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The fees for buying a home is the biggest scam known to man.
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SneakySpectator
Posts: 326 Forumite

I've just had a breakdown of the conveyancer fees and my god what an absolute joke. You basically pay a fee for every single element of buying a home.
File opening fee, search fee, ID check fee, electronic transfer fee, source of funds verification fee and there's like 6 others I can't even be bothered to list.
I actually believe conveyancer fees are part of the government agenda to milk as much money as humanly possible from people wanting to exchange property.
Why can't it just be like buying a car? You go and inspect it, maybe hire a professional to give it the once over if it's an expensive car, agree a price with the seller, do a standard online check on the government database to make sure the guy actually owns the car, hire a solicitor to whip up a quick exchange contract and job done.
It's utterly insane how much baggage is involved in buying a home. I wouldn't mind if it was a half million pound home but people buy cars that are 3x as expensive as my flat without needing all this extra crap.
What a joke. 3 days into the process and I'm already stressed, I can only imagine how much is involved when a company buys land to build something... Jesus Christ.
File opening fee, search fee, ID check fee, electronic transfer fee, source of funds verification fee and there's like 6 others I can't even be bothered to list.
I actually believe conveyancer fees are part of the government agenda to milk as much money as humanly possible from people wanting to exchange property.
Why can't it just be like buying a car? You go and inspect it, maybe hire a professional to give it the once over if it's an expensive car, agree a price with the seller, do a standard online check on the government database to make sure the guy actually owns the car, hire a solicitor to whip up a quick exchange contract and job done.
It's utterly insane how much baggage is involved in buying a home. I wouldn't mind if it was a half million pound home but people buy cars that are 3x as expensive as my flat without needing all this extra crap.
What a joke. 3 days into the process and I'm already stressed, I can only imagine how much is involved when a company buys land to build something... Jesus Christ.
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Comments
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The government don’t set the conveyancing fees.
Each conveyancer sets their own fees, just like any other business.9 -
If you looked a little deeper you would find that every single fee you have been charged can be justified. There is a process that needs to be followed. I'm sometimes surprised that the fees I've been charged are not higher, given the amount of effort required.8
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How is a government conspiracy? They don’t set the fees.Yes it’s bureaucratic and frustrating process but for the vast majority of people, buying a property is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make. There needs to be legal safeguards and checks and balances for the protection of everyone.(And wow - as the average house price in England in 2025 is £296,000 that’s some pretty expensive cars!!!)5
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I believe that the fees charged by the cheapest online conveyancers are cheap for a transaction as big as buying a house.
However, I personally paid more for a local reputable law firm who gave me very good service.
You can go onto a site such as https://cheapconveyancing.co.uk/ (I haven't used that site, I don't condone it) and find the cheapest possible conveyancing for your house.
But, I wouldn't touch the cheapest possible conveyancers with a bargepole.5 -
It is very backward in the UK when it comes to buying a house. I bought my house last year and it took 5 months from offer to complete.
This was a cash purchase with no on-going chain at all and yet it still took forever. My colleague was buying a house in the US and put it an offer at the end of September and completed before me at the beginning of November.
However, when it comes to cost, it was a lot cheaper for me in conveyancing fees that it was for my colleague. They paid well over 50% more than I did. Apparently, it is so quick because the US use insurances to cover any problems that might arise with the house instead of checking everything. He told me he paid about $1,000 just for that whereas I paid £1,300 for absolutely everything. Also, he had to pay stamp duty as there is no relief in the US like we have here.2 -
The reason I say it's a government conspiracy is because yes the conveyancers set the fees but all the checks are mandated by the government, which they collect tax on.
There are approximately 1.2 - 1.4million residential property exchanges per year, let's just assume each every exchange is successful (which they're not, a lot fall through) and each costs £2,000, which is low to average. That's £2.6billion in fees, of which the government then collects taxes on.
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SneakySpectator said:I've just had a breakdown of the conveyancer fees and my god what an absolute joke. You basically pay a fee for every single element of buying a home.
File opening fee, search fee, ID check fee, electronic transfer fee, source of funds verification fee and there's like 6 others I can't even be bothered to list.
And why do you not shout about the SDLT where S stands for just 'stamp'?0 -
It's important not to just look at the fees. Also look at the reviews as well as how long this company has been operational. Along with that, for me anyway, they have to have a physical office.
As others have posted correctly, like any business, they can set their own fees.
A business is there to make a profit.
Do not forget, if the conveyancer runs off with your money, ie outright fraud, there is a compensation scheme but I'm not sure what is the max you can recover and how long it takes. If the company is owned by more than one person/conveyancer and they all run away with you money, I'm not sure how that will pan out. This is one of the main reason I only use very well-established lot.
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SneakySpectator said:...
Why can't it just be like buying a car? You go and inspect it, maybe hire a professional to give it the once over if it's an expensive car, agree a price with the seller, do a standard online check on the government database to make sure the guy actually owns the car, hire a solicitor to whip up a quick exchange contract and job done.
...
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So you buy a property baed on the fact that the seller actually owns it (and is who they say they are), with a contract that a solicitor "whips up", and you hand over all that cash? What happens when you find the property is built on mining land and has the potential for major subsidence, or on a flood plain, or the seller heard about a proposed road being built through the back garden?3
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