We know, from personal experience, that moving house can be one of the most stressful and exciting events in life: it’s something that most of us have been through ourselves. We work hard to make the process as stress-free as possible for you.
Before talking about our prices, we thought you might like to understand in a little more detail what is typically involved and how long it might take.
This is what we will do for you
- Provide you with details of the information you will need to give to your Buyer
- Prepare a draft contract including any necessary provisions that are required for your house.
- Put together a “contract pack” and send it to the buyer’s solicitors.
- Liaise with you to answer any queries that the Buyer may have arising from information in the contract pack.
- Once you and your buyer are ready to proceed we will arrange for you to sign all the necessary documents including the contract and the transfer deed.
- We will need to make sure that there will be sufficient funds from the sale to repay your mortgage.
- We will then exchange contracts, making the sale binding on you and your Buyer and the completion date will be agreed. “Completion” is when you actually sell your house and is usually the day you will move out.
- We will then prepare for completion:
- Preparing a completion statement showing the monies due to you and also any payments out such as the redemption of your mortgage.
- Obtain an up to date statement from your mortgage lender
- Make arrangements to repay the mortgage on your behalf.
- Arrange to pay your estate agents as this will usually be a term of your agreement with them.
- On the day you sell your house we will receive the agreed price from your buyer’s solicitors. We will keep you informed and let you know when to give the buyer the keys to your house.
- After completion, we will pay the amount to repay your mortgage and the estate agents and will send any balance to you – unless we need it for the purchase of a new home for you.
How long will all that take?
It varies: no two house sales are the same. For example, there may be several houses in a ‘chain’ which may complicate things.
As a rough guide, it should take about 10-12 weeks. This will always be dependent on all parties in the chain moving through the process without any issues arising.
There are things you can do to help us help you:
- Return all papers promptly
- Pay any monies on account promptly.
How much will it cost?
Our prices cover the work we will do for you to complete the sale of your house.
The price example below is for selling a house at £240,000.
If you are selling for more or less, legal fees will differ and we will be happy to give you an accurate tailored estimate. This will be between £1,485 and £3,240 plus VAT at 20% in each case and based on the hourly rate of the fee earner (David Stapleton £295 or Caroline Pearson £400 both plus VAT at 20%). The tailored estimate will take into account such factors as:
- The value of the property you are selling
- The location of the property
- Whether or not the property is tenanted when you sell
- The title to the property is not registered at the Land Registry yet
- There are multiple mortgages to pay off
- Issues with title such as lack of right of way or breach of covenants
- Transactions involving a high-risk jurisdiction
- Involvement of a trust, estate, deputyship or power of attorney
- Sale by a company
- Other complex or unusual ownership structures.
It is assumed in the example price that none of these complicating factors are present.
We pride ourselves on the fact that if you ask us to work for you, a member of our team, who is one of our qualified solicitors or legal executives will hold your hand throughout the process.
All our team are experienced in helping people like you move house and will be able to guide you through the process step by step and answer any queries you may have. You can click here to meet members of our conveyancing team.
The prices below presume that the house you are selling is comprised of a single freehold registered title with access from a public highway and only subject to one mortgage
This is the case for the majority of houses, but in the minority of houses where this is not the case more work will be needed and we will need to increase our prices.
Often we will not know whether any of our assumptions don’t apply until we see your legal title to your house. We do check these points as soon as we have the title and would then reassess the position with you if necessary before doing anything else.
| Title | Estimated cost | VAT @ 20% | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal fee | £1,485 | £297 | £1,782 |
| Electronic Money Transfer * | £35 | £7 | £42 |
* There are often two on a sale being one to send the mortgage repayment to your lender and the other to send the balance to you.
Other third party costs
In addition to the fees you will pay us, you will need to pay fees and charges to others which we will make on your behalf. These are pretty standard payments required for any house purchase and should be broadly the same whichever law firm you choose to instruct. These are often referred to as ‘disbursements’.
| Fee | Estimated cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| HM Land Registry fee | £6 – £12 +VAT at 20% (depending on your title) |
There will be a Land Registry fee for getting up to date copies of your title deeds. |
Finally sometimes if a problem is identified with a house it may be possible to deal with this by getting insurance which involves paying a one-off premium. In such cases, you may also incur an insurance premium (the price varies depending on the value of the house and the nature of the problem). We may have to charge more for arranging a policy like this and there will also be a premium.
Total price
The estimated total for selling a house based on the above information would be £1838.40. The price includes all VAT and payments made to third parties, except if an indemnity policy is required.
VAT – Please note that the addition of VAT to our charges is governed by very complex statutory provisions and extra-statutory guidance. Read more here.
What if I own a leasehold property?
If you own a leasehold property such as a flat our costs will usually be a bit higher. This is because the contract pack will need to contain details of the service charge and generally how the property is managed. There may also be provisions requiring certain steps to be taken or consents to be obtained before the property can be sold. If your leasehold property is affected by the Building Safety Act, then our costs will often be substantially higher, due to the additional work required to deal with the provisions of this legislation that will affect your sale.
You will also need to provide the Buyer with a management pack from the Landlord or management company who will charge for providing this. (This will include details of the insurance, the service charge plans and other information). The price for providing such a pack varies widely and your own Management Company or landlord will advise you what this cost is for your home.
What happens next?
We would love to act for you and help you sell your home.
If you would like a personalised quote, please contact a member of our team directly, or complete the contact form and a member of our team will be in touch.