Fees
Residential Purchase Transaction Costs
Our residential property purchase conveyancing costs for properties up to £400,000*:
| Service | Fees |
|---|---|
| Our legal fee for conveyancing** | £2,250 plus VAT |
| Our fee for dealing with leasehold management enquiries | £350 plus VAT |
| Our fee for dealing with freeholder enquiries | £350 plus VAT |
| Acting for lender fee (per lender)*** | £400 plus VAT |
| SDLT documentation fee | £100 plus VAT |
| Administration fee | £75 plus VAT |
| Arranging funds transfer per transfer**** | £50 plus VAT |
| Lender’s portal fee, if applicable | £30 Plus VAT |
| Digital ID verification (per ID) | £30 plus VAT |
| Source of fund verification (per source) | £30 plus VAT |
| Company verification (per verification) | £50 plus VAT |
* Please ask for a quote for a property purchased for a price over £400,000.
**The above quoted fee is applicable to smooth non-contentious conveyancing transactions only and this will cover investigating the title, dealing with a sale contract, preparing/dealing with a Transfer, conducting and perusing searches, raising enquires and additional enquires, dealing with replies, reporting title, raising requisitions on Title, 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. You will be charged a further fee at our hourly rates at £250 plus VAT per hour if this matter is complex or it requires additional work including, but not limited to, dealing with additional mortgages, auctioned properties, Help to Buy scheme, shared ownership, preparing and dealing with gift deeds, preparing letters for the accountant or advising on the accountant letters, preparing deeds of covenants, dealing with rent charge issues, carrying out additional money laundering compliance checks on the source and proof of funds, verifying multiple accounts or complex transactions or source of funds is from outside the UK, dealing with defects in title which are required to remedying prior to completion, new leases, additional leaseholds, variation of leases, head leases, superior leases, more than one titles, a separate title for garage, dealing with unregistered titles, possessory titles, tenancy enquiries, dealing with restrictive covenants, preparing and dealing with Land Registry forms other than Form AP1, obtaining consents, removal of restrictions, discharging charges, dealing with planning and building regulation issues, preparing and dealing with indemnity insurances, reviewing your survey report and raising enquires on dilapidations of the property, etc.
*** The above quoted acting for lender fee will only cover the work we carry out for the normal high street lenders. If you chose different lenders, where the lender wants to use their own solicitors, you will have to pay the lender’s solicitors’ fee and our fee for additional work that the lender/lender’s solicitors want us to carry out. Also, please note an additional fee will be charged if you change the lender or you obtain the loan from more than one lender to complete your purchase. Please let us know if there will be more than one lender. Please also note that if you arrange a loan facility from a nonstandard mortgage/loan such as bridging finance, small or nonhigh street lenders, Islamic financing, private financing, etc, our charges will depend on the amount of work the lender/lender’s solicitors require us to carry out. There will be an additional charge if you rely on more than one lender and/or if you are relying on the Help to Buy scheme to buy your property.
**** Please be advised that arranging funds Transfer fees will include any bank charges, however, the quoted fee would not cover international transfers.
Disbursements:
Please note that disbursements are not included in our fees or fixed and should be paid in addition to our fees. Disbursements are further incidental expenses/costs (plus VAT (where applicable)) which need to be paid to the third parties on your behalf such as Land Registry fees, Stamp Duty and Land Tax, Searches, Lawyer Checker, management company fees, freeholder fees, etc. However, we would advise you before incurring any disbursements on your behalf.
Please note, that we do not charge VAT on payments to third parties as disbursements, however, you will be responsible for paying the third party’s VAT if they are registered to charge VAT. We will outlay exact amounts separately for the itemised third-party payments in our invoices as disbursements.
We have listed below the most common and frequently used disbursements; however, further disbursements may apply depending on the nature of your conveyancing transaction and requirements of your lender.
| Disbursements & other charges: | Fees |
|---|---|
| Searches ***** | £250 |
| Stamp Duty ****** | Please see below |
| Bankruptcy Search (per name) | £2.00 |
| Land Registry search (per search) | £3.00 |
| Land Registry Fee (electronic submission) ******* | Please see below |
| Company search (per search) | £50 plus VAT |
| Lawyer Checker (per search) | £20 |
***** The above-quoted search fee is estimated only and covers personal Local Authority search, Water & Drainage Search, Environment Search and no chancel search indemnity. The search fee may increase depending on your lender as some of the lenders do not accept personal searches in that event, we have to do an official search with the relevant local authority. If the above searches reveal any further risks, we may have to commence further searches such as coal mining, High-Speed rail, etc., and you will have to incur further costs towards these disbursements.
