+44 (0)1737 851827

residential conveyancing

For many people the first contact they will have with a solicitor is when they are moving home.  This can be a stressful time, and usually involves a significant amount of money. So it makes sense to use our highly experienced property conveyancing team who are ready to help guide you through the process as smoothly as possible.
Deborah Phillips can offer an expert property service, keeping you in touch with the progress of your transaction in plain English.

 We can help you with:

  • sales and purchases
  • remortgages
  • leasehold extensions
  • right to buy

Our Conveyancing Department is led and supervised by Deborah Phillips who has over 15 years experience as a Licensed Conveyancer (which is a Specialist Property Lawyer) and a Commissioner for Oaths.  Deborah is supported by Molly Goldrick who is a Legal Executive with over 5 years experience.  All our support staff receive accredited legal training.

 

We deal with freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, voluntary lease extensions, re-mortgages and Right to Buy transactions.

 

All our staff are local and would be delighted to assist you with your move.

Fees

We promise we will be transparent with our fees throughout the transaction and you will not receive an unexpected Bill.

Our fees start from £1295.00 for a standard freehold sale and the average fee for a conveyancing transaction is in the region of £1,300.00

No property is exactly the same e.g. there could be a listed building we cannot give you a reliable cost until we have full details of the transaction.  This often does not come to light until the contract papers are received as even the Estate Agents do not know the full details of the property they are selling.  If one of our cases has an unexpected complication we fully discuss any further cost before they are incurred.  You will never receive an unexpected bill.

Our legal fees for a typical freehold purchase under £1 million are £1395.00 + VAT and disbursements with our average fee being in the region of £1200 to up to £5200 for historical listed buildings worth many millions.

We will always discuss any impact on price with you once we receive the contract papers.

 

We enclose a list of factors which could increase or affect the cost

1. An unregistered title

2. Defective title or more than one title

3. The need to update the title

4. Complex ownership structures

5. An expedited transaction

6. A gifted deposit

7. If we discover planning permissions and building regulations were not obtained

8. If critical documents are not provided

 

This list is not exhaustive.  We like to discuss your case with you as we like to get to know our clients personally and build a trusted relationship which we hope will last for many years to come.  Please call us to receive a detailed fee estimate.

Typical fees for a freehold purchase £500,000.00 purchase price standard Stamp Duty and mainstream lenders mortgage.

 

Referral Fees

We do pay referral/ introducer fees  from time to time with a number of estate agents and mortgage brokers which are advised in our Client Care Letter and which are paid from our marketing budget and do not impact on any fees paid by the client

 

VAT thereon
Cuff & Gough LLP – Legal fees 1095.00 219.00
Sundry administration fee (lawyer checker, bankruptcy searches, priority search, telephone calls, online stamp duty submission, online ID check, postage etc.) 75.00 15.00
Bank Admin Fee to send purchase money 40.00 8.00
Land Registry Fee 270.00 N/A
Stamp Duty at normal rate 15,000.00 N/A
Example Search costs (for Reigate & Banstead) to include Local search, Drainage search, Environment search and Plansearch Plus 227.07 45.41
Chancel Repair Indemnity Insurance 17.50 N/A

 

Indicators for additional fees

 

  • New Build – In the region of £700.00 + VAT depending on how the information is provided to us.
  • Gifted deposit – £125.00 + VAT
  • Freehold Managed Estate – £175.00 + VAT
  • Expedition fee if you require completion less than 10 working days from exchange of contracts £100.00 + VAT
  • Key Undertaking (e.g. if access is required between exchange and completion) – £95.00 + VAT
  • Deed of Covenant (if we are required to draft this) – £95.00 + VAT
  • Statutory Declaration – £150.00 + VAT
  • If you are having a mortgage and we are instructed to act on behalf of the lender you will be responsible for our legal fees for this work which are £175 + VAT
  • If you are selling a property and we are instructed to act on behalf of your lender you will be responsible for our legal fees for this work which are £100 + VAT

 

We take £350.00 on account on a purchase file to cover the cost of searches which are invoiced as a legal cost in accordance with new rules from HMRC.  We take £150.00 on account for a sale.

 

Abortive Transactions

 

We hope that your transaction will progress without any delay but should you withdraw from the transaction we reserve the right to charge abortive legal fees for the work carried out to date.  These are reviewed on a case by case basis as to the circumstances, the amount of work carried out and as to whether you are buying or selling another property with us.

 

New Rules on Insurance Distribution 1st October 2018

Often during conveyancing transactions an Indemnity Insurance is required to cover various faults or omissions in documents available.

Under the new rules on insurance distribution of 1st October 2018 we are obliged to make the following disclosure:

  • We are regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
  • We are an insurance intermediary in providing indemnity insurance in conveyancing transactions.
  • We do not receive any incentive or commission from the indemnity insurance industry.
  • We cannot manufacture indemnity insurance products.
  • We have no contractual obligation with any indemnity insurance provider.
  • We do not search whole of market when indemnity insurance is required.
  • We generally use Countrywide Legal Indemnity Insurance as in our experience they offer a wide range of indemnity policies covering most common conveyancing issues and are lender compliant.
  • The demands and needs statement will always be provided with the policy to confirm we have identified the policy meets your needs.

 

GDPR 2018

 

At the outset of the transaction we will write to you separately regarding GDPR requirements.  Conveyancing is a regulated activity and as such we have a legal obligation to hold your Identification and proof of funds documentation for 5 years following the end of our business relationship which is kept is secure legal archive storage.  This is in addition to any document retention required by your lender (if applicable).

 

Terms of Business

 

A copy of our Conveyancing Terms and Conditions of Business are attached.

Terms of Business – 26th November 2018