Residential conveyancing: Mortgages and Remortgages
The Solicitors Regulatory Authority, the body which regulates law firms, require us to provide you with information on our costs in relation to certain legal services which we provide. This is so that you have the information you need to make an informed choice of legal service provider, and an understanding as to what the total cost of that service may be.
One such legal service is the sale, purchase and mortgage of residential property.
The fees which we charge for residential conveyancing depend on a wide variety of factors including but not limited to whether the transaction is a sale or purchase, where the property is, and whether it is a flat or a house.
We have provided information on the potential costs for sales, purchases and re-mortgages and listed the factors which may cause those costs to increase. However, fees will vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given. We can give you an accurate figure once we have specific information about the property including having sight of the relevant documentation.
This page details our pricing structure for mortgages and remortgages.
If you are taking out a mortgage on your property or changing your existing mortgage lender, we can undertake the legal work on your behalf. We will also, in most cases, be acting for your mortgage lender.
The basic legal fee, as shown in Table 1 below, is determined by a sliding scale based on the mortgage amount. The higher the amount, the higher that basic fee will be. This is due to the amount of risk attached to higher loan amounts.
Legal Fees:
| Mortgage amount | Fee Range excl VAT | Fee Range incl VAT charged at 20% |
| Up to £500,000 | £445 | £534 |
| Over £500,000 | £645 | £774 |
We will charge an additional fee (on top of the fees referred to above) of £500 plus VAT at 20% (£600 incl. VAT) if the property is a leasehold flat. If the property has solar panels then we will charge an additional fee of £200.00 plus VAT at 20% (£240 incl. VAT).
Disbursements: These are cost relating to your matter that are payable to 3rd parties
| Disbursement | Cost excluding VAT | Cost including VAT charged at 20% |
| Copies of the register of title and plan (per title number) (obtained through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £1.00 (plus VAT)) | £7.00 | £8.40 |
| Copies of documents referred to in the register of title (per document) (obtained through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £0.50p (plus VAT)) | £3.50 | £4.20 |
| Local Authority Search | * | |
| Drainage Search | ** | |
| Environmental Search (based on a Groundsure Homebuyers Report)
Environmental search (based on a Groundsure Avista Report – includes a Cheshire Salt Search and a Coal Mining Search where these are needed) |
From £80
From £120.00 |
From £96.00
From £144.00 |
| Coal Mining Search
https://www2.groundstability.com/mining-reports-prices-2018/
|
From £40.00 | From £48.00 |
| Cheshire Salt Search
https://www.groundsure.com/cheshire-salt-search
|
From £33 | From £39.60 |
| Index Map Search (obtained through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £0.34p (plus VAT)) | £4.34 | £5.20 |
| Land Registry Search per title (obtained through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £0.50p (plus VAT)) | £3.50 | £4.20 |
| Bankruptcy Search per person (obtained through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £0.67p (plus VAT)) | £2.67 | £3.20 |
| Land Registry Registration Fee | https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees#scale-2-fees | |
| Electronic ID check (where so required) (approx.) | £6.25 | £7.50 |
| Electronic Money Transfer Fee | £30 | £36.00 |
| For Companies – Filings at Companies House (needed where a company is re-mortgaging)
MR01, MR02, MR04 & MR05 Filings (Per Submission) dealt with through our system search provider and includes their administration fee of £5.50 (plus VAT)) |
£17.50 | £21.00 |
| Digital Land Registration Fee | £5.00 | £6.00 |
| Sign It (powered by Docusign – per parcel) | £2.00 | £2.40 |
| Enhanced VOF (Verification of Funds) – (per party) | £4.00 | £4.80 |
| Questionnaire (inc covering documents for signing) – (per person) | £6.50 | £7.80 |
* Local Authority Searches: The price of a local authority search is set by the relevant local authority. Fees can range from £75 – £200 plus VAT at 20% and we can give you a specific cost once we know which local authority the property falls within.
** Drainage Search: The price of a drainage search is set by the relevant service provider. Fees range from £40 – £100 plus VAT at 20% and we can give you a specific cost once we know which provider services the property.
Your lender may accept a personal search bundle. This includes the Local Authority Search, Environmental Search and relevant mining searches. These bundles are often cheaper over all than the individual searches. We will advise you on whether this is an option once we know which lender your are using.
Alternatively, if you lender allows it ‘No Search Indemnity Insurance’ may be able to be implemented in place of the above searches (with the exception of the salt search which would still have to be carried out). The cost of such insurance depends on the value of the property and will vary from insurer to insurer. As an example a No Search Indemnity Insurance Policy covering Standard Conveyancing Searches for a property with a value of between £100,001 and £200,000 (lender only cover) is around £56.00. Your local office will provide you with more details once your Lender is known..
Where the property is leasehold Notice Of Charge needs to be served under the terms of the lease. The amount payable will be found in the lease.
Our fees assume that:
- This a standard residential re-mortgage transaction and that no unforeseen matters will arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which require remedying prior to completion of the mortgage or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction.
- That this is not a mortgage or a re-mortgage of a commercial or investment property.
- That the transaction is in the name of an individual only and not a company. If you are mortgaging or re-mortgaging in the name of a company, please call your nearest office for a quotation.
- That the transaction is not connected to or relating to any commercial transaction, for example but not limited to, a refinancing arrangement. If this is the case, please call our Gadbrook Park office for a quotation.
- That the mortgage offer does not contain any additional terms as a result of, but not limited to, previous credit issues, being self employed and/or previously having defaulted on a loan.
- The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unreasonable complications arise.
- All parties in the transaction are cooperative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation.
- No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may be required if an indemnity policy is required.
How long will my remortgage take?
How long your re-mortgage will take depends on several factors including what specific requirements the lender has, the type of property being re-mortgaged and whether any additional work needs to be undertaken to comply with the lenders mortgage conditions. An average re-mortgage will take between 4 and 8 weeks. Our Residential Property Team will talk you through the procedure and likely timescales in more detail once the specifics of the mortgage are known.
You can view the key stages a of a usual remortgage transaction here.