****** Stamp Duty and Land Tax (SDLT) will be applicable at the prevailing rates on the purchase transactions based on the purchase price and the purchaser (s) personal circumstances. You can calculate the Stamp using the SDLT Calculator on the HMRC Website: Click here
******* Land Registry fee will be applicable based on the purchase price and registered or unregistered title of the property. You can find the information of the amount that you will need to pay from the HM Land Registry Website: Click Here
Conveyancing Process / Timescale:
The whole transaction may take anything between 6-12 weeks or less depending on the complexity of the matter, whether there is a chain, other party’s cooperation, the timescale to get searches and how long it takes for you to obtain your mortgage offer.
EXCHANGE & COMPLETION: Until the formal exchange of contracts takes place none of the parties are bound to go ahead with the sale/purchase. On exchange, we will send your signed contracts to the seller’s solicitors. You will then be legally bound to complete on the date agreed in the contract and cannot change your mind. We will of course agree on the completion date with you before the exchange. If you fail to complete on the fixed date, interest is payable and the other parties’ losses may be claimed from you.
It is of course important not to make any commitments regarding your removals until we have informed you that the contracts have been exchanged.
Residential Sale Transaction Costs:
Our residential property sale conveyancing costs for properties up to £400,000 *
| Services | Fees |
|---|---|
| Our legal fee for Conveyancing ** | £2,000 plus VAT |
| Our fee for dealing with leasehold management enquiries | £350 plus VAT |
| Our fee for dealing with freeholder enquiries | £350 plus VAT |
| Administration fee | £75 plus VAT |
| Our fee for dealing with the redemption of a mortgage (per mortgage) | £350 plus VAT |
| Arranging funds transfer per transfer *** | £50 plus VAT |
| Digital ID verification (per ID) | £30 plus VAT |
| Company verification (per verification) | £50 plus VAT |
* Please ask for a quote for a property purchased for a price over £400,000.
**The above quoted fee is applicable to smooth non-contentious conveyancing transactions only and this will cover obtaining title copies, investigating the title, preparing and dealing with a sale contract, preparing/dealing with a Transfer, advising you on the completion of protocol forms, replying enquiries and additional enquiries, providing replies to requisitions on Title, correspondence and communication with the purchaser’s solicitors. You will be charged a further fee at our hourly rates at £250 plus VAT per hour if this matter is complex or it requires additional work including, but not limited to, but not limited to, preparing deeds of covenants, dealing with rent charge issues, if the property has additional titles, variation of leases, head leases, superior leases, more than one titles, a separate title for garage, dealing with unregistered titles, possessory titles, management/freeholder enquiries, tenancy enquiries, dealing with restrictive covenants, preparing and dealing with Land Registry forms, obtaining consents, removal of restrictions, discharging charges, dealing with planning and building regulation issues, preparing and dealing with indemnity insurances, dealing with enquiries on dilapidations of the property, etc.
*** Please be advised that arranging funds Transfer fees will include any bank charges, however, the quoted fee would not cover international transfers.
Disbursements:
Please note that disbursements are not included in our fees or fixed and should be paid in addition to our fees. Disbursements are further incidental expenses/costs (plus VAT (where applicable)) which need to be paid to the third parties on your behalf such as Land Registry fees, Stamp Duty and Land Tax, Searches, Lawyer Checker, management company fees, freeholder fees, etc. However, we would advise you before incurring any disbursements on your behalf.
Please note, that we do not charge VAT on payments to third parties as disbursements, however, you will be responsible for paying the third party’s VAT if they are registered to charge VAT. We will outlay exact amounts separately for the itemised third-party payments in our invoices as disbursements.
