Residential Property
The Cost of Conveyancing
• Buying or selling a property
• Transferring the property to a third party
• Refinancing of the property
There are several types of title to property which include:
• Freehold title
• Commonhold title
• Leasehold title
In each case you will have to pay us for dealing with the matter on your behalf and you will also have to pay the out-of-pocket expenses that relate to the transaction which are known as disbursements. These are payments which we will make on your behalf during the course of transaction and which are necessary for us to either investigate or deduce title to the property, or following the purchase of the property, complete the registration of title into your name.
The amount of our fees and some of the out-of-pocket expenses will vary according to the circumstances of each case and in particular relating to the value of the property concerned because many of the fees are charged by third parties according to the value of the property.
Atkinson Firth will provide you with a personal written estimate of the likely costs if you ring, email or call in to see us. We prefer to give our estimates in this way because it will enable us to understand exactly what the transaction involves, rather than applying a general rule which may be a disservice to you.
We are however obliged to give you an estimate on the basis of how we will charge you and therefore what the likely expenses are that you will incur.
The charges are calculated on the amount of work which we anticipate will be necessary. Charges may vary according to the value of the property, but are more likely to vary according to the complexity of the transaction, the number of parties involved, the source of funding, and the amount of work which we have to undertake to complete the transaction for you.
As a matter of principle we will not charge you separately for dealing with the work which is essential for the transaction itself. For example, you may be separately charged by other firms for preparing the stamp duty return form on a land transaction and submitting the Land Registry application. We will however charge you for transmitting funds to the other party because we will incur bank charges, and carrying out the necessary checks for anti-money laundering purposes.
The amount of the charges will vary according to the nature of the work which we are instructed to undertake for you, but in order that you can have a better understanding of the matter we set out below the basic charges of Atkinson Firth for doing the work.
Sales
Our basic fee for dealing with the sale of a house starts from £650 plus VAT plus in addition to out-of-pocket expenses. These will include the fee required to transfer funds to you at the end of the sale, office copy entries and anti-money laundering checks. On total, these will be in the region of £75.
Our basic fee for dealing with the sale of a flat however is significantly higher because of the amount of work which we have to undertake with the lease transactions with landlords and management companies. Our basic fee will therefore start at £1,100 plus VAT and any necessary out-of-pocket expenses shown below.
Please note that if the invoice for work done includes either a shared equity scheme or help to buy mortgage or ISA there may be a supplement of up to £150 plus VAT to the figures shown.
Purchases
Our basic fee for funding the purchase of any existing house starts at £650 plus VAT and any necessary out-of-pocket expenses shown below.
• Our basic fee for dealing with the purchase of an existing flat as opposed to newbuild flat starts at £1,100 plus VAT. In addition, there will be out of pocket expenses shown below.
• There will also be an additional fee if the flat is in development where the provisions of the Building Act 2020 apply, because there is a significant amount of additional work required for compliance purposes.
• Our basic fee for dealing with the purchasing of a newly built house will start at £750 plus VAT and any necessary out-of-pocket expenses shown below.
• Our basic fee in dealing with the purchasing of a newly built flat starts at £1,100 plus VAT with any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.
• If you purchase a property on a shared equity scheme, help to buy mortgage, or help to buy ISA, there will be an additional sum of £200 plus VAT to cover the additional work that is likely to be incurred.
Remortgages
Our basic fees for dealing with remortgages start at £500 plus VAT and out-of-pocket expenses shown below:
• If the property concerned is leasehold property than the basic fee will rise to £900 plus VAT
Transfers of Equity
Our basic fee for dealing with the transfer of equity of a house starts at £650 plus VAT and out-of-pocket expenses shown below.
Our basic fees for dealing with a transfer of equity for a flat starts at £900 with VAT and out-of-pocket expenses below:
• The out-of-pocket expenses incurred in selling a property where we need to obtain proof of ownership from the land registry. Starting cost is £8.40 per title but there may be additional documents required by the buyer and these will be at a further cost of £4.20 for each additional document.
• In addition, there will be a payment of a bank transfer fee of £51 per every bank transfer that we make to the chaps system.
• In addition, there will be anti-money laundering checks upon you which equates to £7.20 per individual.
Purchases and Mortgages
If you are buying a house or flat with a mortgage or remortgaging, we need to undertake for your lender preliminary searches of the local authority, coalmining authority, water authority, and environmental check, chancel check to see of chancel repair liability and other searches that may be required by your lender. The searches range in price between £240 and £375. If you do not need a mortgage, we would still advise you to undertake the searches or at least obtain no search insurance which will be the cost of in the region of a £100 - £150 depending on the value of the property you are to purchase.
Pre-Completion Searches
Pre-completion searches have to be taken to show that you are not a bank when you are purchasing the property and also against the existing owners. This cost in the region of £12.60 based on three searches. If you are buying the property from a limited company, there may also need to be company winding up search at the cost of £30 on the day of completion.
Land Registry Fees
Where there is a land transaction the land registry charge a scale fee depending upon the type of transaction and the fees range from £20 to £500.
We are happy to be more specific when giving you an estimate of cost.
Stamp Duty
Stamp duty may be payable on the purchase of property. This is a government tax payable on any form of land transaction.
The duty increases depending upon the value of the transaction.
There are limited exemptions.
We will estimate the duty when providing a formal estimate or quotation.