Moving Home

Moving home can be exciting for you, but it can also be stressful, confusing and complicated. This is something that our team of housing solicitors in Beverley, Lincoln, Alford, Horncastle, Grimsby and Louth are well aware of. This is why our whole process has been organised and simplified to give you one thing less to worry about.

Our step-by-step approach makes any legal requirement and red tape of mortgage procedures far easier to follow and understand. Whilst our expert conveyancing solicitors apply their knowledge and allocate the best advice, our Client Connect service allows you to track your case online at all times, making the entire process flow from start to finish.

Selling Your Property

Once a buyer has been found, your solicitor will prepare a contract to go to your buyer, which will include a property information form.

If you are engaging your solicitor to undertake your sale and purchase, then once you have found a property to buy and made an offer, you will need to contact your solicitor who will obtain the contract from the seller’s solicitor and effect searches if necessary.

First-Time Buyers

If you are a first time buyer, then before viewing properties, it is advisable to visit your bank or financial advisor to obtain a mortgage certificate to find out how much you can borrow. Once you have found a property to buy, contact our property solicitors and we will guide you through the legal process.

The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme

We are members of the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), which provides a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing practices. Since inception in 2011, the CQS has created a trusted community which has helped year on year to deter fraud and continually improve standards across the residential conveyancing sector.

The buying and selling of a home is usually the largest transaction that most people undertake in their lives. By being a member of CQS, you can be assured that our moving home team has the necessary skills and expertise to provide residential conveyancing advice, and will provide all the information you need to understand the process, options, costs and timescales.

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The Conveyancing Association

We are also members of the Conveyancing Association - the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry.

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Moving Home

The process of moving home, and buying or selling residential property is known as conveyancing. We have set out below a guide as to how much our specialist conveyancing service is likely to cost.

As the value and type of each property differs as does the service you require, the guide provides an estimate only. We would be happy to discuss your specific requirements and give you an appropriate fixed fee quote.

Sale

The guide below applies where you are selling a property which is freehold. This means that you own the property outright, including the land it’s built on. This sets out an estimate of what you will pay and varies depending on the sale price. Should you be selling a property with a value in excess of £1,000,000 please contact us for an explanation of our fees.

If you are selling a flat which is leasehold, we charge an additional £240 inclusive of VAT for our fees. A leasehold property is one where you own the property and its land for the length of the lease agreement and when the lease ends, ownership returns to the freeholder. Additionally, there are other charges (known as disbursements) that will be payable over and above those outlined in the guide below if you are selling any type of leasehold property. Details of these can be found below the fees guide.

Please note our scale fees as set out below do not apply in the following circumstances so please contact us for an explanation of our fees.

  • Selling a property which is owned under a shared ownership scheme.
  • Selling a parcel of land, such as part of your garden.
  • Selling a property/properties that you have built within the boundary of your residential property.

Fees

ValueFeeVATOffice CopiesTransfer Fee *Estimated Total
£0 - £100,000£530£106£6£30£672 inc VAT
£100,001 - £150,000£570£114£6£30£720 inc VAT
£150,001 - £200,000£620£124£6£30£780 inc VAT
£200,001 - £250,000£670£134£6£30£840 inc VAT
£250,001 - £300,000£720£144£6£30£900 inc VAT
£300,001 - £400,000£770£154£6£30£960 inc VAT
£400,001 - £500,000£800£160£6£30£996 inc VAT
£500,001 - £600,000£850£170£6£30£1,056 inc VAT
£600,001 - £700,000£900£180£6£30£1,116 inc VAT
£700,001 - £800,000£950£190£6£30£1,176 inc VAT
£800,001 - £900,000£1,000£200£6£30£1,236 inc VAT
£900,001 - £1,000,000£1,100£220£6£30£1,356 inc VAT

* Electronic money transfer fee

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Additional Disbursements for leasehold properties

Disbursements are payable in addition to our fees. These are payments to third parties, such as payments to the Land Registry for an official copy of the title to your property. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. When we are dealing with the sale of a leasehold property there are additional disbursements other than those indicated in the table above. The anticipated disbursements are set out below.

Standard management pack

This contains replies to standard enquiries and is normally provided by the Landlord or their agent. On occasions it may be necessary to request a management pack from both the Landlord and their agent. On occasions a fee is not charged but typically, we have found that the fee that is charged by each may be between £180 and £420 inclusive of VAT.

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FAQs

What work is covered?

  • To deal with the sale of your property including obtaining deeds, drafting the contract, providing the Buyer’s solicitors with evidence of your Title.
  • Obtaining the management pack(s) – Leasehold properties only.
  • Dealing with any enquiries raised by the Buyer’s solicitors.
  • Completing the sale of your property, paying off any mortgage, paying the Estate Agents and accounting to you for the proceeds.

What work is not covered?

We will not advise you on and will not be responsible or liable for the following:

  • Any tax liability other than Stamp Duty Land Tax.
  • Any matters relating to the physical structure and condition of the property.
  • Accountancy advice issues.
  • Any valuation advice.
  • Any other matter outside the scope of the work detailed above.