We have listed below the most common and frequently used disbursements; however, further disbursements may apply depending on the nature of your conveyancing transaction and requirements of your lender.
| Disbursements & other charges: | Fees |
|---|---|
| Land Registry title copy & plan | £6.00 |
| Land Registry documents | TBA |
| Company search | £100 plus VAT |
Conveyancing Process/Timescale:
The whole transaction may take anything between 6-12 weeks or less depending on the complexity of the matter, whether there is a chain, other party’s cooperation, the timescale to get searches and how long it takes for you to obtain your mortgage offer.
EXCHANGE & COMPLETION: Until the formal exchange of contracts takes place none of the parties are bound to go ahead with the sale/purchase. On exchange, we will send your signed contracts to the purchaser’s solicitors. You will then be legally bound to complete on the date agreed in the contract and cannot change your mind. We will, of course, agree on the completion date with you before the exchange. If you fail to complete on the fixed date, interest is payable and the other party's losses may be claimed from you.
Remortgage Transaction Costs:
Our residential property remortgage costs for property value up to £400,000
| Services | Fees |
|---|---|
| Our legal fee * | £750 plus VAT |
| Administration fee | £75 plus VAT |
| Arranging funds transfer per transfer ** | £50 plus VAT |
| Digital ID verification (per ID) | £30 plus VAT |
| Company verification | £50 plus VAT |
* Please ask for a quote for remortgage of properties valued at more than £400,000. The published will be applicable to the transactions where the lender is a standard high street lender. If you arrange a loan facility from a nonstandard mortgage/loan such as bridging finance, small or nonhigh street lenders, Islamic financing, private financing, etc, our charges will be based on £250 plus VAT per hour for the work the lender requires us to carry out. If you choose different lenders, where the lender wants to use their own solicitors, you will have to pay the lender’s solicitors’ fee and our fee of £250 plus VAT per hour for the work that the lender’s solicitors want us to carry out. Also, there will be an additional fee of £250 plus VAT per hour will be charged for the additional work if you change the lender. You will be charged a further fee at our hourly rates at £250 plus VAT per hour if this matter is complex or it requires additional work including, but not limited to, but not limited to, preparing deeds of covenants, dealing with rent charge issues, if the property has additional titles, variation of leases, head leases, superior leases, more than one titles, a separate title for garage, dealing with unregistered titles, possessory titles, management/freeholder enquiries, tenancy enquiries, dealing with restrictive covenants, preparing and dealing with Land Registry forms, obtaining consents, removal of restrictions, discharging charges, dealing with planning and building regulation issues, preparing and dealing with indemnity insurances, dealing with enquiries on dilapidations of the property, etc.
** Please be advised that arranging funds Transfer fees will include any bank charges, however, the quoted fee would not cover international transfers.
Disbursements:
Please note that disbursements are not included in our fees or fixed and should be paid in addition to our fees. Disbursements are further incidental expenses/costs (plus VAT (where applicable)) which need to be paid to the third parties on your behalf such as Land Registry fees, Stamp Duty and Land Tax, Searches, Lawyer Checker, management company fees, freeholder fees, etc. However, we would advise you before incurring any disbursements on your behalf.
Please note, that we do not charge VAT on payments to third parties as disbursements, however, you will be responsible for paying the third party’s VAT if they are registered to charge VAT. We will outlay exact amounts separately for the itemised third-party payments in our invoices as disbursements.
We have listed below the most common and frequently used disbursements; however, further disbursements may apply depending on the nature of your conveyancing transaction and requirements of your lender.
| Disbursements & other charges: | Fees |
|---|---|
| Land Registry title copy & plan | £6.00 |
| Land Registry documents | TBA |
| Land Registry Fee (electronic submission) *** | Please see below |
| Company search | £100 plus VAT |
*** Land Registry fee will be applicable based on the purchase price and registered or unregistered title of the property. You can find the information on the amount that you will need to pay from the HM Land Registry website.
Timescale:
The whole transaction may take anything between 4-8 weeks or less depending on the complexity of the matter and lender/lender’s solicitors' requirements, the timescale to get searches and how long it takes for you to obtain your mortgage offer.
Value added tax (VAT):
Please note all our services are VAT chargeable as our firm is registered for VAT purposes. Therefore, the VAT needs to be paid at the prevailing rate (currently 20%) in addition to our costs.
