Residential Real Estate Charging Information

Residential Conveyancing Pricing

The residential property team at Jury O’Shea LLP provide an affordable, practical and personal service to individuals on all matters relating to the sale and purchase of freehold and leasehold properties.

We adopt a partner led approach so each matter will have a supervising partner although an associate or senior associate will have the day-to-day conduct of the matter.

In addition, under the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (“CQS”) there is also a Senior Reporting Officer.

This note provides a guide to how we calculate our charges for residential conveyancing and an indication of how much the typical transaction is likely to cost. For an estimate tailored to your specific matter, please contact us on info@juryoshea.com. We will discuss your matter and needs with you and provide you with a bespoke cost estimate.

Our hourly rates dependent upon seniority and are as follows:-

Sale	Class of Fee Earner	Rate per hour (£)
A	Partner /Senior Consultant	500
B	Senior Associate	350
C	Associate	275
D	Legal Executive/Conveyancer	225
E	Trainee Solicitor	125
F	Paralegal/Conveyancing Assistant	100

The profiles of the members of the Residential Real Estate Team can be viewed on our website.

Fees

Our charges are made up of:

• Our professional fees for the legal work, usually charged at an hourly rate (hourly rates listed above).
• Costs and expenses paid to others in order to progress your matter, such as Land Registry fees. We handle making these payments on your behalf during the course of your matter, either using money that you have given us in advance, or invoicing them to you together with our fees. These payments are called disbursements.
• VAT is charged on our professional fees at the applicable rate, which is currently 20%. Many disbursements also carry VAT, and we will inform you of the VAT on each disbursement as we go along.

We generally work on a fixed-fee basis for our residential property transactions and the fixed-fee quotation will be provided to you at the outset of each matter.  The fee covers all work, including taking your initial instructions and dealing with AML requirements, in relation to the key stages of a transaction. No property transaction is the same and our fees will reflect the requirements of the transaction such as the value of the property, whether it is freehold or leasehold and whether finance is required.

The following factors would also influence the fixed-fee quotation, but this list is not exhaustive:

• leasehold or freehold
• new build or off-plan or second hand
• value
• timescale and delays
• conditionality in contract
• listed building
• unregistered land
• title defects
• lack of building regulations or planning consent
• mortgage financing
• additional work required by your lender
• lease extension
• declaration of trust
• probate issues
• dealing with gifts
• complexity of the transaction
• auction sales and purchases

The fee quotation provided at the outset of the transaction would not cover the following matters and a separate quotation would be issued should your transaction involve these:

• Additional work required if the property is to be transferred within a company
• Preparing heads of terms or exclusivity agreements
• Perfecting issues in the title
• Creation of new leases
• Extending any lease (leasehold only)
• Arranging finance
• Arranging buildings and/or contents insurance
• Dealing with any disputed rights to transfer the property or other disputed third-party interests in the property
• Independent legal advice to any spouse as required by your lender
• Creation of deed of variations
• Arranging statutory declarations

In addition, we do not advise on the following matters:

• Advice on price, valuation and the commercial terms of any finance
• Tax planning or advice on SDLT
• A physical inspection of the property and its contents
• A survey of the land and building and contents

Please see the estimates below:

Property value	Freehold Fee Estimate	Leasehold Fee Estimate
£300,000 to £500,000	From 0.5% + VAT and disbursements	From 0.7% + VAT and disbursements
£500,001 – £1,000,000	From 0.4% + VAT and disbursements	From 0.6% + VAT and disbursements
£1,000,001 – £2,000,000	From 0.35% +VAT and disbursements	From 0.55% + VAT and disbursements
£2,000,001 – £3,000,000	From 0.3% +VAT and disbursements	From 0.5% + VAT and disbursements
£3,000,001 – £5,000,000	From 0.25% + VAT and disbursements	From 0.4% + VAT and disbursements
£5,000,000 +	To be agreed.	To be agreed

For transactions where we would charge at an hourly rate, we will normally charge in units of 6 minutes.  In respect of these transactions, we provide an estimate of our fees at the outset of each matter.

The pricing information set out above is a general guide and a more accurate estimate of fees will be given on a case-by-case basis, at the outset of the transaction, taking into account the factors highlighted above and the specific circumstances of the transaction.

We do not use conditional fee agreements in respect of any residential conveyancing transactions.

VAT

All fees are exclusive of VAT and disbursements.

VAT almost always applies to UK property transactions, even when you are based overseas. Where VAT applies, then we add this to our charges at the prevailing rate. The figures quoted above all include VAT at 20%.

The current rate of VAT is 20%.  Accordingly, an hourly rate of £300 plus VAT will mean a charge of £360 per hour. VAT rates can vary and we are legally required to charge the applicable VAT rate at the time that the work is undertaken. We will notify you of any changes to the VAT rates.

Most disbursements attract VAT at the prevailing rate. This will be added to the bills we receive and the cost of disbursements plus VAT will be passed onto you and included in our invoice.  We do not add VAT on to disbursements where VAT has already been added by the relevant third party.  Certain disbursements, such as official fees, are not subject to VAT.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs relating to your matter that are payable to third parties such as search fees.

The disbursements which you pay will depend on:

• Whether you are buying or selling property or both.
• Whether you are buying a freehold or leasehold property.
• The type of property, as some types of property may require additional searches or enquiries.
• The location of the property concerned, as properties in some locations may require additional searches or enquiries.

