Adding spouse to a mortgage - are these costs reasonable?

daugapils

buglawton wrote: »

Check this, it almost looks like a DIY procedure:
https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry/transfer-ownership-of-your-property
The lender will have a charge on the property so the lender will need to supply the permission for the deed alteration. Again, is a solicitor even needed and if so, why would their fee be more than £150?

Thank you
I did quick quote search online and got several quotes and almost all of them are below 600 including all taxes and charges.
I will chat with Nationwide to figure out what are my options here.

daugapils

ACG wrote: »

£800 + vat seems high.
You are only paying for a transfer of equity, so it should be about half that I would have thought. Admittedly it has been a whilst since I have done one.

Edit:
I have just done a quote with the guys we use and £800+ vat is high, I am getting £461.00 which includes all legal fees, disbursements & VAT.

Although just as a get out of jail free card, this is based on limited information and assumes straight forward situation, no money changing hands, freehold property and so on. Your broker has a lot more information to go off.

I think our situation is pretty standard. The only difference from a bog standard scenario I can see is that my wife is still on spousal visa and the property is a leasehold.

buglawton

daugapils wrote: »

I made few online quotes and they are all below 600 mark (including VAT) hence I was a bit perplexed to get a quote for over a grand

Online quotes worries me, don't use a remote factory sweatshop legal firm, use a high street or home office based solicitor close to your home, if you must use a solicitor.

davidmcn

buglawton wrote: »

Online quotes worries me, don't use a remote factory sweatshop legal firm, use a high street or home office based solicitor close to your home, if you must use a solicitor.

Sole practitioners are less likely to be on lenders' panels (which would just add to your costs assuming the lender wants a solicitor).

ACG

The leasehold may add a little bit to the cost as the conveyancer needs to go through the lease and make the new party aware of any potential issues in there. But it should not make it a grand.

buglawton

davidmcn wrote: »

Sole practitioners are less likely to be on lenders' panels (which would just add to your costs assuming the lender wants a solicitor).

The sole practitioner I used to use (actually she was paired with a locum) certainly was as she was doing routine house purchase conveyancing. I'd assume many small solicitors are.
Many lenders have a search function so you can check for yourself e.g.

https://www.santanderforintermediaries.co.uk/submit-and-track-business/find-an-approved-solicitor/

As you correctly note, maybe the lender does not need one.