Applications, Appeals, Judicial Review and sponsor licences:
Our charges for dealing with immigration applications such as leave to enter, further leave to remain, settlement and Naturalisation, appeals, administrative reviews, Judicial Reviews, Sponsor Licence assistance and all other immigration services will be based on our hourly rate of £250 plus VAT per hour plus disbursements, if any.
Depending on the nature of your matter, we estimate that the average time to complete an immigration application, subject to receiving information and documents from you, will be between 6 – 8 hours. However, your costs can be low if you can provide sufficient information and evidence during our first meeting, you have no complex immigration history and circumstances and you are meeting the criteria prescribed in the immigration rules.
Our appeals, administrative reviews, Judicial Review, and sponsor licence assistance charges will depend on the nature and complexity of the matters.
Depending on the nature of matters, our normal works in immigration matter will include, but not be limited to:
- • obtaining detailed information through face-to-face meetings or telephone conferences on your circumstances, your immigration history and instructions on the services that you want us to provide;
- • advising you about the requirements of the Immigration Rules and whether you meet the criteria;
- • perusing the documents provided by you;
- • advising you on the required information and documents;
- • helping you obtain further evidence (such as medical records and bank statements), including taking statements of any witnesses;
- • completing online or physically your application forms, appeals, administrative review and judicial review forms, and submitting them on your behalf;
- • preparing representations, pre-action protocol letters, grounds of appeals, administrative review and judicial review grounds, witness statements, documents for applications, bundle of documents, index, list of essential readings, and instructions to Counsel;
- • instruction to the Counsel and conferences with the counsel;
- • instructing independent expert witnesses, such as independent carers, medical experts, etc;
- • instructing and arranging interpreters;
- • serving documents on the involved parties;
- • attending Home Office interviews, appeal and judicial review hearings;
- • advising you about the outcome of the application and any further steps you need to take; and
- • preparing further applications, appeals, permission to appeals, representations, etc.
Timescales:
Depending on the nature of your matter, subject to receiving the required information and documents from you, we will normally be able to prepare and submit your immigration applications and appeals, pre-action protocol letters and judicial review applications within 2 weeks of you instructing us, but we will let you know at the earliest opportunity if it is likely to take longer than this.
We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application. You must read the current processing times published time to time on the Home Office website.
Disbursements:
Please note that disbursements are not included in our fees or fixed and should be paid in addition to our fees. Disbursements are further incidental expenses/costs (plus VAT (where applicable)) which need to be paid to the third parties on your behalf such as Home Office fees, HM Courts & Tribunals fees, Immigration Health Surcharge, biometric enrolment appointment fees, Counsel fees, experts’ fee, interpreter fee etc. However, we would advise you before incurring any disbursements on your behalf.
Please note you will be paying any Home Office fees, Immigration Health Surcharge, biometric enrolment appointment fees, etc directly to the relevant parties.
Please note, that we do not charge VAT on payments to third parties as disbursements, however, you will be responsible for paying the third party’s VAT if they are registered to charge VAT. We will outlay exact amounts separately for the itemised third-party payments in our invoices as disbursements.
Value added tax (VAT):
Our immigration services are VAT chargeable unless you are:
- • a private individual and your usual place of residence including set up of your home, live with your family and is in full-time employment outside the UK and you are making entry clearance applications or appeals, etc from your home country;
- • • short-term, transitory visitor (for example if you are visiting as tourist, to receive medical treatment or for a short-term language/other courses) of the UK; and
- •• a private individual* who has not been granted a right or permission to remain in the UK, for example, asylum seekers and those entering without permission;
you will be treated as belonging to your country of origin for VAT purposes in the above circumstances.
Where your live to remain or enter expires or is subsequently revoked for whatever reason, you will be treated, for VAT purposes, as resident in the UK until such time as the issue is concluded (including the time taken to go through any appeal process). VAT will be charged on all the services we provide to you.
*In exceptional circumstances, an individual may not have had an identifiable country of origin. Such individuals are in effect stateless and will be treated, for VAT purposes, as belonging in the UK. For example, a situation may arise where a person is granted exceptional leave to remain in the UK on the basis that their country of origin is unknown and their claim to be a British citizen cannot readily be verified.
You must refer to and rely on the HMRC guidance for further advice on your VAT liability and take relevant independent expert opinion.