If you’re looking to buy a property and you’re starting to work out your budget, accounting for conveyancing fees is an important factor, and not one to be missed.
While it may seem that house deposits and mortgage offers are at the forefront of your mind, understanding exactly what conveyancing fees are and what these costs include can help you plan for your overall finances.
That’s why, here at Bespoke Law Services, we’ve put together this useful guide explaining all you need to know about conveyancing solicitors’ fees. We’ll cover what’s included in these costs, how they’re calculated and when they should be paid.
What are Conveyancing Fees?
Conveyancing is a legal process that’s undertaken by conveyancers or solicitors when you buy or sell a home. Conveyancing costs are paid to your solicitor or conveyancer for the services they provide in navigating the legalities of transferring property ownership from a seller to a buyer.
Each solicitor’s conveyancing fees are different, and the largest varying factors are the type and price of property you’re purchasing or selling.
The conveyancing process begins when an offer is accepted and finishes when the funds are exchanged and the property sale is completed.
What’s the Average Conveyancing Cost in the UK?
In the UK, average conveyancing fees typically range from £1,300 to £1,600 for a property purchase.
However, these costs vary significantly based on a number of factors, including:
- How expensive the property is: Typically, the more expensive a property sale is, the higher the liability for solicitors and conveyancers, so the base legal fee may increase. Plus, Land Registry fees are tiered, so they can also increase with the purchase price.
- If you’re selling or buying, or both: Conveyancing fees are typically more expensive for buyers due to the third-party disbursements associated with buying a property.
- Your property’s location: Depending on where your property is located, you may be forced to conduct extra checks, for example, if it’s built in a historical area or near mining areas.
- How complex the sale is: This covers whether it’s part of a lengthy property chain or if it’s a property sale from probate after someone has died, for example.
- If the property is leasehold: Leasehold properties may involve more paperwork, including reviewing lease terms, ground rents and service charge maintenance, which is all accounted for in the conveyancing fee.
- If the property is Shared Ownership: These types of property sales often involve extra legal checks and third-party contracts.
- Whether it’s a cash purchase or mortgage: Cash buyers bypass certain fees that having a mortgage can cause, such as complying with the strict handbook of the lender and admin costs.
Generally, the more complex the property sale, the more legal work that is required, which leads to a higher conveyancing fee upon completion.
What Do Conveyancing Fees Include?
As part of the conveyancing process, many factors are considered to ensure the legal transition of buying or selling a property is completed. These can include:
- Drafting/reviewing contracts: Putting together the contract and reviewing it as the process progresses are key parts of the conveyancing process.
- Conducting property searches: Ordering, reading and interpreting the results of local authority, environmental and drainage results.
- Raising enquiries/answering queries: Liaising with the other side’s solicitor to question or address various points regarding the property, such as property boundaries, rights of way and missing planning permissions.
- Handling finances: Receiving the mortgage advance, blending it with the cash balance, and executing the legally binding step in which the deposit is transferred and a completion date is confirmed.
- Managing HM Land Registry: Officially logging the new legal owner and managing administrative tasks around this.
- Stamp Duty Land Tax: A government tax, this may be payable when you’re purchasing a property or a piece of land. Head to the Government website to learn more about how much Stamp Duty you may need to pay.
Read our guide on the conveyancing procedure for more information.
It’s also important to remember that conveyancing fees are only a fraction of the picture – don’t forget to account for mortgage fees, refurbishment or decorating costs and removals when planning out your full property budget.
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Conveyancing Fees: FAQs
Is it the buyer or the seller who pays for conveyancing costs?
In short, it’s both the buyer and seller of the property who pay. They both pay for their own separate conveyancer’s fees.
However, the overall cost of these conveyancing fees can vary considerably depending on whether you’re buying, selling or both.
Which is more expensive – sellers’ conveyancing fees or buyers’?
Generally, prices tend to be higher for buyers purchasing a property due to the larger number of third-party costs (disbursements).
Conveyancers will also need to act more on behalf of the buyer, such as checking their mortgage offer and submitting their Stamp Duty Land Tax return.
When are conveyancing fees usually paid?
When you hire a solicitor for conveyancing, or a conveyancer, you will usually make an upfront payment to the account. This is to cover any initial costs, such as online ID-checking fees, searches and the purchase of official copies from HM Land Registry.
If you’re buying a property, you usually won’t need to pay anything until you exchange contracts.
All final balances of the money are paid the day before completion on the property, including HM Land Registry Fees, the balance of your conveyancer fees and Stamp Duty.
What happens to conveyancing fees if the sale falls through?
If the property sale falls through, which could happen for a number of reasons, you will still be liable to pay some of the conveyancing fees.
This will be due to work that has already been completed, work that has been scheduled and paid for and any third-party disbursements.
The further along you are in the property sale, the more conveyancing fees you will have accumulated.
It’s a good idea to discuss this with your conveyancer at the beginning of the process to ensure there’s clarity on what would happen if the sale fell through.
