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First time buyer
Pensioner2b
Posts: 18 Forumite
Daughter is buying her first house (on her own) has got 5 quotes for conveyancing. Surely there should be some law that says all conveyancing quotes should follow the same format.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
| Acting for Lender | £150.00 | ||||
| Additional Legal Fees for each bank transfer | £30.00 | ||||
| Anti fraud verfication of client id | £49.00 | £14.95 | |||
| Bankcruptcy Search per person | £2.00 | £2.00 | |||
| Banking and Bank Charges | £49.50 | £35.00 | |||
| Completion of Stamp Duty Form Fee | £50.00 | ||||
| Digital Onboarding Fee | £45.00 | ||||
| File Storage | £40.00 | £20.00 | |||
| Financial Transaction Fee-Out(Each) | £25.00 | £35.00 | |||
| Help to Buy Isa/Lisa Fee | £50.00 | £150.00 | £50.00 | ||
| ID Check | £6.00 | ||||
| Land Registry Application | £35.00 | ||||
| Land Registry Fee | £150.00 | £150.00 | £150.00 | £150.00 | £330.00 |
| Land Registry Search | £3.00 | ||||
| Land charges search | £2.00 | ||||
| Lender Portal Admin Fee if applicable | £25.00 | ||||
| Title Search | £3.00 | ||||
| Land Transaction Return Fee | £130.00 | ||||
| Lawyer Checker/Consumer | £3.75 | ||||
| Lawyer Checker/Solicitor | £18.00 | ||||
| Legal Fees | £800.00 | £1,000.00 | £950.00 | £595.00 | £795.00 |
| Mortgage Fee | £175.00 | ||||
| Official Priority Search | £6.00 | ||||
| Pre completion Searches | £29.50 | ||||
| SDLT Processing Fee | £75.00 | £75.00 | £75.00 | ||
| SDLT Submission Fee | £9.00 | ||||
| Search Pack | £299.00 | £500.00 | £300.00 | £250.00 | £250.00 |
| Solicitor Bank Detail Check Fee | £20.00 | ||||
| Stamp Duty | £0.00 | £499.95 | £0.00 | £0.00 | |
| VAT | £287.60 | £223.00 | £190.00 | £253.80 | £196.00 |
| VAT - Supplements | £80.14 | ||||
| Totals | £1,875.60 | £2,492.95 | £2,078.84 | £1,672.80 | £1,767.00 |
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Comments
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How did firm B come up with £499.95 "stamp duty"? Something's gone wrong there.1
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Can't make heads or tails off that, and ignoring the disbursements which the Solicitor doesnt set the cost of, I'm assuming you'd also want the same law applied to everyone else that sets their own fees?2
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And why would E charge more than twice the others for Land Registry?I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe, Old Style Money Saving and Pensions boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
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What's your actual question?Pensioner2b said:Daughter is buying her first house (on her own) has got 5 quotes for conveyancing. Surely there should be some law that says all conveyancing quotes should follow the same format.A B C D E Acting for Lender £150.00 Additional Legal Fees for each bank transfer £30.00 Anti fraud verfication of client id £49.00 £14.95 Bankcruptcy Search per person £2.00 £2.00 Banking and Bank Charges £49.50 £35.00 Completion of Stamp Duty Form Fee £50.00 Digital Onboarding Fee £45.00 File Storage £40.00 £20.00 Financial Transaction Fee-Out(Each) £25.00 £35.00 Help to Buy Isa/Lisa Fee £50.00 £150.00 £50.00 ID Check £6.00 Land Registry Application £35.00 Land Registry Fee £150.00 £150.00 £150.00 £150.00 £330.00 Land Registry Search £3.00 Land charges search £2.00 Lender Portal Admin Fee if applicable £25.00 Title Search £3.00 Land Transaction Return Fee £130.00 Lawyer Checker/Consumer £3.75 Lawyer Checker/Solicitor £18.00 Legal Fees £800.00 £1,000.00 £950.00 £595.00 £795.00 Mortgage Fee £175.00 Official Priority Search £6.00 Pre completion Searches £29.50 SDLT Processing Fee £75.00 £75.00 £75.00 SDLT Submission Fee £9.00 Search Pack £299.00 £500.00 £300.00 £250.00 £250.00 Solicitor Bank Detail Check Fee £20.00 Stamp Duty £0.00 £499.95 £0.00 £0.00 VAT £287.60 £223.00 £190.00 £253.80 £196.00 VAT - Supplements £80.14 Totals £1,875.60 £2,492.95 £2,078.84 £1,672.80 £1,767.00
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Brie said:And why would E charge more than twice the others for Land Registry?
Because E have quoted the fee Land Registry charge if the application is posted to them.
Solicitor has either quoted wrong, or are stuck in the past as most applications can and do get submitted via a website.1 -
Whoever she goes with, she can politely decline to pay file storage fees. The firm has to retain the file for 6 years anyway, most retain for longer.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her0 -
I would check before assuming that it is an optional charge. I suspect that the firms are well award that they have to keep their records, and of course that costs them money. I think that two of the quotes show that as an item in the quote, but they don’t mean that it’s optional.EssexHebridean said:Whoever she goes with, she can politely decline to pay file storage fees. The firm has to retain the file for 6 years anyway, most retain for longer.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?1 -
Yes, in the same way that you're not going to be able to forgo the "Solicitor Bank Detail Check Fee" by instructing your solicitor to not bother checking where they're sending the price...GDB2222 said:
I would check before assuming that it is an optional charge. I suspect that the firms are well award that they have to keep their records, and of course that costs them money. I think that two of the quotes show that as an item in the quote, but they don’t mean that it’s optional.EssexHebridean said:Whoever she goes with, she can politely decline to pay file storage fees. The firm has to retain the file for 6 years anyway, most retain for longer.
It's back to the era of the airlines charging unavoidable "checking in fees" and "fuel supplements" and the like in order to keep the headline price low.1 -
Send them each a copy of that summary and ask them to explain the differences.
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