By Helen Goddard, Updated: Dec 2, 2019Conveyancing Fees Calculator - All-inclusive Quote
Conveyancing fees are the legal fees paid to a solicitor or conveyancer by a home buyer or seller.
Working out exactly what conveyancing will cost can be complicated. In addition to a myriad of potential legal fees, there are also disbursements to consider.
Conveyancing Fees
Your conveyancing fees for a property sale or purchase will usually be calculated with reference to:
- The price of the property
- Whether the property is freehold or leasehold
- Whether you are buying or selling with a mortgage
There are also a number of other considerations that can affect the cost of conveyancing, including:
- Is the property a new-build?
- Are you buying with Help to Buy?
- Are you purchasing a Right to Buy property?
Taking these factors into account, there is still a very wide range of conveyancing fees that different firms charge.
For the sale of a freehold property, some solicitors will only charge around £500 plus disbursements, whereas other firms will charge conveyancing fees that are two- or even three-times higher for exactly the same property transaction.
Price is also no guarantee of quality.
Some “high street” solicitors will quote what appear to be excessively high fees simply because, in their local area, that’s what people are willing to pay. The service offered by a high-priced firm may be identical to that offered by a firm quoting much cheaper fees.
To make things even more complicated, the conveyancing fees quoted by some firms may only seem cheaper, based on a misleadingly-low headline fee. The quoted conveyancing fee may not include everything that, according to SRA guidance and regulations, should be included in a standard conveyancing quote.
You can avoid these pitfalls by reading the small print of a conveyancing quote before you instruct to check for hidden fees (see below).
Disbursements
Disbursements are third-party costs that are incurred during the conveyancing process. With the exception of searches, disbursements should be fixed and should not vary from firm to firm (see quasi-disbursements below).
Examples of common disbursements include Stamp Duty paid to HMRC and registration fees paid to HM Land Registry.
Quasi-Disbursements
A ‘quasi-disbursement’ (not an official term) is a fee dressed up as a disbursement.
An example of this is the ‘Telegraphic Transfer Fee’ or ‘TT Fee’. The TT fee is usually described as the fee charged by the bank and passed on by the solicitor.
In reality, the bank usually charges the solicitor £2 to £3 - yet most solicitors charge between £25 and £45 - per transfer! There are usually 2 transfers per transaction so you could find yourself paying an extra £90 for this alone.
A recent article in Estate Agent Today revealed that "58 percent of respondents in the survey said they were ‘stung’ by higher than expected conveyancing costs of between £1,000 and £4,000".
Home buyers and sellers are often shocked to receive a conveyancing bill that is considerably more than the initial quote. Many solicitors charge extra for ‘additional work’ when this work is carried out on most or all conveyancing transactions.
For example, an extra fee, ranging from £50 to £150, will often be charged for completing the Stamp Duty Land Tax Return, This form must be completed on every purchase transaction and should therefore be transparently quoted up front.
Another example would be a fee charged for obtaining leasehold management information. Since the property’s tenure will be known from the outset and this information will always be required, it should not be charged as an additional or unforeseeable fee.
100% Guaranteed All-Inclusive Conveyancing Fees
At Quittance we believe that the price you are quoted is the price you should pay when you move.
Our conveyancing fees are fixed and all-inclusive for a standard conveyancing transaction.