Factors that would typically change the cost of the service

We base our fees on the following:-

  • The scope of our work remains as set out above.
  • That no information material to the transaction has been or will be withheld.
  • The matter does not become unduly protracted or complicated.

If any of the above circumstances arise then we will contact you to agree a revised quote.

Explanation as to how long it will take:

An average transaction takes in the region of 6 – 10 weeks. Some transactions can be shorter and some can be considerably longer. We are very much dependent on third parties and factors such as unregistered land, leasehold titles, mortgage difficulties, problems with the title and also the length of the chain of transactions can all influence timescales.

Please do not book removals or commit yourself to any expense in connection with moving house without first discussing this with us.

What are the stages of the process

For more information, please refer to the Buying and Selling Property Guide.

Purchase

The guide below applies where you are purchasing a property which is freehold. This means that you will own the property outright, including the land it’s built on. This sets out an estimate of what you will pay and varies depending on the purchase price. Should you be purchasing a property with a value in excess of £1,000,000 please contact us for an explanation of our fees.

If you are purchasing a flat which is leasehold, we charge an additional £240 inclusive of VAT for our fees. A leasehold property is one where you own the property and its land for the length of the lease agreement and when the lease ends, ownership returns to the freeholder. Additionally, there are other charges (known as disbursements) that will be payable over and above those outlined in the guide below if you are purchasing any type of leasehold property. Details of these can be found below the fees guide.

Please note our scale fees as set out below do not apply in the following circumstances so please contact us for an explanation of our fees.

  • Purchasing a new build.
  • Purchasing a property under a shared ownership scheme.
  • Purchasing with the help of an equity loan, through a help to buy scheme or with the assistance of a help to buy ISA.

Please note if the property you are purchasing is outside the North East Lincolnshire boundary, the Local Authority search fee will be £95 and not the £70 indicated.

Additionally, it is this firm’s policy to check the identity of the seller’s solicitor should they not be known to us, We use Lawyer Checker and this will be an additional cost of £12 (inclusive of VAT). This will help to protect both yourself and your lender against the risk of a criminal stealing the identity of a legitimate legal firm. Lawyer Checker enables us to assess the risk of transferring the purchase funds to the seller’s solicitor’s firm by comparing the bank account details they supply us with against a database of previous conveyancing transactions.’

ValueFeeVATLocal Search FeesSearchesLand Registry *Chancel Insurance CoverElectronic Money Transfer FeeEstimated Total
£0 - £70,000£520£104£70£10£20£8.00£30£762.00
£70,001 - £100,000£570£114£70£10£40£8.00£30£842.00
£100,001 - £150,000£570£114£70£10£95£8.00£30£897.00
£150,001 - £200,000£620£124£70£10£95£8.00£30£957.00
£200,001 - £250,000£670£134£70£10£135£8.00£30£1057.00
£250,001 - £300,000£770£154£70£10£135£8.00£30£1177.00
£300,001 - £400,000£820£164£70£10£135£8.00£30£1237.00
£400,001 - £500,000£870£174£70£10£135£8.00£30£1297.00
£500,001 - £600,000£920£184£70£10£270£8.00£30£1492.00
£600,001 - £700,000£970£194£70£10£270£8.00£30£1552.00
£700,001 - £800,000£1020£204£70£10£270£8.00£30£1612.00
£800,001 - £900,000£1,070£214£70£10£270£8.00£30£1672.00
£900,001 - £1,000,000£1,120£224£70£10£270£8.00£30£1732.00

*HM Land Registry fee. The fees outlined in this column assumes that we are able to submit the application for registration electronically.

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Additional Disbursements for leasehold properties

Disbursements are payable in addition to our fees. These are payments to third parties, such as the payment for the local search fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. When we are dealing with the purchase of a leasehold property there are additional disbursements other than those indicated in the table above. These will be set out in the individual lease relating to the property. The list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply depending on the terms of the lease. We will confirm the specific fees upon review of the lease.

  • Notice of Transfer fee - This fee if chargeable is set out in the lease. Often the fee is between £6 - £180 inclusive of VAT.
  • Notice of Charge fee (if the property is to be mortgaged) - this fee is set out in the lease. Often the fee is between £6 and £180 inclusive of VAT.
  • Deed of covenant fee - This fee is charged by the management company for the property and can be difficult to estimate. Often it is between £90 -£180 inclusive of VAT.
  • Certificate of Compliance fee - to be confirmed upon receipt of the lease. This can range between £60-£180 inclusive of VAT.

These fees vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given above. We can give you an accurate figure once we have sight of your specific documents.

You should also be aware that ground rent and service charge are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as we receive this information.

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FAQs

What work is covered – freehold transactions?

  • Checking the legal title to the property and advising you on that.
  • Carrying out appropriate searches as advised to you and instructed by you and reporting to you on the results of those.
  • Obtaining Property Information and Fixtures and Fittings forms from the seller, check that these are satisfactory and report to you.
  • Draft the Transfer Deed which is the document that transfers the property to you.
  • Exchange contracts with the seller's solicitor and proceed to complete the purchase.
  • Assist you with regard to any mortgage you are obtaining.
  • Following completion, we will register your title to the property at HM Land Registry together with any mortgage you have obtained and deal with any Stamp Duty Land Tax requirements.

