
• Help to Buy Equity Loan Repayment

Fixed Fee Conveyancing	No Sale No Fee	CQS Accredited Solicitors	On all mortgage lender panels	Rated Excellent on Trustpilot

Will fixed price conveyancing quotes go up?

1
Estimate, not a quote - An estimate is not fixed, whereas a quote is.
2
Incorrect information - If you provide incorrect information when getting a quote, for example stating a property is freehold instead of leasehold, will mean your original fixed fee is incorrect.

What is Fixed Fee Conveyancing?

Fixed fee conveyancing is as it sounds - your property lawyer firm presents you with a quote which is guaranteed to be what you pay on completion with no hidden extras. You request a quote from them, giving them essential details such as whether you're buying a freehold or a leasehold; using a mortgage or buying with cash, how much the property you're buying - or selling - costs and whether you're using a scheme such as Help to Buy or Shared Ownership, and your quote is calculated using these - and possibly other - parameters.

As referred to, you need to research carefully what is covered within the quote, however the best price conveyancing quotes will provide for all the legal services you'll need to complete your purchase.

Some firms might charge extra if you're using a gifted deposit as part of a purchase (our solicitors do not), but even in this case, the matter is covered from the outset and your charge is included within the quote you're offered.

Normally you pay a portion of your total bill upfront - your deposit - and you only have to pay the balance of your fees once you've completed.

The advantages are clear: you know how much you have to budget for from the outset and even if things are protracted or become complicated, you don't have to worry about your fees increasing. 

For most services, solicitors charge 'on the clock', which means you have to pay them an hourly rate for their time. This is still the case when you take up an estimated conveyancing quote. There, the potential problem is that although your initial estimate might be lower than for a fixed price conveyancing, it never stays at this initial level as 'extras' are added on as your conveyancing continues.

If your conveyancing encounters any serious complications, such as exhaustive enquiries having to be made, your bill continues to rise, possibly to frightening levels.

So given the sheer number and magnitude of costs involved in buying or selling a home (or both), fixed price conveyancing fees allow you to cap one essential cost and defer having to pay in full for it until your move has completed.

What should a conveyancing quote include as standard?

A conveyancing quote should include, for the fee quoted, all legal work involved in your conveyancing and any standard disbursements.

Disbursements are funds paid to third parties on your behalf. In conveyancing terms, this includes, for example, payment of your land tax to HMRC or transferring your deposit funds to the otherside solicitor for payment to the seller or transferring your purchase funds to a receiving bank.

Are fixed conveyancing fees fully fixed?

A quote should be set from the outset to include all the legal services you'll need to complete your conveyancing should be included in your quote and you should end up paying exactly that figure and no more once your move has completed.

Your quote provider should have asked you about all the particular details that make up your particular conveyancing - let's say for example you want to exercise your Right to Buy your council house or buy a shared ownership property - and factored these to provide you with an all-in figure.

You should be aware, however, that conveyancing third party costs can vary. If you're selling a leasehold property, for example, you have to pay for a leasehold pack from your management company and this can vary greatly in price. Your quote never normally covers this kind of fee.

Searches are another common third party cost, however our solicitors can advise you on how much these cost from the outset as well.

From time to time, however, you might need to change the nature of your conveyancing or require a service which you didn't discuss when you first requested a quote. You might, for example, want an additional telegraphic transfer - perhaps to divert the proceeds of a sale to a third party - and you would then be charged a small additional fee.

This occurrence is likely to be very rare, however. The best solicitors for buying a home will ensure that, as much as possible, they've found out everything you'll reasonably require at the beginning and your quote will reflect that.

Here are some extra charges to watch out for that get added on top of online estimates:

• One firm quoted £30 extra for an 'HMLR Electronic Application Fee'. What this firm is doing is charging clients £30 extra for updating the Land Registry online. While the LR must be updated and paid for by purchasers in all cases, it is cheaper to do it online than by post - by 50%. It is also relatively simple to do and a standard procedure. At the very least it should form part of the core legal fee quote.
• Another quoted £20 extra twice for 'Telegraphic Transfer Fees' for both sale and purchase. These are a requirement in every purchase and nearly every sale. Why would the firm not simply include these charges in the core fee?
• One firm had an item 'E Conveyancer fee' and charged £25 extra for it.
• One firm charged £23 extra for a 'Lawyer Checker/Lender Monitor'. This is ostensibly to carry out due diligence on the otherside solicitor.

It is a moot point in most scenarios whether a lawyer would need to conduct this check on another professional and in many cases, they will already know either the firm they're dealing with or the conveyancing solicitor or both. Failing this, it's a very simple matter to investigate using the websites of either the Law Society or the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.