Residential Conveyancing Costs

Residential Conveyancing Costs

This firm’s fees for residential sales and purchases are fixed prices calculated in accordance with the following table and are subject to VAT at the rate applicable at the time (currently 20%):

Price	Fee (+VAT)	Fee including VAT
Up to £200,000	£700	£840
£200,001 – 300,000	£850	£1,020
£300,001 – 400,000	£975	£1,170
£400,001 – 500,000	£1,150	£1,380
£500,001 – 600,000	£1,250	£1,500
£600,001 – 700,000	£1,350	£1,620
£700,001 – 800,000	£1,450	£1,740
£800,001 – 900,000	£1,550	£1,860
£900,001 – 1,000,000	£1,600	£1,920

For higher value properties please contact us for a quote

Add to the above figures

• £200+VAT (£240 including VAT) if the property is leasehold
• £150+VAT (£180 including VAT) if the property is a new build

If you are being granted a Shared Ownership Lease our fee is £1,200+VAT (£1,440 including VAT) instead of the figure shown in the above table (Shared Ownership leases are more complicated than a straight forward purchase)

In addition to the above fees if you are having a mortgage upon the property you are buying there is an additional charge of £150+VAT (£180 including VAT) for the extra work we are involved in in respect of that (unless it is a Help to Buy mortgage in which case the fee is £200+VAT (£240 including VAT))

If you have a Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA we charge £50+VAT (£60 including VAT) per person in connection with those

We also charge £30+VAT (£36 including VAT) for each bank transfer which we do for you (eg on a purchase transferring the price to the sellers solicitors and on a sale repaying any existing mortgage and accounting to you for any balance)

In addition to this firms fees there are a number of other costs which you will be liable for:

Upon a sale

• official copies obtained from the Land Registry of your ownership certificate for which the Land Registry charge £6
• office copies obtained from the Land Registry of any document referred to in the title registers for which the Land Registry charge £3 per document

Upon a purchase

• stamp duty (see below)
• Land Registry fee (see below)
• search fees approximately £300

Stamp Duty (now called Stamp Duty land Tax)

A number of factors have to be taken into account to determine the amount of stamp duty payable:

• the purchase price
• if one of the buyers is resident outside the UK (which for stamp duty in essence is someone who has been out of the UK for more than 6 of the preceding 12 months)
• if all the buyers are first time buyers (which for stamp duty means someone who has never owned or part owned a property anywhere in the world whether they purchased that property or share or were given it or inherited it)
• if one of the buyers already owns or part owns a property anywhere in the world which they are keeping
• if the purchase is being taken in the name of a limited company or a trust

There is a stamp duty calculator on the government website which you will find useful to determine the amount of stamp duty you will pay which you can find at www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

Land Registry fee

This is a fee charged by the Land Registry to register you as the new owner of the property you have bought and includes registering any mortgage which you may have taken out over that property

There are 2 figures shown in the table below.  Column 1 is the figure usually payable but the fee in column 2 is charged by the Land Registry if either the title to the property was not registered with the Land Registry prior to your purchase in which case it has to be registered for the first time after you have bought it (this now applies to fewer and fewer properties but unregistered titles are still seen) or you are buying only part of the property to which the seller is registered

The fees for the Anti Money Laundering Search (£5+VAT per person (£6 including VAT)) and for the water/Drainage Search Environmental Search and Chancel Repair Liability Search (£105.55+VAT(£126.66 including VAT)) are the only payments listed above which are subject to VAT.  No VAT is chargeable upon Stamp Duty Land Registry fees or the fee for the local search

Our fees as set out above includes all the work required to complete your sale and purchase.  On a purchase it includes checking the Seller’s title undertaking and checking the results all necessary and sensible searches raising enquiries of the Seller’s solicitors arising upon any of the papers advising you of any covenants or rights to which the property is subject advising you upon the terms of the lease (if the property is leasehold) completing your new mortgage (if you are having one) completing the purchase and dealing with the stamping and Land Registry formalities to have you registered as the new owner at the Land Registry after completion.  On a sale it includes obtaining evidence of your title sending a contract package to the Buyer’s solicitors dealing with any enquiries those solicitors might raise completing the sale and redeeming your outstanding mortgage (should you have one)

What is not included in the above fees are (a) any tax advice (save for calculating the amount of stamp duty you will have to pay and alerting you to the possibility of your having to pay Capital Gains Tax if (for example) you are selling a property which is not your main home)) (b) the preparation of a Declaration of Trust (a document which records specific arrangements joint owners may have come to about their ownership) or (c) the preparation of any additional documents the need for which is identified during the course of the transaction (eg Deed of Easement where rights are required over an adjoining property which are not already set out in the title)

We realise that you would want to know from the outset how long your sale or purchase might take.  It is very difficult to give any indication because timing is affected by so many factors outside of your and our control eg when mortgage offers are issued whether you are in a chain (it is important to remember that with a chain everyone needs to be ready at the same time so you are always working to the slowest person or transaction in the chain) and whether other difficulties are identified.  It is reasonable however to anticipate 2 to 3 months from acceptance of offer to completion of sale or purchase (conversely of course a person buying an empty property for cash would expect that particular transaction to be completed quicker than that)

All conveyancing is undertaken or supervised within our offices by fully qualified solicitors all of whom have been dealing with residential conveyancing since they qualified as solicitors (Ralph Freeman and Paul Huskinson in the Cambridge office qualified in May 1971 and March 1984 respectively and Roger Covell and Stephanie Cumberland in the Cottenham office qualified in December 1981 and October 1983 respectively)