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.
Free cost estimate
If you have an enquiry for an estimate we invite you to fill out the form below for a quick and free estimate. We honour our estimates and will always notify our clients of any potential increases in cost.
