Hill and Company Solicitors are required to provide price information regarding the conveyance of a residential property that is:
- Freehold sale or purchase
- Leasehold sale or purchase
- Mortgages or re-mortgage
Your conveyance will be conducted by our team of expert conveyancers. Richard Higham heads the department and has over 35 years of conveyancing experience. The other members of the department are Jack Jennison, who has been conveyancing for nearly a decade, James Fraser, who has worked in our conveyancing department since 2019, and Charles Barrand who is in training to become a solicitor. Their contact details can be found in the About Us section of this website.
Purchase of a freehold residential property
Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.
We offer a standard fixed fee for our residential property transactions subject to the proviso that the transaction has no complicating factors such as lack of certification for any alterations or building works carried out, title defects that need to be reported to lenders, remedied or indemnity insurance put in place or nonstandard mortgage conditions to be complied with. Our standard fixed fees start at £1,050 plus VAT* and disbursements and increase in line with the value of the property as detailed below.
Additional charges to cover complicated factors will be based upon the time needed to deal with them. The hourly rates charged will be dependent on the experience of the Solicitor dealing with the transaction at between £175 – £300 plus VAT*. We will provide you with an estimate of the total additional charges either at the outset of the transaction or when we become aware of any complicating factors.
If your purchase falls through before it is completed then we will charge for the time spent to the point where the matter became aborted subject to our fees never exceeding the agreed fixed fee and charges for dealing with any complicating factors.
Fees table
| Property Value | Our Fee (ex. VAT*) |
| Up to £200,000 | £1,050 |
| £200,001 – £400,000 | £1,150 |
| £400,001 – £500,000 | £1,300 |
| £500,001 – £750,000 | £1,550 |
| £750,000 – £1,000,000 | £1,800 |
| Above £1,000,000 | 0.2% of the purchase price |
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
On a freehold house purchase we would expect disbursements to include:
- Searches including but not limited to a search of the local land charge register and standard enquiries of the local authority, drainage search, environmental search, planning history and also any other recommended searches such as mining or flood risk. Prices depend on the area and search provider so we can only estimate that these will be between £200-400 plus VAT*.
- A fee for transferring any money as a same-day payment. For example, to forward the money to the seller's solicitors on completion: £57 inc. VAT*
- Identification check to satisfy money laundering requirements: £9.90 inc. VAT* per person
- Lawyer Check search to verify the seller’s solicitors bank details: £12 plus VAT*
- Pre-completion searches at the Land Registry: £3 per title. No VAT is applied to Land Registry searches
- Pre-completion bankruptcy search: £2 per name searched. No VAT is applied to Land Registry bankruptcy searches
- Additional fees for new build £300 plus VAT*
Stamp Duty or Land Tax (on purchase)
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website
How long will my house purchase take?
How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move into your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 8-16 weeks.
It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it could take 8 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 3 and 6 months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply.
Stages of the process
The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, below we have suggested some key stages
- Take your instructions and give you initial advice
- Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
- Receive and advise on contract documents
- Carry out searches
- Obtain further planning documentation if required
- Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor
- Give you advice on all documents and information received
- Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
- Send final contract to you for signature
- Agree to completion date (date from which you own the property)
- Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
- Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
- Complete purchase
- Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
- Deal with application for registration at Land Registry
Selling a residential property
Our fees cover all the work required to complete the sale of your property. We have set out below the key stages of a standard freehold sale.
Our fees will be determined by the value and complexity of the transaction and will also take into account any work required to deal with any unusual aspects of the sale.
We offer a standard fixed fee for our residential property transactions subject to the proviso that the transaction has no complicating factors such as lack of certification for any alterations or building works carried out, title defects that need to be reported to lenders, remedied or indemnity insurance put in place or nonstandard mortgage conditions to be complied with. Our standard fixed fees start at £900 plus VAT* and disbursements and increase in line with the value of the property as detailed below.
Fees table
| Property Value | Our Fee (ex. VAT*) |
| Up to £200,000 | £900 |
| £200,001 – £400,000 | £1,000 |
| £400,001 – £500,000 | £1,150 |
| £500,001 – £750,000 | £1,300 |
| £750,000 – £1,000,000 | £1,600 |
| Above £1,000,000 | 0.2% of the sale price |
Additional charges to cover complicated factors will be based upon the time needed to deal with them. The hourly rates charged will be dependent on the experience of the Solicitor dealing with the transaction between £175-300 plus VAT*. If we need to liaise with other solicitors in other departments within the firm then their hourly rates are also set out below. We will provide you with an estimate of the total additional charges either at the outset of the transaction or when we become aware of any complicating factors.
If your sale falls through before it is completed then we will charge for the time spent to the point where the matter became aborted subject to our fees never exceeding the agreed fixed fee and charges for dealing with any complicating factors.
Typical Disbursements
Disbursements are costs relating to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the Land Registry.
