At Wildings Solicitors we operate a fixed fee policy which is very transparent on all conveyancing transactions and these fees are quoted as accurately as possible at the beginning of a transaction.
All our clients are provided with a list of fees and timescales as detailed in our Client Care Letter which is verbally communicated to our clients when any quote is given as well as clearly provided in our Client Care Letter which is sent out at the start of the transaction to our clients which must be signed and returned to us. We do not have any extra or hidden fees unless otherwise agreed with you and if however during the course of the transaction new developments take place then our clients will be informed of any potential increase in fees and these must be agreed by you before any additional work is undertaken, we will discuss and arrange a meeting with you before any further work is undertaken on your matter.
FREEHOLD RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY FEES
Our legal fees to represent you in the purchase of a residential freehold property range between £595 to £1,250 plus VAT (charged at 20%).
The fee is dependent on the purchase price of the property/value and we adjust the fee accordingly to reflect the value of the property which is being purchased.
When a quotation is given to our clients we extract the relevant information that we can at the time of the quotation to give a fee which is as accurate as possible however during the transaction if it transpires that the fee was not correct or further work is required then we will make contact with our clients to adjust the fee with their agreement before any further work is undertaken.
The fee that we quote is a fixed fee and includes work done from the very start of the transaction to the very end. In a conveyancing transaction this will be from opening the file through to exchange, completion and ultimately, archiving the file and storing the file for a period of years as required legally. The fee which is given is also based on the following assumptions:-
- The property is freehold.
- The title to the property is not overly complicated and only consists of one legal title.
- The property is vacant.
- There are no unreasonable delays from third parties.
- No indemnity policies are required.
- We are instructed to act for you and your lender to complete the registration of the mortgage on your property with a typical high street lender.
DISBURSEMENTS
Disbursements are payments made to third parties which are required as part of your conveyancing transaction and we will inform you of the disbursements at the start of the transaction whenever a quote is given to you and as detailed in our Client Care Letter. The following disbursements will be applicable:-
- The search fees which include Local Authority Search, Water and Drainage Search and Environmental Search and these fees are £205 including VAT as currently provided by the search provider. If a Coal Mining Search is required then an additional fee of £40 including VAT would also be payable.
- Land Registration Fee payable to the Land Registry for registration of the property and these fees vary from as little as £20 to £500 (including VAT) depending on whether or not the property is registered with the Land Registry. If we need to make an electronic application the fee is significantly reduced. If a postal application is required the Land Registry then charge more for their services. We must state that at the time of providing the quotation this fee is given on the basis that the property is registered with the Land Registry as most properties in England and Wales are registered however if it transpires that the property is not registered with the Land Registry and a postal application is required then this fee will be adjusted and detailed in your Completion Statement however it’s a fee that must be paid to the Land Registry.
- HM Land Registry Searches consist of a Bankruptcy Search which is currently charged at £2 per person and depending on the amount of people who are buying the property a fee of £2 would be charged against each person (including VAT). Please also note that if any giftors are providing any purchase monies to you via a gift then your lender’s requirements may be that a Bankruptcy Search must be done against them. We also need to do an Official Search of priority which basically freezes the Title Register at the Land Registry for a period of 30 days so we are able to lodge our application with the Land Registry in a timely manner to prevent any third parties registering any charges or restrictions and the current fee for this is £3 per Official Search (including VAT).
- Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) payable on a property is varied in accordance to the purchase price of the property and also more recently is dependent on whether a person is buying the property as a first time buyer, moving homes or buying the property as an investment. Due to the current constant Government changes in Stamp Duty we use the HMRC website calculator and are able to give a quote for SDLT that is payable at the start of our quotation.
All the above costs are given at the start of the transaction and if any further fees are required then we will inform you accordingly and all the fees and costs as above are inclusive of VAT.
SERVICES AND TIMESCALES
Services
As explained above the service provided by us in any conveyancing transaction is a fixed fee and involves us conducting the work from the very initial stages of opening your file through to completion, registering your property with the Land Registry, paying the necessary Stamp Duty, registering the charge of your mortgage lender and providing to you upon completion your Completion of Registration together with any original guarantees and indemnity policies.
We will then close your file and send you a closing letter and then have the file archived in our storage facility in accordance to the statutory requirements as required by the Law Society.
Subject to the complexity of the case and your instruction your matter will be dealt with either by a partner (8+ years qualification/experience) with the assistance of an available solicitor (2 years qualification/experience) or by a qualified solicitor assisted by a trainee solicitor.
Timescales
The timescales on purchasing a property can vary however on average we usually find that this takes a period of 6-9 weeks providing that title to the property is not complicated, the property is registered with the Land Registry and movement throughout the chain from the vendor’s Solicitors, the vendors and any subsequent parties further down the chain is efficient and that there are no delays by any parties throughout the transaction.
STAGES OF A TYPICAL TRANSACTION
Although the various stages can differ in most transactions the following applies:-
- We will provide you with a detailed cost quotation at the start and if you are happy to proceed with the quotation we will get a file open for you and send you out initial Client Care Letters which you must return with your ID.
- Carry out a digital ID check to verify your identity and send an initial letter to the vendor’s Solicitors and the Estate Agents requesting the Contract Pack.
- Once we have obtained the Contract Pack from the vendor’s Solicitors we will conduct our enquiries on title and also apply for the relevant Searches which are required against your property.
- Upon receipt of all your enquiries and Searches and providing we are happy to proceed and that we feel as legal representatives for you there is no detriment in you purchasing the property then we will proceed and provide you with a written Report with the copies of all the title documents and Searches explained to you for your understanding.
- At this stage we should have received your Mortgage Offer which we will review and report to you.
- We will liaise with the relevant parties to obtain potential exchange and completion dates.
- We will then ask you to attend our offices to obtain your signature to the relevant documentation before exchange of contracts at which point you will sign all the legal documents when you attend our offices and also any queries in person which you may have.
- We will carry out pre-exchange Searches with the Land Registry and also have the file reviewed by a senior member of staff to ensure, as part of our quality checking procedure, that there are no irregularities.
- We will request the mortgage monies from your mortgage lender to ensure that they are received in a timely manner before completion and also ask you to submit your completion monies to us.
- We will then exchange contracts with a fixed completion date.
- Upon the day of completion we will remit the monies to the vendor’s Solicitors first thing in the morning and upon receipt of our funds they will authorise key release in which we will ask you to obtain keys from the Estate Agents or if it is a private arrangement, from the seller. Please note we do not get involved with any key arrangement.
- We will then attend to pay Stamp Duty on your behalf with HMRC and attend with the registration on the Land Registry. Please note that there are current delays with the Land Registry in registering the properties in England and Wales and as soon as the Completion of Registration is returned from them we will forward the same to you with any original documents, such as guarantees and indemnity policies and we will then proceed to close your file and have this archived with our storage facilities.
We must inform you that we cannot advise on any Tax or insolvency matters as this is a specialist area and should you require advice you will need to seek the services of a specialist.