RESIDENTIAL estimates
Sales and purchases
Freeholds: £1,000 + VAT + disbursements (but £750 + VAT + disbursements for properties under £250k and reduced rates for first time buyers)
Leaseholds: £1,500 + VAT + disbursements
Simultaneous mortgage (if CML lender): add £300 + VAT
Joint ownership trust deed: £185 + VAT
Re-mortgages/mortgages of freeholds (if CML lender):
If no existing mortgage to redeem: 2 hours @ £200 per hour = £400 + VAT + disbursements
If there is an existing mortgage to redeem: + 0.5 hour = £500 (total) + VAT + disbursements
Disbursements:
- Local & drainage searches: budget for £200
- LR copies: £18
- LR search: £4
- Bankruptcy searches: £2 per owner
- LR registration fee: £50 upwards, depending on size of loan
Leaseholds: add £185 + VAT + £24 LR fee for copy lease + £60 for Landlord’s registration fee.
Re-mortgages
PLEASE NOTE: Many lenders will carry out the legal work on a re-mortgage in-house and either free of charge or at a reduced rate. Check with your proposed new lender whether they will do this before incurring legal fees of your own
Our fee, for the re-mortgage of a single registered freehold title, with no change of ownership, would be £450 + VAT plus fees of £35 + VAT for each same-day electronic transfer of funds that we have to arrange. In addition, there will be various disbursements, as follows:
- Local & drainage searches: budget for £200
- LR copies: £18
- LR search: £4
- Bankruptcy searches: £2 per owner
- LR registration fee: £50 upwards, depending on size of loan
Leaseholds: add £185 + VAT + £24 LR fee for copy lease + £60 for Landlord’s registration fee.
Transfers of equity
Our basic fee, for the transfer of un-mortgaged freehold property without payment to the departing owner, no new owner and with no new mortgage: £250 (+ VAT + disbursements)
- Add-ons, as applicable:
- Existing mortgage to continue, with no new searches needed: + £200
- Discharge of old mortgage: +£100
- New mortgage (and therefore searches needed): +£350
- New owner to be added: +£100 (£250 if trust declaration needed)
- Leasehold property: +£250
Disbursements:
- LR copy charges: £18
- LR search fees: £4
- Bankruptcy searches: £2 per owner (outgoing, staying and incoming)
- LR registration fee: variable
- Search fees (if required):
- local search: depends on council: £95 to £144)
- other searches: depends on circumstances
(assume about £250 in all)
- SDLT: probably nil
- Landlord’s and agents’ fees (if leasehold): budget for £250
In order to provide a firm estimate, we will need answers to the following questions:
- Is anything being paid for the share in the property? If so, how much?
- Is there an existing mortgage? If so, is it staying in place and, if it is, how much is it?
- Is there to be a new mortgage? If so, for how much?
- What is the property worth?
- Is it freehold or leasehold?
- Is a new owner to be added?
