Shared ownership - solicitors

nick49

Hi,

I'm hoping someone here can help. I'm buying a 25% share of a part buy part rent house. I'm paying £33,750 for the share. I've had a couple of quotes from the solicitors but they seem high. The first was £965 and the 2nd £890. This is the first house I've bought so don't really know much about the solicitor side of things, but they do seem really high as i'm only buying a small amount.
The house is a new build (only just built) and has no HIP. Does anyone know if these figures are about right? or does anyone know any decent solicitors in the Leicester area?
I've seen some online solicitors advertising starting at £99 but not sure if these are ok.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

betmunch

Seems like a fair enough rate to me.

If you dont know what they should be, what makes you think these figures are high?

Cazza

The £99 is probably excluding disbursements - the items the solicitors have to pay out for and then pass onto you, such as land registry fees and searches. Fees for Leasehold flats and shared ownership properties are often a little more expensive than houses, simply because there is more work for the solicitor to do.

The quotes you've had so far do not sound unreasonable, although it may be worth getting a few more just to compare. When it comes down to it though, a good solicitor can make or break a transaction, and good ones are well worth paying a little bit extra for. Talk to friends and family, try to get a few recommendations and then go with the firm you have the most confidence in.

nick49

Thanks for the replies, it just seems high because a mate of mine bought a house and he paid around £1000 for his solicitors and for some reason i had it in my head that because he bought his house and I'm only buying a share mine would be less. I'm probably wrong though:o

Cazza

'Fraid so! The legal work is exactly the same, regardless of how much of the property you're buying. If anything, yours will be more work for the solicitor as they will need to go through the shared ownership paperwork and check it all, whilst your friend's solicitor didn't have to.

Bananamana

I deal with the majority of shared ownership at our office.

disbursements you're looking about £250 in search fees and £50 or land registry fees. The remainder will be legals.

Are you getting a mortgage- if not you could opt only for a few of the searches? Sometimes the developer will provide a searches pack -worth asking the developer.

As a FTB you should also opt for the full market value when doing the SDLT return - quite a few people miss this. Effectively you declare the full market value to the revenue as the purchase price and pay stamp duty at that level (which as a first time buyer will be 0) - when you come to staircase down the line you will NEVER need to pay stamp duty.

Most solicitors/conveyancers charge a new build fee and a shared ownership fee due to the extra work involved.

nick49

Thanks for that, i'll keep the SDLT info in mind.

I will be getting a mortgage for my share. the price breakdown i got from one of solicitors is below. I dont think i have to pay the drainage fee as its a new build

Our charges £549.00
VAT on our charges £96.08
Fee for acting for mortgagees £included
Provision for Local Search fees (estimated)£75.00
Fee for completion and submission of sdlt form on completion £included
Bank transfer fees £23.50
Land Registry fees £50.00
Stamp Duty £0.00
Coal Mining Search Fees £35.00
Environmental Search Fees £36.50
Drainage Search Fees £46.00
OS1 and Bankruptcy fee £10.00
Chancel Insurance £10.00
Company Search £35.25
Total £966.33


does this look right?

gabyjane

Hi we bought a new build S/O property but it was a while ago so can't think exactly what we paid for but it does sound about right!

Bananamana

nick49 wrote: »

Thanks for that, i'll keep the SDLT info in mind.

I will be getting a mortgage for my share. the price breakdown i got from one of solicitors is below. I dont think i have to pay the drainage fee as its a new build

Our charges £549.00
VAT on our charges £96.08
Fee for acting for mortgagees £included
Provision for Local Search fees (estimated)£75.00
Fee for completion and submission of sdlt form on completion £included
Bank transfer fees £23.50
Land Registry fees £50.00
Stamp Duty £0.00
Coal Mining Search Fees £35.00
Environmental Search Fees £36.50
Drainage Search Fees £46.00
OS1 and Bankruptcy fee £10.00
Chancel Insurance £10.00
Company Search £35.25
Total £966.33


does this look right?

seems very competative - a drainage search may not reveal much but your lender will probably require one - depends on what info the developer gives out