We may charge different fees for cases which have particular features or complications. For example of anticipated additional charges for a purchase are as follows:

• Auction purchase. Typical additional charge will be 25% of our usual fee OR a minimum fee starting from £450 plus VAT £90 depending on how urgent the work would be
• Unregistered title Registration of tile. Typical additional charge will be £800 plus VAT £160.
• New build properties (this will include an off plan property or a property which has been built within 10 years or less) Typical additional charge will be £650 plus VAT £130.
• Help to buy. Supplement £450 plus VAT £90
• Help to Buy ISA £250.00 plus VAT £50
• Shared ownership. Supplement £450 plus VAT £90
• Purchase of repossessed property. Typical additional charge will be 25% of our usual fee plus VAT.
• Lease extensions and variations. Fees dependent on terms and complexity but will typically start at £750 plus VAT £150.
• Overseas identity requirements £250 – £500 plus VAT £50 – £100
• Documentation for deposit gifts are typically £350 plus VAT £70 per giftor
• Deed of Trust starting from £350 plus VAT £70
• Additional Money Laundering checks £350 plus VAT £70
• If we are required to redeem a mortgage we will charge and additional fee of £50 plus VAT £10 for each mortgage to be redeemed
• If we need to take out any restrictions or anything registered against the property, we will charge a fee of £50 plus VAT £10

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax may be payable on some transactions relating to property purchases and lease extension.  The amount of tax will depend on various factors including the premium paid.  The amount of tax payable can be checked on the Government’s website at the following link: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro or if the property is located in Wales, by using the Welsh Revenue Authority website. This can be found using the following link: https://beta.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-calculator

Land Registry Registration Fee

The Land Registry charges a fee for dealing with the registration of a purchase.  This is based on the value of the transaction. The following link can be used to calculate the fee: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-registration-services-fees

Property Searches

For a purchase or re-finance transaction, property searches to include Official Local Authority Search, Drainage and Water Search, Chancel Check Report and Environmental Search will need to be obtained. These costs are charged direct by the search provider.

Bankruptcy Search

If a transaction involves mortgage finance, we are required by the lender to carry out a bankruptcy search against the borrower’s name. The search must be carried out against all variations of the borrower’s name.

Land Registry Priority Search

On a purchase or refinance transaction a pre-completion priority search will be carried out. 

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 2-8 weeks from being in receipt of searches, which can take between 1- 4 weeks to be received. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain, your mortgage offer or any complications. If you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 2 and 12 months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply. There are other circumstances listed below which can add to your fees and any delay. It is also difficult to provide an exact time without first, seeing the sales pack. We maybe able to be a little clearer at this stage.

At the outset you will be asked when you would like to complete, and we will always work towards your completion date providing it is reasonable.

Set out below are some of the key stages involved in different types of transactions.  These will, of course, vary depending on the transaction and are intended as a guide only.

Purchase

• Reviewing the Draft contracts – We review and/or amend the initial legal contract to be sent across by the seller’s solicitor;
• Responding to enquiries – following the receipt of the draft contract, legal title and your property documents, we will raise any questions (also known as raising enquiries) with the seller’s solicitors which we consider appropriate;
• Investigating issues – for some enquiries that cannot be easily evidenced, we may need to complete further investigation to try and satisfy them. The challenge here is if there is limited or no information from your sellers and/or the solicitors who acted in their purchase of the property or the Land Registry. The type of issues which we look out for are, but not limited to, the following:

  • No planning permission – we will check this by reviewing the local authority searches.

  • No building control sign off – we will check this by reviewing the local authority searches to see if there was any planning permission or building control sign off.

  • Any right of way – we check this by reviewing the property deeds.

  • Gas boiler certificate – the seller should provide evidence that the boiler was installed and registered with Gas Safety and that the boiler has been annually maintained.

  • Property deeds – If the seller has no deeds and the land is unregistered then we need the seller’s solicitors to confirm that their client has the right to sell the property to you (in these cases an Epitome of Title may be required and an additional charge will be applied by us see below). The challenge here is if the seller does not hold the deeds to the property, you need to ensure no one else has a beneficial right to your title after you purchase it.

  • Restrictions on the title (restrictive covenants) – we will need to ensure that all restrictions are removed from the title by the seller’s solicitor. Restrictions include matrimonial home rights, creditor debt, mortgage interest, not being allowed to extend the property, or even seemingly mundane issues such as whether you can dry your clothes in the garden or if you are allowed pets in the property or – you may be surprised – even children.

