Solicitor fees?

eattothebeat

Morning Money Savers.
Had an offer on my flat accepted and have to get a solicitor in place. My question is...what are ballpark figures for these? My flat is a leasehold in London offer accepted of £249,950. Also, what happens now in terms of movement? I had a HIP done so does that speed up the process at all? I would like to think that even though HIPS are abolished that it is of some use so that I did not just throw away £300 getting one done for nothing??

Thanks in advance for your help!

Richard_Webster

Your HIP won't make any difference to the solicitor's charges on a sale. It simply means that depending on how old the searches are the buyer may make a small saving on search fees.

In terms of finding a solicitor talk to friends and ask them who they used. Google "Conveyancing Solicitor [area where it is convenient for you to have a solicitor - near your work or home]"

Then look for the first few real entries - disregarding sponsored links and various random "local" directories etc and phone up a few and ask for an estimate. get the estimates in writing and read all the small print and if necessary check back with the solicitors to ask for clarification of their charges (the circumstances in which extras would be charged for etc.) and why they differ from others.

When selling a flat one factor is that you may well have to pay a fee to your landlord/,managing agent to provide information. This can vary from nothing when the freehold is owned by a group of you to around £300 with some of the more grabbing management companies. Your solicitor will have no control over this figure, so whatever they put (or forget to put) in their estimate for "Landlord's Information Fee" is at best a guesstimate and you will be stuck with whatever the landlord/managing agent decides to charge..