On a freehold house sale we would expect disbursements to include:
- Copies of Land Registry Title, register, plan and documents at £3 per document obtained
- Fee for transferring any money as a same-day payment, for example, to redeem an existing charge or account to you for the balance: £57 inc. VAT*
- Identification check to satisfy money laundering requirements: £9.90 inc VAT* per person
How long will my house sale take?
The stages involved in the sale of a residential property vary according to each particular transaction, however, we have listed below the key stages that will be covered by our legal fee
- Taking your instructions and providing you with initial advice;
- Obtaining title documents and prepare a Contract for Sale for submission to your buyer’s solicitors;
- Dealing with any title enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors;
- Obtaining a settlement figure for any charges secured against your property;
- Approving the form of Transfer supplied by the buyer’s solicitor;
- Meeting with you to obtain your signature on the Contract and Transfer document;
- Taking your instructions regarding proposed completion dates;
- Exchanging contracts to confirm the completion date and secure the sale of the Property;
- Completing the sale transaction and accounting to you and any existing lender for the sale proceeds;
- Accounting to any Estate Agents for settlement of their fees as pre-approved by you;
Remortgaging a residential property
Our fees cover all the work required to complete the re-mortgage of your property as step out below in the key stages of a re-mortgage transaction.
Our fees will be determined by the value and complexity of the transaction and will also take into account any work required to deal with any unusual aspects of the remortgage.
We offer a standard fixed fee for our residential property transactions subject to the proviso that the transaction has no complicating factors such as lack of certification for any alterations or building works carried out, title defects that need to be reported to lenders, remedied or indemnity insurance put in place or nonstandard mortgage conditions to be complied with. Our standard fixed fees start at £800 plus VAT* and disbursements and increase in line with the value of the property.
Additional charges to cover complicated factors will be based upon the time needed to deal with them. The hourly rates charged will be dependent on the experience of the Solicitor dealing with the transaction between £175 – £300 plus VAT*. If we need to liaise with other solicitors in other departments within the firm then their hourly rates are also set out below. We will provide you with an estimate of the total additional charges either at the outset of the transaction or when we become aware of any complicating factors.
If your remortgage falls through before it is completed then we will charge for the time spent to the point where the matter became aborted subject to our fees never exceeding the agreed fixed fee and charges for dealing with any complicating factors.
Typical Disbursements
Disbursements are costs relating to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the Land Registry.
On a re-mortgage we would expect disbursements to include:
- Fee for transferring any money as a same-day payment, for example, to redeem an existing charge or account due for the balance: £57 inc. VAT*
- Identification check to satisfy money laundering requirements: £9.90 inc. VAT* per person
- Searches (if required) including but not limited to, a search of the local land charge register and standard enquiries of the local authority, drainage search, environmental search, planning history and also any other recommended searches such as mining or flood risk. Prices depend on the area and search provider so we can only estimate that these will be between £300-400 plus VAT*
- Search indemnity insurance (taken in lieu of the above searches if your lender accepts the same): price depends on value but are usually in the region of £50 – £100 inc. VAT*
- If the property is leasehold, a sales information pack from the landlord/managing agent: these fees vary on the provider and can range from around £100 to in excess of £500 inc. VAT*
- Pre-completion searches at the Land Registry: £3 per title. No VAT is applied to Land Registry searches
- Pre-completion bankruptcy search: £2 per name searched. No VAT is applied to Land Registry bankruptcy searches
- Land registry fees. The fee will depend on the value and nature of the transaction and we recommend that you use the official Land Registry fee calculator to ascertain the likely charge http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/fees-calculator.html
- Fees payable to a third party such as a rent-charge collector or landlord/, managing, when providing notice of the new charge to them: these will be set by the third party
How long will my remortgage take?
The stages involved in the re-mortgage of a residential property vary according to each particular transaction, however, we have listed below the key stages that will be covered by our legal fee:
- Taking your instructions and providing you with initial advice;
- Obtaining contract, title and supporting information documents from the Land Registry and any documents you may hold
- Obtaining an information pack from any landlord or managing agent if the property is leasehold
- Reviewing the title and supporting documents and raise any necessary enquiries with you or a third party such as a landlord or managing agent if your property is leasehold
- Obtaining the usual searches for a property in the area in which your property is located and reviewing the contents or if your lender accepts insurance, obtain quotes in lieu of searches for a policy on completion
- Receiving mortgage instructions, reviewing the same and ensuring compliance with any conditions
- Meeting with you to obtain your signature on the Mortgage Deed and any other relevant documents
- Taking your instructions on suitable completion dates
- Obtaining settlement figures for any existing charges which are being repaid on completion
- Preparing a statement of account and obtaining any balance required from you
- Completing the new mortgage and redeeming any existing charges, as agreed with you and the new lender
- Registering the new mortgage with the Land Registry
- Serving a notice of charge on any relevant third parties
- Implementing any search indemnity insurance as necessary
- Providing you with confirmation of the registration of the new charge
- Providing your mortgage lender with a copy of the updated title documents
*VAT is currently applied at a rate of 20%
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