  • Issues with the ownership of the property – we will need to confirm that the seller has the right to sell the property to you and is who they say they are (the obligation of knowing who the seller is will fall on the due diligence of the seller’s solicitors upon which we have to rely).

  • Negative property searches – we will obtain property searches to inform you of potential issues with the property and these include highlighting flood risk, contaminated land, planning permission granted or denied and drainage access points to the property. We may need to revert to you about which searches you will need when buying a home and we can ask a search company to carry out a search enquiry which should reveal whether you need further searches, such as those relating to underground, commons green, high speed 2, flood report, coal mining and limestone.

  • Vacant possession – We will need to ensure the property is sold with vacant possession. This means that no one is living in the property at the time you take ownership, unless otherwise agreed (for example a sitting tenant for a buy to let landlord – sometimes landlords take over the tenant from the previous owner).

  • Uncertain title – where the seller has not been forthcoming with information about the property.

  • Check the lease (if leasehold) – there are many points to check in the lease, however one of the key points is to understand how long you have left to run in years on your lease. A buyer may struggle if they are getting a mortgage to buy a property if the lease has fewer than 80 years left to run because mortgage lenders do not like lending on a short lease (a short lease has under 80 years still to run). You can ask us more about lease extensions (if applicable please note that an additional fee might be applicable, see below).

  • Mortgage restrictions – If you are getting a mortgage then we will need to satisfy the standard conditions provided in the Council for Mortgage Lender’s (CML) handbook along with any specific conditions such as confirmation of gifting or that the property has had a structural survey. It is important to get your mortgage offer to us as quickly as possible. (There will be an additional charge for any work done which will be dependant on the type of lender and their requirements).

• Exchange contracts – once the seller’s solicitors have satisfied our enquiries, we can agree with them to exchange contracts making you legally bound to buy the property;
• Day of completion – on the day of completion we should receive/already have received the money for the purchase from you and/or your lender and we will need to ask the seller’s solicitors to Undertake, which is to legally promise, to discharge the mortgage existing over the property (if applicable).
• Post completion – following completion, we will expect to receive the DS1/discharge documents from your seller’s lender via their solicitors (if applicable) and if the property is leasehold, we would expect that the seller’s solicitors retain sufficient funds from the proceeds of sale on completion to settle any liabilities for ground rent and service charges.

Sale

The work that we will undertake for you will include:

• Draft contracts – We draft the initial legal contract to be sent across to the buyer’s solicitor;
• Responding to enquiries – following the receipt of the draft contract, legal title and your property documents, we will respond to any questions (also known as raising enquiries) the buyer’s solicitor may have;
• Investigating issues – for some enquiries that cannot be easily evidenced, we may need to complete further investigation to try and satisfy them. The challenge here is if there is limited or no information from you and/or the solicitors who acted in the purchase of your property or the Land Registry;
• Exchange contracts – once the buyer’s solicitor has satisfied their enquiries, they agree with the seller to exchange contracts making the buyer legally bound to buy the property;
• Day of completion – on the day of completion we should receive the money for the sale, discharge the mortgage (if required), pay the estate agent (if any), deduct our fees, then send the net sale proceeds to you. We will need you urgently to confirm the account details in which you require the sale proceeds to be sent. This account will have to be in your name. if it is in joint names, we will require consent of the other account holder before we transfer funds. We are also likely to carry out an independent Anti Money Laundering check on this account, on you and official identification documents which you provide to us. If you do not consent to such checks you must inform us at the outset, but please note that in this case, we may have to cease acting for you.
• The work that we will undertake for you will include:
• Post completion – following completion, we will expect to receive the DS1/discharge documents from your lender (if applicable) and if the property is leasehold, we should settle your liabilities for ground rent and service charges.

Remortgage

• Obtaining client instructions and ID documents;
• Undertaking investigation on title to include obtaining property searches;
• Obtaining information in relation to the property from the client;
• Obtaining management information in relation to the property;
• Receiving lender’s instructions and mortgage offer and reviewing the same;
• Dealing with lender’s requirements;
• Reporting to the client on the terms of the mortgage documents;
• Reporting to lender and requesting the mortgage advance;
• Carrying out pre-completion searches;
• Registering the bank’s Mortgage at the Land Registry;
• Redeeming and discharging any existing mortgages registered against the property.

For further information, or to obtain a tailored quote, please email info@gdasolicitors.com 

1. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complications arise, such as (but not limited to), a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction.
2. Where a client is buying/selling a leasehold property, it is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease.
3. All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there are no unreasonable delays from third parties providing documentation.
4. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.