Solicitors fees for buying a house - Fixed Fee Pledge:
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- Money laundering checks for proof of funds
- Negotiation of the seller's contract terms
- Review the legal documents from the seller and raise legal enquiries
- (If Leasehold) Raise enquiries regarding the lease***
- Review mortgage offer and reply to any of the lender's enquiries
- Raise enquires on issues flagged within the 'Legal Advisor' section of the Building Survey or HomeBuyer Report - please note the solicitor doesn't review or comment on any other part of the report. You should speak to your surveyor for further clarification.
- Order conveyancing searches (Property), advise on additional searches required (such as mining and report on the results of the Local Authority Search
- One bank transfer fee for sending completion money on a purchase
- Provide a detailed report on the property being purchased based on the information received by the solicitor
- Execute the exchange of contracts
- Execute completion
- File stamp duty land tax return to HMRC
- Registering the property at the Land Registry
- (If Leasehold) Paying any service charges and ground rent
- (If Leasehold) Paying the notice fee to the landlord's solicitor
* Fixed Fee – No Sale No Fee – On all Mortgage Lender Panels - CQS Solicitors Firm
Solicitors fees for selling a house or flat:
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- Submitting protocol forms for you to complete
- Preparation of draft contracts
- Issuing contracts to the buyer's solicitors
- Reply to legal enquiries
- (If Leasehold) Obtain leasehold information pack***
- Contacting your mortgage lender and obtaining your redemption statement
- One bank transfer fee for sending completion money on a purchase
- Provide a detailed report on the property being purchased based on the information received by the solicitor
- Execute the exchange of contracts
- Execute completion
- Discharge the mortgage
- Send deeds and other documents to the buyer's solicitor
* Fixed Fee – No Sale No Fee – On all Mortgage Lender Panels - CQS Solicitors Firm
We do not charge extra solicitor fees for:
- Postage and administration
- Telephone calls or email replies (read our service agreement between both of us)
- If the conveyancing takes a long time to exchange
- Handling gifted deposit enquiries if the money comes from England
- Receiving money from you
- Storage of your file post completion
Work related to New Build, Help to Buy Equity Loan, Right to Buy and Shared Ownership Schemes is included within our fixed fee (subject to being informed when providing our original quote - see below)
If you tell us then we'll make sure it is included in your fixed fee:
- * If you are buying or selling and there is a mortgage lender involved this needs to be declared to us on instruction so we can include this work within our standard legal fee. If this is not declared and it is subsequently found out that there is a mortgage then an additional fee of £60 INC VAT will be applied to your standard legal fee.
- ** If you are buying or selling using Right to Buy, Help to Buy or Shared Ownership then this needs to be declared to us on instruction so we can include the additional work required within our standard legal fee. If this is not declared and it is subsequently found out that you are using one of these schemes then an additional fee of £180 INC VAT will be applied to your standard legal fee.
- *** If you are buying or selling a leasehold property this needs to be declared to us on instruction so we can include this work within our standard legal fee. If this is not declared and it is subsequently found out that the property being sold or purchased is a leasehold or a share of freehold then an additional fee of £150 INC VAT will be applied to your standard legal fee.
- **** If you are buying and there is a Help to Buy ISA to be redeemed then this needs to be declared to us on instruction so we can include this work within our standard legal fee. If this is not declared and it is subsequently found out that there is a Help to Buy ISA then an additional fee of £60 INC VAT will be applied to your standard legal fee.
