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Residential property and conveyancing solicitors

Always approachable, helpful and professional

The costs of conveyancing

What we can help you with

  • Buying and selling a house
  • Buying and selling a leasehold flat or apartment
  • Remortgaging

Why Thomson Hayton Winkley?

Buying your home is likely to be the most expensive purchase you make.  That is why it is important that you get it right, and to do that you need to go to the right solicitors.  Cutting corners on costs, could lead to cutting corners on the process, which could lead to problems, stress and further costs down the line.  For that reason we do not offer “cheap conveyancing”.  We do however offer a cost effective service, provided by fully qualified solicitors, legal executives and paralegals, with consistently high levels of feedback and customer satisfaction.

For details of our costing structure, see “Answering your questions” below.

As conveyancing solicitors with offices in Kendal, Windermere, Kirkby Lonsdale and at Junction 36 Rural Auction Centre, Crooklands, together with appointments available at Grange over Sands, we are ideally placed to help clients in South Lakeland, Cumbria and beyond.

Answering your questions

What are your costs for buying a house?

When instructing us to act on your behalf we will request that you provide us with £300 on account of our costs. This will enable us to carry out the necessary local searches, drainage and water searches, the environmental search and any other essential searches.

Our Costs are based on the purchase price and may vary slightly depending upon whether the property is freehold or leasehold.

Our fees: £950 + 0.1% of the purchase price (plus VAT).

As an example, if the purchase price is £250,000 our fees would be £1,440 (£1200 + £240 VAT).

If the purchase is a leasehold property, which involves considerably more work, documentation, enquiries and calculations we would normally charge an additional fee of approximately – £300 (£250 + £50 VAT).

This Estimate is based on a basic straightforward Freehold Purchase and includes:

  • Reviewing the contract pack received from the Sellers Solicitors and raising initial enquiries based on the title and the forms and information provided by the seller.
  • Seeking information regarding your source of funds for the Property in accordance with the current Anti-Money Laundering Regulations
  • We will receive your mortgage offer (if any) and then instruct your searches subject to the receipt of your payment on account.
  • On receipt of the replies from the sellers solicitors or your search results we may need to raise further enquiries.
  • Drafting the Land Transaction Return Form to calculate and pay the Stamp Duty for the Purchase on Completion.
  • Producing a Report on the title to the property
  • Attending on you to sign or providing the Contract, Transfer, Land Transaction Return Form and Mortgage Deed (if any) via the post for you to sign.
  • Negotiate a completion date
  • Draw down your mortgage monies, seek your deposit and your buildings insurance
  • Exchange contracts
  • Complete the purchase of the Property
  • Submitting and paying the Stamp Duty on your behalf
  • Register you as the new Proprietor of the property at the Land Registry and reply to any requisitions raised.
  • Provide all documentation and the updated and amended title from the Land Registry to you and arrange for the closure of your file.

If additional, unavoidable, work is required such as producing statutory declarations relating to the title and/or services, dealing with retentions from the price contingent on future events and negotiating any special terms relating to the purchase, this additional work will be charged at your lawyer’s standard hourly rate.

Our lawyers’ hourly rates vary depending on the experience of the lawyer handling your matter and will usually be between £222 (£185 + £37 VAT) and £330 (£275 + £55 VAT) per hour, including VAT, as at January 2024.

We will always notify you in advance of such extra costs as soon as we become aware of any issue.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments made to third Parties. We would estimate your disbursements would be as follows

  • Searches – £300
  • Bankruptcy search – £2.40 (£2.00 + £0.40 VAT) per purchaser
  • Priority search – £3.60 (£3.00 + £0.60 VAT) per title
  • ID check fee – £7.20 (£6.00 + £1.20 VAT) or £12.60 (£10.50 + £2.10 VAT) depending on circumstances

Registration fee at the Land Registry.

The costs of this are dependent on the purchase price of the Property. Please following the
link to use the Fee Calculator and see how much your registration fee will be:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fees-hm-land-registry-guides

Stamp Duty

This is also dependent on your individual circumstances. Please therefore use this link to
calculate your Stamp Duty. https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

Please note some of the rules regarding the Higher Rates of Stamp Duty are more complex and you should contact us to discuss whether you will be required to pay this if you are unsure.

Therefore the cost of your disbursements are usually £300 + £2.40 + £3.60 + £7.20/£12.60 + Land Registry fee + Stamp Duty Fee, including VAT.

If during the course of the transaction we become of aware of the need for additional disbursements we will notify you of this. Additional disbursements will depend on the individual circumstances of you and the property.

The average timescale for a straightforward transaction is likely to be between 8-12 weeks.

Costs information is general and we will give more precise and personalised information in individual matters.

What are your costs for selling a house?

Our Costs are based on the sale price and may vary slightly depending upon whether the property is freehold or leasehold.

Our fees: £775 + 0.1% of the sale price (plus VAT).

