Solicitors fees for buying ex-partner out

StevesRR

I am currently in the process of buying my ex-partner out of our house which, we have a joint mortgage for.
I've had a quote of my solicitor for the transfer of the property, transfer of the mortgage plus expenses. The total comes to £516. Is this reasonable for what I assumed should be a reasonably easy transaction.
Should I be paying all of this, or should my ex-partner be paying some of it?

Any advice is appreciated

Cheers

Steve

Bossyboots

StevesRR wrote:

I am currently in the process of buying my ex-partner out of our house which, we have a joint mortgage for.
I've had a quote of my solicitor for the transfer of the property, transfer of the mortgage plus expenses. The total comes to £516. Is this reasonable for what I assumed should be a reasonably easy transaction.
Should I be paying all of this, or should my ex-partner be paying some of it?

Any advice is appreciated

Cheers

Steve

Just because a transaction is "easy" doesn't mean you should not pay for the expertise of your solicitor. There is still a lot of work involved anyway and if the expenses are included in the figure then that sounds pretty good. The transfer has to be drawn up and the mortgage dealt with. The paperwork will have to be checked before this to make sure all is in order and that there are no snags to hold things up and that no-one else has an interest in the property who should be notified.

Your ex should in fact be instructing her own solicitors but if she is prepared not to do so, then yes, in my view she should pay towards the cost of the transaction.

maplecottage

do you know if stamp duty has to be paid if one partner is buying the other partners share of a property? I am being bought out by my ex partner and he seems to think that stamp duty is payable and that even though he is the purchaser I should pay half !!

Fire_Fox

Have you discussed this with your conveyancing solicitor?

mad_bad_spender

No idea but about the stamp duty, however when my ex bought me out of the house i did have to get a solicitor, only cost me about £70 pounds but i did require this for the signing over of the deeds or something like that, his solicitor also wrote to me to advise me of my rights as we had (stupidly on my part) agreed a figure that was not exactly in my best interests and i had to sign and return this to them before they would proceed

in my case my ex took the biggest hit, but if things are being divided equally i think the costs should be too

Richard_Webster

do you know if stamp duty has to be paid if one partner is buying the other partners share of a property? I am being bought out by my ex partner and he seems to think that stamp duty is payable and that even though he is the purchaser I should pay half !!

SDLT can be payable - depends on how much is being paid fopr the half share and how much is owed on the existing mortgage. Take half the amount of the existing mortgage and add the amount being paid and if the result is over the SDLT threshold then you pay SDLT.

E.g House worth £300K with £200K mortgage. One paying the other £50K. Half £200K = £100K + £50K = £150K > £125K threshold applicable again from January.

mark5

Richard taking your example would the purchase price registered at land registry then be £150k ?