Residential lease extensions
Assuming that the freehold title is registered and not subject to any mortgage and is owned by a company controlled by the leaseholders, for acting for the freeholder in granting lease extensions we would charge £250 + VAT + Land Registry copy charges of £20 (assuming we are given the freehold title number – if not, we may have to do an Index Map Search for which the Land Registry charges an extra £5). If the freehold is owned by the four individual leaseholders (as opposed to by a company controlled by them), our fee would be slightly higher – say £300
If we are also acting for the individual leaseholders (some or all of whom may prefer to use their own solicitors), we would charge a further £250 + VAT + Land Registry search and registration fees of £54, but if the leasehold titles are subject to mortgages we will need to prepare deeds to substitute the security (new lease for old) and liaise with the individual lenders, whose systems can be very slow and frustrating: this would probably double our fee to £500 + VAT – though some lenders are better than the average (so our fee would be lower) and some worse (so our fee would be higher). This aspect is largely outside our control, so we cannot be sure of the final cost until the work is finished. In addition, the lenders will probably charge their own administration fees (usually between £50 and £200, depending on the lender)
Buying amenity land
IE: “buying the view” or to extend your garden
NB: Changing agricultural land to garden land or similar requires planning permission)
Assuming –
- a clean registered title and
- a Land Registry compliant plan identifying the land and any rights affecting or benefiting it is supplied and
- the price is not more than £40,000 and
- preliminary searches, enquiries, etc, are not required
then our fee for checking and transferring title to the land, including registering the Transfer at the Land Registry, would be £400 + VAT plus the Land Registry fees of £58
Buying at auction
Buying at auction – single properties with registered titles –
Pre-auction investigations, assuming the Seller supplies all required paperwork:
- Vacant freehold properties: £400 + VAT
- Leasehold properties (or freehold properties subject to a lease): £600 + VAT
Post-auction transfer and registration of title
- Price up to £40,000: £400 + VAT
- Price over £40,000: £600 + VAT
- Fee for electronic transfer of funds: £35 + VAT
(plus search and registration fees, SDLT and any other disbursements)
COMMERCIAL estimates:
New long leases including searches and registration: £1,500 + VAT + disbursements
New short leases, no enquiries, searches or registration: £800 + VAT
Reviewing and reporting (only) on new short lease for tenant: £500 – £600 + VAT
Property + business sales: £2,000 + VAT + disbursements
Property + business purchases: £2,500 + VAT + disbursements
Property-only sales and purchases: £1,500 + VAT + disbursements
Goodwill-only sales and purchases: £1,200 + VAT + disbursements
Share purchase agreements: £5,000 – £6,000 + VAT + disbursements + property costs
Shareholder agreements and partnership agreements: £2,000 + VAT
Ts&Cs: for non-Web-based businesses, between £800 and £1,200 + VAT; for web-based businesses, between £1,400 and £1,800 + VAT.
Guarantees and third party mortgages: £350 + VAT
WILLS AND POWERS OF ATTORNEY
Wills
An individual straightforward Will: about £250 including VAT
Straightforward Wills for a married couple/civil partnership: about £350 including VAT
More complicated Wills (for instance, those involving the creation of trusts or tax-saving schemes) tend to cost more, but we will warn you if, in your case, these indications are likely to be exceeded.
In addition, there may be out-of-pocket expenses, but these are rare, and we will warn you in advance of them. The main possibilities are Land Registry fees (if ownership of a property has to be checked or adjusted), Companies Registry fees (if shares in a private company are to be left by Will), etc
Lasting Powers of Attorney
We recommend clients to complete the power of attorney and registration documentation themselves, if possible, to save unnecessary fees. The documents can be downloaded from the DirectGovwebsite – do not use www.publicguardian.co.uk: it is a commercial site; you will end up paying unnecessarily, and you cannot be sure that the up-to-date forms are supplied
If we prepare the power of attorney and apply for registration, we normally charge £400 + VAT for each power of attorney (including its registration)
In addition, the Public Guardian’s office charges a registration fee of £120 per power of attorney
PROBATE work:
Depends entirely on the amount of work involved, which can vary hugely from case to case
Our charging rate is £200 (plus VAT) per hour
As a rule of thumb, we reckon the “average” estate (if there is such a thing) involves about 15 hours’ work up to the grant of probate, and usually a little less from that point to the conclusion
A good starting budget is, therefore £6,000 + VAT and disbursements (probate fee of £50, creditors’ advertisement of about £200, etc); if it is a “small estate” (below the IHT threshold) then £3,000 + VAT etc would be the starting point.
However, once we have had a chance to see what is likely to be involved, we will revise that estimate – upwards or downwards, as appropriate – but it will still be an estimate, not a fixed fee. We will not significantly exceed the estimate without warning and explaining why
Factors likely to increase the work and therefore the fees include -
- Several executors
- Specific and/or pecuniary legacies
- Several residuary beneficiaries
- Trusts or minority interests
- Chargeable lifetime gifts
- Foreign assets
Any associated conveyancing or other additional work will be handled as normal, when our normal rates will apply
