Residential conveyancing

Our private client property team is experienced in all types of real estate transactions likely to be of interest to private clients.

Any member of our Private Client Property Group may advise on the day-to-day conduct of your matter, under the supervision of Partner, Clare Breeze. 

Our fees

Our fees for acting on a sale, purchase and/or mortgage of a property vary. We state the range below (excluding VAT) likely to be charged in various types of straightforward transactions and some of the factors that may result in a fee at the higher or lower end of the range or in the stated range not being applicable.

Purchase - no mortgage	£10,000 to £85,000
Purchase with mortgage	£14,000 to £100,000
Sale	£8,000 to £75,000
Standalone mortgage	£6,000 to £20,000

These ranges relate to the conveyancing process for a single residential property. In the case of mortgages they assume the borrower is the same person / entity as the property owner. They are also based on no complex structuring being involved. Many of our transactions are more complex than this and so will incur higher costs.

The factors that make a case more complex and therefore more costly include:

• there being defects in legal title, planning breaches or other legal problems that need to be resolved;
• the property being newly or recently built or refurbished with negotiations over contractual recourse for defects to the original contractor, developer or seller;
• the property being unregistered and / or leasehold, whether the matter involves a sale or a purchase;
• on sales, the extent and nature of the questions asked by the purchaser’s lawyers;
• the length of time required to complete the transaction;
• the level of client involvement required and the seniority of our personnel required to be involved by the client;
• whether we visit the property;
• whether the property is purchased subject to a tenancy agreement or with vacant possession;
• whether consents from any third party (typically but not always a landlord) are required and whether that third party attaches conditions to that consent;
• specific non-standard terms agreed by the parties that need to be catered for in the documents; and
• on a mortgage, our being able to act for both the borrower and the lender.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs we incur on your behalf, such as land registry fees and search fees. We estimate these at the outset and they will appear on our invoice to you.  Usually on a purchase these will include:

• search fees in the order of £500 to £800 plus VAT; and
• Land Registry registration fees which could range between £500 and £1,105.

Key stages

The fee ranges set out above cover all work in relation to the following key stages of a straightforward purchase, sale and mortgage:

• taking your instructions and providing an overview of the transaction and process;
• drafting or reviewing the contract/mortgage deed and (where appropriate) negotiating its terms;
• undertaking due diligence (to include but not limited to a title review, commissioning and reviewing appropriate property searches, raising appropriate enquiries and reviewing replies) or responding to the purchaser’s or lender’s enquires about the property;
• taking appropriate legal steps to correct or mitigate defects in title;
  advising you on the terms of the transactional documents, reporting to you on our due diligence exercise and advising as to stamp duty land tax payable;
• obtaining third party consents where necessary;
  exchanging contracts;
• undertaking pre-completion searches and completing of the transaction; and
• submission of stamp duty land tax returns and registration of the transaction at the land registry.

Transaction time scales

We can and occasionally do exchange contracts within 48 hours of contractual papers being issued. More typically we are able to exchange contracts on a straightforward sale or purchase transaction with a well prepared counterparty where there are no complications within 10 or 15 working days of contractual papers being issued. Typically mortgage drawdown may take place within 25 working days of our receiving relevant paperwork from the lender.

VAT

For legal advice provided in relation to UK sited real estate, VAT is always chargeable at the prevailing rate (currently 20%) on that advice.