Conveyancing

The cost of conveyancing

Whether you are buying, selling, transferring, or mortgaging a house or a flat, you will have to pay the conveyancer who deals with the case for you.  You will also have to pay a number of out of pocket expenses (also known as disbursements) which your conveyancer has to incur on your behalf.  

The amount of the conveyancer’s own fees, and some of the out of pocket expenses, will vary according to the circumstances and the value of the property concerned.

For that reason, Molesworths will always provide you with a personal written, tailor made, estimate of the likely costs if you ring, email, or call in to see us.  We do prefer to deal with estimates in that way, as it enables us to establish exactly what it is involved in your particular transaction, rather than applying a “one size fits all” approach. 

However as a general guideline, the figures below set out the basis of our charges, and what the likely out of pocket expenses will be. 

Our charges are based on the amount of work which we anticipate will be necessary, and will only vary according to the value of the property and complexity of the transaction.

As a matter of principle, we do not charge you separately for dealing with work which we believe to be an essential part of a conveyancing transaction, such as preparing a Stamp Duty Land Tax return, transmitting funds to the other party, or submitting a Land Registry application.  

Part A : Molesworths’ charges for doing the work

Sales

Our basic fees for dealing with the sale of a house start at £595.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Our basic fees for dealing with the sale of a flat start at £695.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Please note that if the sale involves either a Shared Equity Scheme, or a Help to Buy mortgage or ISA, we will add a supplement of £100 plus VAT to the figures shown above.

Purchases

Our basic fees for dealing with the purchase of an existing house start at £595.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Our basic fees for dealing with the purchase of an existing flat start at £795.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Our basic fees for dealing with the purchase of a newly built house start at £695.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Our basic fees for dealing with the purchase of a newly built flat start at £895.00 plus VAT and any necessary out of pocket expenses shown below.

Please note that if the purchase involves any of the following we will add the following supplements to the figures shown above as appropriate, as the amount of work necessary on our part will increase substantially:

Help to Buy ISA: add £100.00 plus VAT

Help to Buy Mortgage :  add £200.00 plus VAT

Shared Equity Scheme : add £200 plus VAT

Re-mortgages

Our basic fees for dealing with a remortgage start at £395.00 plus VAT and out of pocket expenses shown below.

If the property concerned is a flat, our basic fees start at £495.00 plus VAT.

Transfers of equity

Our basic fees for dealing with a transfer of equity of a house start at £350.00 plus VAT and out of pocket expenses shown below.

Our basic fees for dealing with a transfer of equity of a flat start at £425.00 plus VAT and out of pocket expenses shown below.

 

Part B : Likely out of pocket expenses

VAT is payable on most out of pocket expenses except Land Registry registration fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax.

Sales

If you are selling a property, we will need to get proof of ownership from the Land Registry. The basic cost is around £6.00 per title, but where we also have to obtain copies of any title deeds (such as a lease) you will have to pay a further £3.00 for each additional document.

Purchases and mortgages only

Initial Searches If you are buying a house or a flat with a mortgage, or re-mortgaging, we will probably need to undertake a number of preliminary conveyancing searches.  These include a local search, a drainage search, a mining search and an environmental search, and generally cost around £375.00 in total. These searches are also advised even if you do not require a mortgage. 

Pre-completion searches  We will also need to undertake a couple of pre-completion searches, which should cost no more than £10.00

Land Registry fees  Anyone who acquires or mortgages a property has to pay a fee to the Land Registry, to update the Land Registry’s records.

The size of the fee depends entirely on the value of the property or the size of the mortgage, but currently range between £20.00 and £910.00

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)  Stamp Duty Land Tax may be payable by you, but this will depend on your circumstances and the value of the property concerned. Because of this, it is simply not possible to tell you on this website exactly how much SDLT you will have to pay.

Flats - sales and purchases

When dealing with a flat it is generally necessary to obtain and provide information to the management company and its agents.  Such companies charge relatively high fees for items such as pre-sales packs and notice fees, often amounting to several hundred pounds. 

We will not be able to tell you how much these are likely to be until we have seen the lease concerned and know who the management company is. 

All transactions

Anti-money laundering checks  These legal checks will verify your identity, and are likely to be done by an online company. They cost around £7.00 per person.

Bank transfer fees  We do not charge you any bank charges for transferring funds to your lender or the other party’s solicitors.

However if you wish us to send funds to you by a same day bank transfer, we will charge you £25.00 plus VAT for each transfer

Other possible fees  On occasion you may need to pay for other fees, for example to obtain copies of relevant planning documents or a legal insurance policy if any required documents are missing.

It is not possible to tell you the exact cost, as this will depend entirely on the circumstances at the time.

What happens if my transaction falls through?

If for any reason your transaction does not go ahead, we will only charge you for the work which we have undertaken on your behalf up to that point, and any out of pocket expenses which you have not pre-paid.