Residential property

This section provides a guide to how we calculate our charges for residential conveyancing and an indication of how much the typical transaction is likely to cost. For an estimate tailored to your specific matter, please contact us and we will discuss your matter and needs with you and provide you with a bespoke cost estimate.

Our charges

Our charges consist of:

• Our professional fees for the legal work.
• Costs and expenses paid to others in order to progress your matter, such as Land Registry fees. We handle making these payments on your behalf during the course of your matter, either using money that you have given us in advance, or invoicing them to you together with our fees. These payments are called disbursements.
• VAT is charged on our professional fees at the applicable rate, which is currently 20%. Many disbursements also carry VAT, and we will inform you of the VAT on each disbursement as we go along.

Calculating our fees

Our fees will be agreed with you as a fixed fee at the start of your case and will vary depending on the type of transaction.

Sale and purchase transactions

If are buying or selling a property, our fees depend on the value of the property, as set out below:

The fee estimated in the table is for one sale or one purchase only. If you are selling one property and buying another, the fees will be calculated separately for each transaction according to the value of the property involved.

Remortgage transactions

* Excluding SDLT, VAT and Disbursements

Additional fees

Depending on the circumstances of your transaction there may be additional fees. The following list is not exhaustive but illustrates the range of additional fees that might be incurred in certain scenarios:

* Excluding SDLT, VAT and Disbursements

Disbursements and other expenses

You may have to pay certain expenses and costs to third parties, which are not included in the fees quoted above.

The disbursements which you will pay will depend on:

• Whether you are buying or selling property or both.
• Whether you are buying a freehold or leasehold property.
• The type of property, as some types of may require additional searches or enquiries.
• The location of the property concerned, as properties in some locations may require additional searches or enquiries.

Selling a property

When selling a property, you will typically need to pay the following disbursements:

Buying a property

Clients buying a freehold property will typically need to pay the following disbursements:

Re-mortgage

Clients re-mortgaging a property will typically need to pay the following disbursements:

*Please note that the Registration Fee is linked to the value of the property and whether the individual property title has previously been registered at HM Land Registry. Further details of the fees charged by HM Land Registry in this respect can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees

(Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0)

Leasehold properties

If the property is a leasehold property, there may be additional disbursements, including fees charged by the Landlord and/or Management Company. It is difficult to estimate what fees may be required without knowing about the detail of your case. Please contact us for more information.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

If you are buying a property you will also need to pay stamp duty land tax (SDLT) – this is not included in the fees above.

The amount which you need to pay to the government depends on the price of the property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC's website:

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#!/intro

(Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0)

We will submit the SDLT return and pay the tax due on your behalf, calculated on the basis of the information provided by you, from the funds we have received from you or your connected sale.

Other costs to consider

If you have a mortgage to discharge over a property you have sold, we will normally pay the money owed directly to your lender as needed out of the sale money we receive on your behalf from the buyer.

Certain lenders issue offers and correspondence throughout the matter via a Panel Manager who will levy a charge of between £25.00 and £40.00 (plus VAT) for their services; this fee would be due from you and, if apparent at that time, reflected in your Completion Statement.

You should also be aware that if you are purchasing a leasehold property then ground rent and service charges are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as this we receive this information.

Legal work involved in the transaction

The precise stages involved in a conveyancing transaction may vary according to the circumstances.

However in a typical property transaction we will need to do the following work, which will be covered by the guideline costs outlined in this note:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice.
• Check that you have the necessary funds in place to finance the transaction, including any purchase price, SDLT and our charges.
• Advise you on the contract and transfer, and prepare the documents if you are selling.
• Carry out routine searches and enquiries on any property you are buying.
• Advise you on all information and correspondence received.
• Communicate with all other parties and lenders involved and advise you on those communications.
• Advise you on the conditions of any mortgage you are entering into.
• Liaise with any mortgage lender in relation to the transaction and the drawdown or discharge of any mortgage.
• Send final contract to you for signature.
• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property).
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened.
• Complete the transaction and arrange transfer of funds.
• Submit the SDLT return and arrange payment of the tax due.
• Complete any required registrations, for example with HM Land Registry, and deal with any requisitions.

In a simple remortgage transaction some of the above steps may not be required.

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur other costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

Timescale and key stages

How long it will take from your offer being accepted to completion will depend on a number of factors. Rightmove estimated a national average of 150 days in 2022. We estimate 10-12 weeks for a leasehold property and 8-10 weeks for a freehold property in our Client Care Pack although note that this can be subject to external influences. The process can take more or less time depending on the other parties involved and whether your matter forms part of a chain.

Although we will progress your transaction as quickly as we can, it is not possible for us to have any control over third-party timeframes (e.g. turnaround time for search results).

Who will be dealing with your transaction?

Your conveyancing transaction will be handled by a trusted member of our experienced and qualified residential property team.

Your primary contact throughout your matter will be the fee earner responsible for carrying out the legal and practical aspects of your file and you will be provided with both their direct line and their email address.

Regardless of who is working on your case, the matter will be supervised by our Head of Service and Delivery, Andrea Steventon.

Once you know who will be on the team allocated to your transaction, you will be able to find further details of their background and qualifications by visiting the People section on our website.

If you have any queries, please contact:

• Anthony Howarth in our Leeds office at anthony.howarth@weightmans.com
• Sarah Pennington in our London office at sarah.pennington@weightmans.com