Purchase of a Freehold Residential Property

Download PDF

Purchase of a Freehold Residential Property

Our fees cover all of 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) it the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

Conveyancer's fees and disbursements

• Legal fee for property up to £1m - £995 plus VAT to £1250 plus VAT depending on the complexity
• Legal fee for property over £1m - 0.2% plus VAT
• Mortgage related transaction an additional £100 plus VAT to £175 plus VAT depending on the mortgage provider
• Electronic money transfer fee £40 plus VAT
• Deed of Gift - £75 plus VAT
• VAT payable 20%

Disbursements are costs related to your transaction that are payable to third parties, such as search fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Disbursements are not included in our fee ranges, however, these typically include:

• Land Registry fee: £20 - £455 (Depending on purchase price and whether online registration can be used)
• Search fees: £173 - £280
• VAT only payable where shown

Stamp Duty or Land Tax

This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using the HMRC's website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority's website. Alternatively, we are of course happy to check this for you.

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. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complications arise
3. All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
4. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

Purchase Overview

Stage 1:

Initial Instructions from you

We will send you an estimate of the legal costs and disbursements and some initial forms about you and your transaction to complete. We request that you provide copies of your ID documents and that you pay a sum of monies on account for searches. Once we have received your completed forms, ID documents and funds on account we can commence the legal work. You should contact the selling agent to let them have our details and they will issue a memorandum of sale accordingly. You should also arrange any.

Stage 2:

Draft Contract

Once we are fully instructed, we will request the draft contract papers from the Seller’s solicitor and on receipt of the papers we will request the usual conveyancing searches. The searches can take approximately 2 to 3 weeks to be returned to us.

Stage 3:

Additional Enquiries

Whilst awaiting the search results, we will review the draft contract papers and if there are any gaps in the information provided, or any matters that require further investigation, we shall raise additional enquiries with the Seller’s solicitor. The Seller’s solicitor may need to refer the enquiries to their client or managing agents/landlord before providing full replies. This part of the transaction can take approximately 2 to 3 weeks depending on the number of enquiries raised.

Stage 4:

Reporting to you before exchange

Once the Seller’s solicitor has replied to all enquiries in full, we will send you a report on title together with the legal documents for signing and mortgage deed (if applicable). If you are happy to exchange contracts, we shall request that you transfer the 10% deposit when returning your signed documents.

Stage 5:

Exchange of contracts

When we are in receipt of your signed documents and deposit, we will contact the Seller’s solicitor to carry out the exchange of contracts. The transaction becomes legally binding on exchange of contracts and the completion date is fixed. We will request your mortgage advance (if applicable) and send you a completion statement confirming the balance due from you to complete and request that you send funds in good time for completion.

Stage 6:

Completion

On the completion date We transfer the purchase monies to the Seller’s solicitor who, upon receipt of funds, will authorise the estate agent to release the keys to you. We will contact you to let you know once completion has taken place so that you can arrange the collection of keys with the estate agent. There is no fixed time for completion but often it is around midday to 1pm.

Hot Tip:

Pack your kettle last so it is the first thing you can unpack after moving in. You can enjoy a hot brew whilst thinking about unpacking the rest of your items. It doesn’t hurt to have biscuits too!

Hopefully this overview helps with your understanding of the process. There are many factors out of our control so any timescales referred to are estimates only, actual timescales will vary from transaction to transaction. Please do not panic if you have not heard from us for a week or two during stages 2 and 3, your transaction is still getting our full attention and we will update you as soon as we have any updates.

Purchase Overview PDF