Are these Solicitors fees excessive?

Daveinlincoln

So i'm buying my wife out of her half of the house (Divorce)

I've spoken to a mortgage advisor and he recommended a solicitor to handle this below is their quote...is it fair?

Quotation for Transfer and mortgage

Legal Fee  Legal Fee £495.00  VAT £99.00

Disbursements  ID fee and money laundering check £9.00  VAT £1.80  TT fee £35 .00  VAT £7.00  Local, drainage and environmental search (approximately) £210.00  Office copies / final search / land charges (approximately) £11.00  Land registry Fee £95.00

Total £962.80

The value of the house is 280 and i'll be taking out a 140 mortgage.

Am I being fleeced?

Tigsteroonie

When compared to the solicitor fees when we bought this house, I'd say it looks pretty reasonable.

ACG

It seems it is being treated as a purchase.
Why not stick with the same lender and do a transfer of equity (around £300) and then remortgage to a new lender and take advantage of free legals?

Daveinlincoln

Thanks for the replies...theres no mortgage on this property so it sems high to me.

davidmcn

Daveinlincoln wrote: »

Thanks for the replies...theres no mortgage on this property so it sems high to me.

Whether or not there is currently a mortgage on it isn't relevant - the point is you're buying with a mortgage. The costs aren't excessive, but as pointed out you might be able to get a mortgage deal which would include some of them being paid by the lender.

ETA - watch the search costs - none of them would really be for your benefit as you're already familiar with the property, so you'd only require the searches which the lender insisted on, which almost certainly won't include e.g. an environmental search.

Thrugelmir

Daveinlincoln wrote: »

Thanks for the replies...theres no mortgage on this property so it sems high to me.

Aren't you requiring a mortgage to buy your other half out? If so the lenders costs need to be covered.

ACG

If your name is already on the deeds there are potentially lenders who would class it as a remortgage and give free basic legals, meaning you just pay for a transfer of equity.

It is not something I have had to look into for a while but I would maybe make a few phone calls to lenders before hand. You may find it saves you a few hundred quid even if the rates are a little higher.