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Buying & selling a property

We are a happy, friendly law firm who are always ready to help, support and advise you through every step of the process. Our fixed fee is inclusive of all emails, letters, telephone calls and face to face meeting so please feel free to drop in or contact us at any time that is convenient to you during office hours.

Whilst a lawyer’s hourly rate is approximately £250 plus VAT @ 20%, our transparent fixed fee structure means that you are left with no nasty shocks at the end of your transaction. This will allow you to budget your move more effectively. Please enquire for our fixed fee structure for any residential transaction.

First Time Buyer’s Guide

First Time Buyer’s Guide (Legal Ombudsman)

Stamp duty

Stamp Duty rates can be seen at HMRC Stamp Duty

Land Registry Fees

The Land Registry charges a sliding scale of fees. The actual rates can be found on their website www.landregistry.gov.uk.

Fees

Our legal fees range from £725 – £1500 plus VAT @ 20% and disbursements depending on the value of the property and the complexity of the transaction.

Disbursements include Land Registry copy documents (£3 per document inc VAT @20%), Land Registry registration fee, Searches (usually in the region of £280 inc VAT @20%), Priority Search and Bankruptcy Search (£3 and £2 respectively inc VAT @20%), telegraphic transfer fee (£42 inc VAT @ 20%) and Stamp Duty Land Tax administration fee (£54 inc VAT @20%)

Our fees cover all of the legal work required to complete the relevant transaction including acting for your mortgage lender (if we are instructed to do so), in the case of a purchase of either a freehold or leasehold property, dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (LLT) if the property is in Wales.

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move into your house will depend on a number of factors. The process runs from when we receive the draft Contract papers from the Seller’s solicitors and typically takes between 6-10 weeks to complete (currently 2-3 months) however this timeframe can be impacted by a number of factors.

Some of the key stages of a transaction are taking your instructions and providing you with initial advice, checking your finances are in place to fund the purchase and contacting lender’s solicitors if required, receiving and advising on contract documents from the seller’s solicitors, carrying out searches, obtaining further planning documentation if required, making any necessary enquiries of the seller’s solicitor, advising you on all documents and information received from the seller’s solicitors, explaining the conditions of the mortgage offer with you, sending the final contract to you for signature, agreeing the completion date (i.e. the date from which you own the property), exchanging contracts, arranging for all monies to be received from the lender and you, completing the purchase, dealing with payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax, dealing with the application for registration at the Land Registry. This is not an exhaustive list.

Affordable Housing transactions usually involve additional work and so are unlikely to be included in our standard fees. This also applies to transactions where title defects are discovered and unregistered property.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work, you are very efficient

Mr H

Meet the Property Team

Stuart Jones

Stuart Jones

ACILEx, Commercial and Residential Property Lawyer
Zara

Zara Clark

Solicitor, Wills, Probate and LPAs Lawyer
David Simmons

David Simmons

Solicitor Principal, Litigation and Company Commercial Lawyer

Contact the Property Team

If you need help with your property matters, please do get in touch.