Advice on moving costs

MNrhubarb

We're selling a property that has been valued at £250,000 to buy a property that will be roughly £350,000. We've just been given a guide to all the costs and fees involved:

• Just under £4k of estate agency fees in selling our home
• £700 of legal fees
• Further £800 legal fees for buying a property
• £780 VAT on purchase fee conveyancing?
• £7,500 stamp duty
• £10,500 stamp duty levy?

So including this stamp duty levy (what is that?) we are looking at total costs of around £24k according to one quote we've been given.

Is there anyone who can explain some of these costs to us and are there any savings to be made anywhere?

Any tips out there for keeping our moving costs down?

always_sunny

Agency fees is what you signed up so it'd vary.
Legal fees depends on your solicitor, it'd vary, same for conveyancing.
Stamp Duty is fixed depending on your circumstances.

For legal fees you could go online and get quotes to see if it's cheaper than what you have.

ThePants999

"Stamp duty levy" looks like it refers to the extra 3% SDLT you pay on second homes. If this is your only property, it doesn't apply.

Sadly you've missed
- removals
- survey
- mortgage fees
- searches and other disbursements (MIGHT be included in the conveyancing costs, but since you've said "legal fees" my guess is they're not)

As far as saving money goes:
- I don't understand £780 VAT on £800 fees, that needs querying :-)
- those solicitor fees are a tad high, get some more quotes
- if your house is likely to sell easily, consider using an online estate agent - you'll pay more like three figures than £4K, but they have less incentive to work at selling your house.

D_M_E

The stamp duty levy will only apply if you buy your next property before you sell your current property - if you do have to pay it and then sell your current property shortly after then you will get this back from HMRC.

The £780 vat needs querying - that's far too much for vat.

You need to get several quotes for the solicitor/conveyancer - personally I would use a local firm, yes a little more expensive but worth it as they are available and easy to approach (usually)

Also get quotes from different estate agents - does the £4k include vat - if not then they are charging 1.6% and there will be another £800 0n top. Try another local firm they may do it cheaper.

GBR78

We're looking at similar selling and buying costs and these are rough figures i've worked/found out. Some may need a tweak.

- Estate agent £3300
- Stamp duty £7500
- Solicitors £2000 (for selling and buying inc searches)
- Removals £1000

All inc vat, + any surveys/snagging.

This is what i've worked to as a starting point so hopefully they're not a million miles away.

MNrhubarb

Thanks all.

This wouldn't be a second home so I'm guessing the stamp duty levy won't apply which is a big relief - I wonder why they included that then?

The exact breakdown gives £799 as legal fees on the purchase of the property, £75 to submit stamp duty return, £175 legal fees in acting for lender in securing the mortgage, £780 VAT and other third party costs on purchase conveyancing (don't know what this is).

It does not include surveys or removal fees but I think it does include mortgage fees and searches?
Our removal fees would be quite low as we tend to hire a large van and get family/friends in to help.

So what is purchase conveyancing as that seems rather high?

tim123456789

ThePants999 wrote: »

"Stamp duty levy" looks like it refers to the extra 3% SDLT you pay on second homes. If this is your only property, it doesn't apply.

Sadly you've missed
- removals
- survey
- mortgage fees
- searches and other disbursements (MIGHT be included in the conveyancing costs, but since you've said "legal fees" my guess is they're not)

As far as saving money goes:
- I don't understand £780 VAT on £800 fees, that needs querying :-)
- those solicitor fees are a tad high, get some more quotes
- if your house is likely to sell easily, consider using an online estate agent - you'll pay more like three figures than £4K, but they have less incentive to work at selling your house.

You seem to have misspelt "No incentive to work to sell you house"


tim

davidmcn

MNrhubarb wrote: »

The exact breakdown gives £799 as legal fees on the purchase of the property, £75 to submit stamp duty return, £175 legal fees in acting for lender in securing the mortgage, £780 VAT and other third party costs on purchase conveyancing (don't know what this is).

It does not include surveys or removal fees but I think it does include mortgage fees and searches?

So what is purchase conveyancing as that seems rather high?

At a guess: I presume this means your solicitor is charging total fees of £799 + £75 + £175 = £1049 for your purchase.

"£780 VAT and other third party costs on purchase conveyancing " would include the £209.80 VAT on the £1049. And possibly the VAT on your £700 fees for the sale (as that seems a suspiciously round number to include VAT). So that leaves up to £570.20 of disbursements, which should include search costs, land registry fees, bank transfers etc. I would ask for a breakdown.

Or to put it another way:

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Is there anyone who can explain some of these costs to us

Yes, whoever sent you the figures should be explaining them to you.

MNrhubarb

The figures were produced by an estate agent as a guide as to what expenses are involved in selling our house and buying another. They are based on the typical amounts paid.

We will shop around for better legal quotes, although I presume that the estate agents figures would be based on us using their own legal team at a discounted price?

I think we would struggle to sell if we went with an online estate agent only. Do they ever negotiate on their own fees at all?

hazyjo

tim123456789 wrote: »

You seem to have misspelt "No incentive to work to sell you house"


tim

Most give the option of paying at the end now (certainly eMoov and Housenetwork do - one of which I'll prob be using).

MNrhubarb wrote: »

I think we would struggle to sell if we went with an online estate agent only. Do they ever negotiate on their own fees at all?

They charge a flat fee of around £800 give or take. See above for ones I'm considering. There are some extras you can include, but tbh most essentials are included anyway.


Jx

tim123456789

hazyjo wrote: »

Most give the option of paying at the end now (certainly eMoov and Housenetwork do - one of which I'll prob be using).

They might let you defer payment.


They don't appear to offer No Sale No Fee


A flat rate 800 pounds, whether they sell or not, is poor value against an EA if you are selling an 80K house IMHO.


Not all of us have 500K houses to sell


whatever happened to the places that used to list you for 199?


tim