What work is covered – leasehold transactions?

  • Checking the legal title to the property together with the lease and advising you on that.
  • Carrying out appropriate searches as advised to you and instructed by you and reporting to you on the results of those.
  • Obtaining Property Information and Fixtures and Fittings forms from the seller, check that these are satisfactory and report to you.
  • Drafting the Transfer Deed which is the document that transfers the property to you.
  • Exchange contracts with the seller's solicitor and proceed to complete the purchase.
  • Assist you with regard to any mortgage you are obtaining.
  • Following completion, we will:
    • Serve all relevant notices on interested parties under the terms of the lease;
    • Carry out the necessary requirements to transfer the lease into your name and pay the necessary fees;
    • Register your title to the property at HM Land Registry together with any mortgage you have obtained; and
    • Deal with any Stamp Duty Land Tax requirements.

What work is not covered?

We will not advise you on and will not be responsible or liable for the following:

  • Any tax liability other than Stamp Duty Land Tax.
  • Any matters relating to the physical structure and condition of the property.
  • Accountancy advice issues.
  • Any valuation advice.
  • Any other matter outside the scope of the work detailed above.

Factors that would typically change the cost of the service

We base our fees on the following:-

  • The scope of our work remains as set out above.
  • That no information material to the transaction has been or will be withheld.
  • The matter does not become unduly protracted or complicated.

If any of the above circumstances arise then we will contact you to agree a revised quote.

How long will it take?

An average transaction takes in the region of 6 – 10 weeks. Some transactions can be shorter and some can be considerably longer. We are very much dependent on third parties and factors such as unregistered land, leasehold titles, mortgage difficulties, problems with the title and also the length of the chain of transactions can all influence timescales.

Please do not book removals or commit yourself to any expense in connection with moving house without first discussing this with us.

Stages of the process

For more information, please refer to the Buying and Selling Property Guide.

Stamp duty or Land Tax

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

Re-mortgage

A re-mortgage is the process of paying off one mortgage with the proceeds from a new mortgage using the same property as security. In effect it is simply the transfer of a mortgage from one lender to another. You may choose to re-mortgage your property for various reasons but the most common is to reduce the overall monthly payments.

Fees

Typically our fees will be in the region of £474.00 inclusive of VAT. We will be happy to provide you with a fixed fee quote when you contact us.

Disbursements

Disbursements are payable in addition to our fees. These are payments to third parties, such as payments to the Land Registry for an official copy of the title to your property. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

The anticipated disbursements are set out below.

  • Official copy of the register - £6.
  • Electronic money transfer fee - £30.
  • Land Registry registration fee – determined by the value of the property but starts at £20.
  • Local search fees - if your property is located within North East Lincolnshire, East or West Lindsey or the Hull boundary this will be £70. Otherwise, it be £95.

FAQs

What work is covered?

  • Corresponding with your existing lender to obtain details of the amount required to pay off that mortgage.
  • Investigate the legal title and associated legal issues to enable us to advise your new lender that your property will offer adequate legal security.
  • Obtain your signature to the mortgage deed and thereafter obtain the funds from your new lender.
  • Redeem your previous mortgage.
  • Register your new mortgage at HM Land Registry.

What work is not covered?

We will not advise you on and will not be responsible or liable for the following:

  • Any tax liability.
  • Accountancy and/or financial advice.
  • Any valuation advice.
  • Any other matter outside the scope of the work detailed above.

Factors that would typically change the cost of the service

We base our fees on the following:-

  • The scope of our work remains as set out above.
  • That no information material to the transaction has been or will be withheld.
  • The matter does not become unduly protracted or complicated.

If any of the above circumstances arise then we will contact you to agree a revised quote.

How long it will take?

An average transaction takes in the region of 6 – 8 weeks. Some transactions can be shorter and some can be considerably longer. We are very much dependent on the speed of communication with your existing and new lender together with other factors, such as leasehold titles and unregistered land which can all influence timescales.

Landlord & Tenant

If you're a landlord and are experiencing problems with your lets and tenants, our specialist legal team can help. We can advise you on areas such as: Preparing tenancy agreements; Serving notices; Taking court action to remove troublesome tenants; Disrepair claims.

We guarantee to serve any notices, issue any proceedings or prepare any tenancy agreements on the same day if we receive all details before midday, or the following day if received after midday.

Learn more

Personal Disputes

Sometimes disputes or litigation cannot be avoided, our team of solicitors provide a range of services aimed at resolving disputes, including: alternative dispute resolution, arbitrations and mediations.

Learn more

Wills, Estates, Tax & Trusts

One of the certainties of life is that it changes and you can never be sure of what the future holds. However, you can take steps to plan for a deal with the changes that life may bring along the way. Our team of expert lawyers have been helping and advising clients how to best plan for their future for over 25 years and provide advice on all aspects of wills, trusts, inheritance tax and probate.

Learn more

Other Services
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Index Claire Parker
Claire Parker
Partner and Head of Domestic Property
Tel : 01507 527521
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