Sale or Purchase of a residential property
Cost
Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the sale of your current home or your 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) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.
Our fee varies according to the value to the property, whether it is freehold or leasehold and whether there are other circumstances such as shared ownership, Help to buy ISA drawdown and whether you need a Deed of Trust.
The following are indicative of the fees we charge on a straightforward transaction at £995,000 or less, but we can only give you a firm estimate when we know the full circumstances of your sale or purchase. Please speak to one of our conveyancers to request an estimate.
| Sale of freehold property | £1,100 + £220 VAT |
| Sale of Leasehold property | £1,200 + £240 VAT |
| Purchase of freehold property | £1,100 + £220 VAT |
| Purchase of leasehold property | £1,200 + £240 VAT |
| Additional items | |
| Help to Buy ISA drawdown | £50 + £10 VAT |
| Basic Deed of Trust | £75 + £15 VAT |
| Fee for electronic money transfer | £30 + £6 VAT for each transfer |
In addition to our fees you will also have to pay disbursements and, on a purchase, Stamp Duty Land Tax and Land Registry fees.
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
On a leasehold property sale you will have to pay a fee to the managing agents for supplying information about the management of the building and the service charges. On a leasehold property purchase you may have to pay a fee to the managing agents to registering you in their records as the new owner of the property. There is no standard scale of charges for fees levied by managing agents and we will not know what they are until your sale or purchase is underway.
Stamp Duty or Land Tax (on purchase)
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website here. https://beta.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-calculator
The Land Registry fee is also price dependent and can be calculated using HM Land Registry’s table of fees here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees
How long will my house sale or purchase take?
How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. The average sale or purchase takes about two months if there is no chain.
Non-standard transactions take longer. For example, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, up to six months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply.
If there is a chain of transactions it will almost certainly take longer because you can only proceed at the speed of the slowest transaction in the chain.
Stages of the process
The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. The key stages of most conveyancing transactions are:
- Take your instructions and give you initial advice
- Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
- Receive and advise on contract documents
- Carry out searches
- Obtain further planning documentation if required
- Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor
- Give you advice on all documents and information received
- Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
- Send final contract to you for signature
- Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
- Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
- Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
- Complete purchase
- Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
- Deal with application for registration at Land Registry