We usually ask for funds on account to cover the cost of these as they are expenses that we incur with third parties.

Disbursements differ between sales and purchases with the cost of disbursements for a purchase being much higher than those for a sale.For purchases we will lodge searches on your behalf and handle payment for those.   These include searches at HM Land Registry, a local authority search, a water and drainage search, an environmental search and other relevant searches such as a flood search.

We usually ask for a sum of between £450.00 and £650.00 on account of searches and third-party expenses.  The cost of disbursements is set out below.

Disbursements (inclusive of VAT)

ID Verification fee (per name)                                                  £30.00 plus VAT

Lawyer Checker Fee                                                                    £20.00 plus VAT

OS Plan                                                                                           £3.90

Index map search                                                                         £4.90

Local authority search                                                                £247.90

Drainage and water search                                                        £81.95

Chancel repair search                                                                 £27.60

Environmental search                                                                 £68.10

Specialist Flood search                                                               £36

Highways search                                                                          £68.88

Energy and Transportation search                                           £36

DevAssess search                                                                         £124

Completion of Stamp duty Land Transaction Form             £95.00 plus VAT

SDLT Admin Fee                                                                           £6.00

Land registration fee                                                                   varies between £20.00 to £500.00

Land Registry Admin Fee                                                           £6.00

e- Lodgement Fee                                                                        £28.00 plus VAT

Land Registry OS1 search fee                                                    £3.90

Bankruptcy search                                                                       £4.20 (per person)

Telegraphic transfer fee                                                              £45.00 plus VAT

Landlord’s Notice of assignment and /or charge fee           This can vary from £60.00 + vat onwards

Mortgage Admin transaction fee                                             £30.00 plus VAT

Archive Fee                                                                                    £39.00 plus VAT

Stamp Duty Land Tax (“SDLT”)

In addition to the above, SDLT will be payable. You must pay SDLT if you buy a property or land over a certain price in England.  This is the largest disbursement in a purchase transaction and is assessed on the purchase price.  SDLT is paid at the end of the transaction.

For more information about SDLT, see this link https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax

We recommend you seek independent financial advice should you be unsure about your SDLT liability. We are not professionally qualified to give such advice.  We shall prepare an illustrative calculation based on the information you have provided to us.

We will submit the SDLT or LTT return and pay the tax due on your behalf, from the funds we have received from you, your lender, or your connected sale.

Key stages and timescales

The key stages of a conveyancing matter when you are the seller include:

• Addressing AML and due diligence
• Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice
• Reviewing the legal title of the property and preparing the contract pack
• Negotiating/drafting/advising on contractual documents and in particular any special conditions in the sale
• Addressing pre contract enquiries and responding to any enquiries about the property
• Addressing issues of joint ownership (if applicable), probate, lasting powers of attorney
• Arranging for exchange of contracts and notifying you when exchange has taken place
• Arranging completion and notifying you when completion has taken place
• Addressing redemption of mortgages
• Addressing invoices for payment to agents
• Receiving/sending/distributing completion monies
• Dealing with the assignment of the lease (unregistered leasehold properties only)

The key stages of a conveyancing matter when you are the purchaser include:

• Addressing AML and due diligence along with source of funds
• Conducting conveyancing searches in relation to the property
• Checking that finances are in place to fund the purchase and corresponding with the lender and or their solicitors (if applicable)
• Receiving contract documents and title pack including a management pack and reviewing this
• Raising pre contract enquiries with the seller’s solicitors
• Making any necessary requirements of the seller’s solicitor
• Reporting on the legal title and issuing a certificate of title in the customary form
• Advising on the need for legal indemnity insurance (where applicable)
• Drafting transfer documents
• Advising on ‘short’ leases (if applicable).
• Explaining the conditions of mortgage offer to you (if applicable)
• Advising on joint ownership (if applicable)
• Obtaining pre-completion searches
• Arranging for exchange of contracts and notifying you when exchange has taken place
• Completing the SDLT Return on your behalf and submitting it to HMRC if instructed to do so and remitting your funds to HMRC in payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax due (subject to taxation thresholds, only certain transactions attract SDLT)
• Serving a Notice of Transfer on the landlord or its managing agents (leasehold only)
• Applying to register your purchase and any mortgage at Land Registry and responding to any requisitions raised by the land registry (where applicable).
• Overcoming any Land Registry Restrictions to registration of your purchase (where applicable)

Leasehold transactions

In addition to the work involved as set out above the following would also be undertaken:

• reviewing the details of the lease
• reviewing the management pack provided by the landlord or managing agent
• completing Leasehold Information Form
• communicating with the buyer’s legal advisors, the landlord or managing agent and estate agents at key stages
• dealing with the landlord’s requirements for a licence to assign the flat if required
• advising on any rent and service charge deposit required
• calculation of apportionments of service charge and ground rent due or payable on completion

The precise stages involved in the sale or purchase of a leasehold residential property vary according to the circumstances.

Timescales

The timescale of completion of a property transaction varies considerably depending upon its specific circumstances and parties involved.  There are also a number of complicating factors which can slow down a transaction, for example if the transaction is involved in a chain of transactions.  In addition, it can take some weeks for all the search results to come back depending on where the property is located.

Typically, where the transaction is straightforward and there are no complicating factors we would expect a property transaction to be completed between six to twelve weeks.

For transactions of high complexity where there are a number of complicating factors, you could expect the transaction to be completed within six to twelve months or sometimes longer.