Fees - Help me break it down please!

Gemm83

Just put in an offer on a leasehold flat as FTB's for £215k. On our mortgage illustration it gives you a breakdown of costs.
Conveyancing fee, broker fee, valuation fee, solicitor fee etc

MA advised solicitors as FTB should be around the £1800 mark. I have had a quote from a local solicitor for £2400 (I'm in SE if that matters) , but it didn't give a breakdown of costs. Does that £2400 include the conveyancing fee or is that separate?

I'm trying to work out roughly what we actually need. Ive looked on line and I'm just bamboozled and seeing all these figures and it's confusing me. I am shocking when it comes to figures and being new to all this need some one to put it in "you are soooo stupid, now listen to me carefully A= this B= that" terms. I'm petrified that all these fees are going to build up and then we either can't afford to pay them or have any money left in the pot to do what we need to do!

Many Thanks 

MaryNB

Conveyancing fee and solicitors fee is the same, it's just the fee for conveyancing. £2.4k is a lot! That should include conveyancing and searches, probably an additional fee for leasehold (above their flat rate). I presume that solicitor is snowed under with work and is only willing to take on people paying way above average. Did you get any other quotes? You should get at least 3. 

Gemm83

@MaryNB
Thank you for your quick reply 😊
That's the 1st quote and hoping to hear back from another today. There are 3 solicitors firms in the village we are buying and thought it best to go with one of them as easy for handing in documentation etc when needs be. I thought as FTB's it was a lot and what with valuation fee and broker would put us a grand over what we had budgeted for which would leave us 2 bedrooms without carpet! 🤦‍♀️

saajan_12

If you post the breakdown of the quote getting to 2.4k, we can advise further. On the face of it, 2.4k is on the high side, unless including things which are usually extras. 

Generally a high street solicitor is better than an online bulk conveyancing warehouse, as you have a particular person to talk to, they might be famiilar with some issues in the area (not always), etc. However don't worry too much about immediate proximity as it should only need 1 or 2 in person visits through the whole process (ID check and contract signing). Most can be done on email or phone. 

GlasgowExpat2

I’m purchasing a leasehold flat in Cheshire and my solicitor fees (local) are £1,200 - that includes everything 

Gemm83

@saajan_12
"Further to our telephone conversation today, to act for you and your partner on a leasehold purchase at £215,000.00 with a mortgage, our fee would be £1,400.00 plus VAT and the disbursements.  These are fees that we pay out to third parties for documentation or their services and would include search fees of approximately £350.00, anti-money laundering search fees of £9.20 per person, Land Registry fees of £138.00, £42.00 bank transfer fee to send the monies to the seller’s solicitors on completion and there would be no stamp duty payable as you are first time buyers.  There would also be a fee for giving notice to the landlord of your ownership which is typically in the region of £100.00. Including the Vat, the total would be approximately £2,348.40 – the disbursements may be subject to slight change (depending on the search fees etc)."

Drawingaline

It does seem a little high for just a purchase. We paid approx £2800 for a sale and purchase. I would expect it to be a little higher for a leasehold property. However you don't want too low a quote, we did that for our previous sale and the service was awful. Get the other two quotes back and compare them. We are also in the SE.

Speedbird676

I asked the solicitor I usually use for a quote based on £215k leasehold purchase for a FTB and they quoted £2,028 + freeholder's registration fee.

Redwino222

I agree don’t go with the cheapest.  I did once and it was horrendous.  No solicitor working on the case and on moving day we had to sort lots out ourselves and the secretary’s just told us it was up to us whether to move or not😂🤣🤣.  The solicitor was arrested shortly afterwards for money laundering.  

Gemm83

Thanks all for your insights. Just got a quote from a solicitors further down the road for £1886. All other fee figures mentioned are extremely similar, their going rate is much less though. 

Irishpearce26

We paid £1300 for the sale and £2000 for the purchase, we used the same conveyancer for both. I thought this was high but knew I was paying for a reputable company that I had used before and were really efficient. Both transactions completed in 13 weeks (when we made the offer).

Be sure to check reviews against them as i would always pay a little more if i knew the service was spot on.