Quick conveyancing pricing check

pledgeX

Just got this quote from my local solicitors for doing conveyancing on a 200k property in SE England:

Legal fee on purchase £395.00
VAT thereon @ 20% £79.00
Stamp Duty – 0 (FTB)
Land Registry fee £280.00
Local Search fee £200.00
Miscellaneous Search fee £30.00
Telegraphic Transfer fee £36.00

Plus optional drainage survey (£45), environmental search (£50).

Total = £1020.

Does that sound like a fair price? Legal fee itself seems cheap but the other fees seem a little pricey. I hope it's a fair price as it's the only local one so makes communication a lot easier!

Thanks.

Sagz_2

I've only ever bought one house, but that looks good to me.

I'm sure others with more experience will be along to comment soon.

G_M

TT at £36 is a bit pricey but overall not bad.
Check it includes completion of SDLT form (I think this still needs completing even if stamp duty is zero).

and read this

timmyt

pledgeX wrote: »

Just got this quote from my local solicitors for doing conveyancing on a 200k property in SE England:

Legal fee on purchase £395.00 - that is the actual lawyers profit, and that is low, worryingly, so you know you don't have a 'solicitor' for your money for a start....low if you were selling, but unforgivably low on a purchase....AVOID, seriously, too low to do a decent job, and you will probably have someone without a degree, and not even a legal executive:eek:
VAT thereon @ 20% £79.00
Stamp Duty – 0 (FTB) - you are only a FTB if you have never owned a property or a share in one ever, anywhere in the world, and you intend to have the proeprty as your main residence...do you?
Land Registry fee £280.00
Local Search fee £200.00
Miscellaneous Search fee £30.00
Telegraphic Transfer fee £36.00

Plus optional drainage survey (£45), environmental search (£50).
all other fees are standard
Total = £1020.

Does that sound like a fair price? Legal fee itself seems cheap but the other fees seem a little pricey. I hope it's a fair price as it's the only local one so makes communication a lot easier!

Thanks.

go cheap, get cheap, and that is a fact. but then again, we wouldn't have many juicy posts to read if people were sensible. don't make their mistakes.

check the law firm has Lexcel (google the Law Society kite mark), and make sure:
- you have the same one conveyancer (legal exec, or solicitor) throughout
- the firm use email on their letterhead
- you get the conveyancers personal email and direct dial
- that they don't close at lunch or dead at 5pm

actually who are they and we can check their website for you.....that reveals how good and forward thinking they are....do they shout 'we are cheap' or 'we offer great servive at a competitive rate'

pledgeX

timmyt wrote: »

go cheap, get cheap, and that is a fact. but then again, we wouldn't have many juicy posts to read if people were sensible. don't make their mistakes.

check the law firm has Lexcel (google the Law Society kite mark), and make sure:
- you have the same one conveyancer (legal exec, or solicitor) throughout
- the firm use email on their letterhead
- you get the conveyancers personal email and direct dial
- that they don't close at lunch or dead at 5pm

actually who are they and we can check their website for you.....that reveals how good and forward thinking they are....do they shout 'we are cheap' or 'we offer great servive at a competitive rate'

I actually know the person, not very well however, but she has been good friends with my father for years. I will be dealing with only her, and have her direct email/phone (which isn't advertised on their website) as well as her secretary's. The office is close to work, closes at 5 but is open at lunch, and she lives 5 minute walk from me so is happy to drop in on the way back if needed. She is qualified as a legal exec (to what extent I'm not sure). Will have to check about Lexcel though.

I left this out of the original post as I wanted people's opinion if this was a 'normal' quote. The price above also includes £100 knocked of the legal fee.

My dad used her for both his mortgages with no issues and I know a couple of other people that have used the firm for other purposes and had no complaints so I should be ok.

Thanks for your help though, and thanks for the link G_M, will have a read now.

firstaspect

timmyt wrote: »

Legal fee on purchase £395.00 - that is the actual lawyers profit, and that is low, worryingly, so you know you don't have a 'solicitor' for your money for a start....low if you were selling, but unforgivably low on a purchase....AVOID, seriously, too low to do a decent job, and you will probably have someone without a degree, and not even a legal executive

When we recently did a purchase our legal fee was around that and it was with a proper local firm of solicitors, with an actual solicitor assigned directly to us and they were fantastic from start to finish. It's the online ones at £195 I worry about.

Danni-R

pledgeX wrote: »

Legal fee on purchase £395.00
VAT thereon @ 20% £79.00
Stamp Duty – 0 (FTB)
Land Registry fee £280.00
Local Search fee £200.00
Miscellaneous Search fee £30.00
Telegraphic Transfer fee £36.00

Plus optional drainage survey (£45), environmental search (£50).

Total = £1020.

Thanks.

I've been quoted another £700 for fees etc on a property worth 50k less.

Even though I'm paying more the service is shocking.

There doesnt appear to be a fee for copies of the deeds.
Paper work for leasehold/ freehold properties seems to differ as well.

FinAdv

Hi,

I think the fee is absolutely spot on.

I use a solicitor for all my clients and he charges roughly the same. They also charge £395 + Vat as their fee and rest of the charges are similiar.
They are very professional firm and require no chasing up.

I hope your solicitor is as good.