As an example, if the sale price is £250,000 our fees would be £1,230 (£1,025 + £205 VAT)

This fee is based on a basic straightforward sale and includes:

  • Creating the Contract pack – on receipt of the return of the initial paperwork we create the Contract pack which contains the draft contract, details of the title and the Protocol Documents completed by you.
  • The dealing with and repayment of a mortgage registered against the Property.
  • Dealing with any enquiries raised by the Purchaser Solicitors. This is the longest section of the Transaction as the amount of queries raised will depend on each property and Solicitors may raise more than one set of enquiries. We will answer as many as possible but may have to seek additional information from you as well.
  • The seller will provide the Transfer Deed for you to sign to Transfer the property to you at the Land Registry. On receipt of this you will be asked to attend to sign the documents or these will be posted to you.
  • Negotiate a Completion Date
  • Exchanging Contracts
  • Complete the sale of the Property and provide the necessary paperwork to the Purchaser’s Solicitors.

If the sale is a leasehold property, which involves considerably more work, documentation, enquiries and calculations we would normally charge an additional fee of approximately £300 (£250 + VAT of £50).

If additional, unavoidable, work is required such as producing statutory declarations relating to the title and/or services, dealing with retentions from the price contingent on future events and negotiating any special terms relating to the purchase, this additional work will be charged at your lawyer’s standard hourly rate.

Our lawyers’ hourly rates vary depending on the experience of the lawyer handling your matter and will usually be between £222 (£185 + £37 VAT) and £330 (£275 + £55 VAT) per hour, including VAT, as at January 2024.

We will always notify you in advance of such extra costs as soon as we become aware of any issue.

Disbursements

Disbursements are charges made by third parties. On a sale, usually the only disbursement will be the costs of downloading the up to date title information (for registered properties) from the Land Registry. These are charged at £3.60 (£3.00 + £0.60 VAT) per document. The amount of documents associated with the property varies as each property is unique and has a unique history. We usually estimate this disbursement to be around £21.60 (£18.00 + £3.60 VAT) on a freehold property and £36.00 (£30.00 + £6.00 VAT) on a leasehold property.   ID check fee – £7.20 (£6.00 + £1.20 VAT) or £12.60 (£10.50 + £2.10 VAT) depending on circumstances.

If during the course of the transaction we become of aware of the need for additional disbursements we will notify you of this. Additional disbursements will depend on the individual circumstances of you and the Property.

The average timescale for a straightforward transaction is likely to be between 8-12 weeks

Costs information is general and we will give more precise and personalised information in individual matters.

What are your costs for acting on a remortgage?

When instructing us to act on your behalf you will need to inform your lender of our involvement.

Our fees: £540 (£450 + £90 VAT).

If the remortgage is a leasehold property, which involves considerably more work, documentation, enquiries and calculations we would normally charge an additional fee of approximately £300 (£250 + £50 VAT).

This estimate is based on a basic straightforward freehold re-mortgage and includes:

  • Reviewing the Mortgage Offer from the Lender
  • Dealing with the repayment of any existing Mortgage
  • Attending on you to sign the Mortgage Deed
  • Drawing down the monies from the Lender
  • Providing any balance to you
  • Registering the new charge against the property.

If additional, unavoidable, work is required such as producing statutory declarations relating to more than one existing lenders on the property, need the permission of lenders for additional borrowing, dealing with complex mortgages i.e. commercial mortgages on residential properties. This additional work will be charged at your lawyer’s standard hourly rate.

Our lawyers’ hourly rates vary depending on the experience of the lawyer handling your matter and will usually be between £222 (£185 + £37 VAT) and £330 (£275 + £55 VAT) per hour, including VAT, as at January 2024.

We will always notify you in advance of such extra costs as soon as we become aware of any issue.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payments made to third parties. We would estimate your disbursements would be as follows

  • Bankruptcy search – £2.40 (£2.00 + £0.40 VAT) per purchaser
  • Priority search – £3.60 (£3.00 + £0.60 VAT) per title
  • Office Copy Documents from the Land Registry – £3.60 (£3.00 + £0.60 VAT) per document
  • ID check fee – £7.20 (£6.00 + £1.20 VAT) or £12.60 (£10.50 + £2.10 VAT) depending on circumstances

Land Registry Registration Fee for the registration of the Charge. The costs of this are dependent on the purchase price of the property. Please following the link to obtain more information about the Land Registry Charges and use the Fee Calculator and see how much your registration fee will be

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fees-hm-land-registry-guides – usually you will need to select the “Charge – Registration of” option and insert the purchase amount. Please note should the property be unregistered you will also need to pay a First Registration Fee.

Stamp Duty is also dependant on your individual circumstances. Please therefore use this link to calculate your Stamp Duty https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro.

Please note some of the rules regarding the Higher Rates of Stamp Duty are more complex and you should contact us to discuss whether you will be required to pay this if you are unsure.

Therefore the cost of your disbursements are usually £300 + £2.40 + £3.60 + £7.20/£12.60 + Land Registry fee + Stamp Duty Fee, including VAT.

If during the course of the transaction we become of aware of the need for additional disbursements we will notify you of this. Additional disbursements will depend on the individual circumstances of you and the Property.

The average timescale for a straightforward transaction is likely to be between 8-12 weeks.

Costs information is general and we will give more precise and personalised information in individual matters.

Don't take our word for it