Solicitors fees for transfer of equity:
Inform us if you also need us to handle a remortgage and we will include the cost for this within our fixed price
- Client ID checks
- (if any money is changing hands) Money laundering checks for proof of funds
- Completes satisfactory title checks for mortgage purposes - does not review the legal title to report to client on any other issues
- The Official Copy of the Register of Title are obtained from the Land Registry
- Pre-Completion checks
- Receive signed ID1 form
- One bank transfer fee for sending completion money
- Execute completion
- File stamp duty land tax return to HMRC
- Registering the new owners at the Land Registry
- (if mortgage*) Liaises with mortgage lender to confirm their consent to transfer
- (if mortgage*) Reviews the mortgage offer
- (if mortgage*) Orders Mortgage statement for current mortgage and sends mortgage deed for signature
- (if mortgage*) Orders the Local Authority Search indemnity
- (if leasehold***) Liaises with the Freeholder to confirm their consent to transfer
- (if leasehold***) Gets Notice to complete from the Freeholder
*Fixed Fee – Fast Completions – On all Mortgage Lender Panels
Solicitors fees for remortgage:
Inform us what the purpose of the remortgage is for
- Client ID checks
- (if reducing mortgage amount) Money laundering checks for proof of funds
- Request Official Copy of the Register of Title are obtained from the Land Registry, and (if leasehold) copy of the lease
- Review mortgage offer
- Order local authority search or indemnity insurance
- Get mortgage deed signed by client
- Pre-Completion checks - Send off the certificate of title and obtain OS1 & Bankruptcy check
- Obtain current mortgage redemption statement
- One bank transfer fee for sending completion money
- Execute completion
- Registering the mortgage at the Land Registry
- (if leasehold***) Liaises with the Freeholder to confirm new mortgage
- (if leasehold***) Gets Notice to complete from the Freeholder
*Fixed Fee – Fast Completions – On all Mortgage Lender Panels
Solicitors fees for staircasing:
- Client ID checks
- Money laundering checks for proof of funds
- Request Official Copy of the Register of Title are obtained from the Land Registry, and copy of the lease
- Review the memorandum of staircasing
- Register a copy of the memorandum of staircasing at the Land Registry
- Liaise with Housing Association
- Obtain current mortgage redemption statement
- Pre-Completion checks - Send off the certificate of title and obtain OS1 & Bankruptcy check
- One bank transfer fee for sending completion money
- Execute completion
- File stamp duty land tax return form to HMRC
- Registering the mortgage at the Land Registry
- (if remortgage*) Review mortgage offer
- (if remortgage*) Order local authority search or indemnity insurance
- (if remortgage*) Completes satisfactory title checks for mortgage purposes - does not review the legal title to report to client on any other issues
- (if remortgage*) Get mortgage deed signed by client
- (if leasehold***) Liaises with the Freeholder to confirm new mortgage
- (if leasehold***) Gets Notice to complete from the Freeholder
*Fixed Fee – Work with All Housing Associations – On all Mortgage Lender Panels
Additional Legal Work
Our solicitors can help you with more than just standard conveyancing work. Please ask us if you need any help with any of the following:
- Drafting a will - We can draft you a will for £180 INC VAT (per will);
- Drafting a tenancy agreement - We can draft you a Assured Tenancy Agreement for £299 INC VAT;
- Drafting a deed of covenant - We can draft you a deed of covenant for £240 INC VAT;
- Deed of variation to a lease - Fee agreed based on what is being varied;
- Drafting an occupier consent form - We can draft an occupier consent form for £180 INC VAT;
- Drafting a Deed of Trust - We can draft a basic deed of trust for £180 INC VAT
- Lease extension work for either the seller or the buyer - We can help with a lease extension at a cost of £600 INC VAT for a section 42 notice and £720 INC VAT for the registration and reviewing of the new lease.
- Collective enfranchisement work
If you would like us to undertake any of the above then we can help. Call us on 0333 344 3234 and we'll provide you with a fixed fee quote for the additional work.
What should 'fixed fee conveyancing' include?
Fixed fee conveyancing 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.
The devil in the detail
SAM Conveyancing searched for fixed fee conveyancing solicitors on Google, found one firm high up the rankings and keyed in information to receive a sample sale and purchase quote.
- 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 fixed 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.
Hidden in the Terms & Conditions...
A look at the Terms and Conditions of many apparently fixed fee conveyancing solicitors reveals more about how those fixed fees can vary during the course of your conveyancing.
One firm noted that fees quoted were 'based on a standard residential conveyancing transaction' and gave notice that 'supplementary fees' will be charged according to the individual matter. As there was no ensuing definition of what a standard residential conveyancing transaction is, it leaves room for charging extra, begging the question.
Firms pass on charges they receive from landlords or management companies (for leasehold properties) to you but beyond stating that they do this, many do not set out whether they add an additional charge on top.
Other extras
Costs such as photocopying and postage are usually deemed to be just normal overheads of running a law firm. Should a case require copying many documents, such as more than 1000 pages and ensuing postage charges, it is reasonable for the firm to make a charge for these.
Some fixed fee conveyancing solicitor firms have been known to impose additional charges for relatively small amounts of photocopying, scanning and postage. Once again, the fixed fee concept comes into question.
It is best practice from the outset for a firm of fixed fee conveyancing solicitors to ask as many questions required to formulate an accurate quote. It is perfectly reasonable, for example, to expect to pay more for leasehold conveyancing and cases involving a mortgage because these require more work, but this should be clearly shown in the breakdown of the quote.
How do you avoid being unexpectedly overcharged?
- Regard any lack of transparency as a definite 'red flag' when comparing quotes.
- Examine the individual items on the quote and if you have any doubts, ask the firm at least to explain why an item is on the quote.
- At least a cursory glance at the Terms & Conditions is also to be recommended. If words indicate that you may be charged for something, you probably will.
Despite some firms stretching the definition of what constitutes a fixed fee, we would still say that in all cases you are better off with one. Unfixed quotes, most often advertised with a ridiculously low teaser starting figure, give you no transparent information for comparison with other quotes and you will make yourself a hostage to fortune - as well as a potentially heart-stoppingly large final bill.
