Conveyancing Quote Seems Expensive?

Noneforit999

Hi

We are selling our house and buying a new build.

Got a quote from a local conveyancing firm.

£1230 to sell ours
£2520 to buy the new build

We have to factor in a management pack we have to buy for ours also, around £450. 

Nearly £4K in conveyancing seems a lot to me, am I beating unrealistic. Was expecting £2500 ish?

With stamp duty being £13.5k and seller fees around £5k too, you can see why people opt for extensions or loft conversions! 

Ta

ic

Keep quoting.  I'm not sure of the going rate on new build, I guess there's some first time registration stuff to deal with.  I moved last year, and paid £1600 total for conveyancing.  Estate agents fees was another matter...

Kyresa

How much of that is actually solicitors fees and not disbursements?  Also, what estate agents are you using to sell?  How much are they charging?   

Noneforit999

Kyresa said:

How much of that is actually solicitors fees and not disbursements?  Also, what estate agents are you using to sell?  How much are they charging?   

So sell is £950 ex VAT and buy is £1550 ex VAT for solicitor fees.

Using a local EA who sold our neighbours in a week so recommended. His fee is 1% plus VAT which seems ok when I looked around. 

Kyresa

Ask the estate agent to reduce his fee by a couple of grand.  It's the solicitors that have to do all the work and carry all the indemnity insurance after all.  

Noneforit999

We are in Kent so likely more expensive than elsewhere but sounds like I should be shopping around a little bit. When we bought this house it was about £1250 for legal fees so was expecting maybe twice that. 

davilown

What’s the breakdown of fees? 

canaldumidi

What do those fees include/exclude?

How much are you paying the estate agent ( probably more for someone with zero training who does far less work!)?

How does the quote compare with the other 2 high street solcitors you approached?

ccbrowning

It's not far from what I'm paying and I live a bit rural, but it is a great solicitor that I'm using. I think about £1200 to sell and £2000 to buy - all fees and VAT included in those prices.

user1977

Noneforit999 said:

We are in Kent so likely more expensive than elsewhere

You don't need to use somebody local to you. 

Drawingaline

About £2800 total to sell and buy. But non leasehold. If you are dealing with a leasehold it may be more. We are in the south and used a local well thought of firm. We also paid 1% to the EA, and tbh they were fantastic and earned that when we out a buyer and had to get a new one through in 9 weeks. A FTB who they hand held and chivied along to ensure we are it before our offer expired.