Buying House - Solicitor Fees List

Mody123

Hi all,

I am purchasing a property and just this estimate from my solicitor. I thought it’s on the high side, especially since we’re also using him for selling our current property. 

What do you think?

Purchase costs (Including VAT)                                              960.00

Bank transfer                                                                          36.00

Preparing and submitting SDLT form                                     120.00

Storage of documents for 6 years      120.00

General office expenses- postages, telephone calls etc       120.00

Searches  - (Approx)                                                               180.00

Stamp Duty - TBA

Land Registry fees                                                                  270.00

AML search                                                                             20.00

Land Registry/ OS1 and AP1                                                  16.60

Total                                                                                        £1,842.60

 

Shaztastic3000

Looks a great price

Thrugelmir

Which element is expensive?  

user1977

Why do you think it's on the high side? Have you had competing quotes?

Bit absurd of them to have non-optional things like "storage of documents" and "general office expenses" as separate items - those are just normal overheads. And almost every purchase involves an SDLT return, so why not bung it into the main fee?

Mody123

I was just looking at the whole price. I cant say with any authority why it is high, I think I thought it would be around £1500 as the cost he charged for selling my property was around £1100. 

Antman27

My solicitor charges similar for basic fee, land registry fee, search fees. But there's no charge for bank transfer, office expenses, preparing SDLT form and document storage, so is about £200 lower.    

MrsBrush

It is a lot more work for the solicitor acting for a purchase, so not overly high. You can pay a lot less by using a conveyancing factory, but... you will get what you pay for!

MaryNB

Mody123 said:

I was just looking at the whole price. I cant say with any authority why it is high, I think I thought it would be around £1500 as the cost he charged for selling my property was around £1100. 

The solicitor I used charges less for a sale than a purchase - that's just the base fee. SDLT doesn't apply and searches aren't required for selling a property.

£1.8k seems reasonable for a purchase. It's pretty much what I paid for a £270k house and that was before solicitors put up their prices due to high demand during the SDLT holiday.

canaldumidi

Mody123 said:

Hi all,

I am purchasing a property and just this estimate from my solicitor. I thought it’s on the high side, especially since we’re also using him for selling our current property. 

What do you think?

Purchase costs (Including VAT)                                              960.00 seems fair with the VAT icluded

Bank transfer                                                                          36.00 standard

Preparing and submitting SDLT form                                     120.00 should really be included as standard within the 960

Storage of documents for 6 years      120.00 If it's optional, just decline and request all docs are sent toyou instead. If non-optional (quite likely they have to do this) then should be included as standard within the 960

General office expenses- postages, telephone calls etc       120.00 What the !!? should be included as standard within the 960

Searches  - (Approx)                                                               180.00 standard

Stamp Duty - TBA   a government tax.No choice

Land Registry fees                                                                  270.00  standard

AML search                                                                             20.00 standard

Land Registry/ OS1 and AP1                                                  16.60 standard

Total                                                                                        £1,842.60

 

Personaly I'd be annoyed by a firm that charges those elements that are necessary parts of the conveyancing. What next? A bill for their office electricity?

user1977

Mody123 said:

I was just looking at the whole price. I cant say with any authority why it is high, I think I thought it would be around £1500 as the cost he charged for selling my property was around £1100. 

Buying means paying for searches and registration (unavoidable really), and often the legal fees are a bit higher because there's more responsibility on the part of the solicitor.

user1977

canaldumidi said:

Mody123 said:

Hi all,

I am purchasing a property and just this estimate from my solicitor. I thought it’s on the high side, especially since we’re also using him for selling our current property. 

What do you think?

Purchase costs (Including VAT)                                              960.00 seems fair with the VAT icluded

Bank transfer                                                                          36.00 standard

Preparing and submitting SDLT form                                     120.00 should really be included as standard within the 960

Storage of documents for 6 years      120.00 If it's optional, just decline and request all docs are sent toyou instead. If non-optional (quite likely they have to do this) then should be included as standard within the 960

General office expenses- postages, telephone calls etc       120.00 What the !!? should be included as standard within the 960

Searches  - (Approx)                                                               180.00 standard

Stamp Duty - TBA   a government tax.No choice

Land Registry fees                                                                  270.00  standard

AML search                                                                             20.00 standard

Land Registry/ OS1 and AP1                                                  16.60 standard

Total                                                                                        £1,842.60

 

Personaly I'd be annoyed by a firm that charges those elements that are necessary parts of the conveyancing. What next? A bill for their office electricity?

Unfortunately once airlines started itemising "fuel surcharges" and the like, this sort of thing started spreading...