Our residential Conveyancing Department offers a comprehensive range of services dealing with all matters of domestic property transactions.
Our services include:
- Sale and purchase transactions
- Property transfers
- Residential tenancies
- Security arrangements
- Equity release schemes
- Land registrations
- Deeds of arrangements and declarations
- Adverse possession applications
- Change of name deeds
- Right to Buy
- Trust Deeds
- Voluntary first registration of title.
At Payne & Gamage we understand that moving home can be a very stressful and anxious time, whether you are a first time buyer or an experienced property investor. We are here to help the process run as effortlessly and as smoothly as possible. We offer a proactive, professional and efficient personal service. We will keep you informed of progress made at regular intervals throughout the course of your transaction by which ever means you prefer.
We operate on a fixed fee basis, our pricing information is detailed below.
Your matter will be handled by our Elizabeth Gamage, a Partner in the firm and a fully qualified Solicitor with over 16 years post qualification experience. Elizabeth qualified with distinction in legal practice and has specialised in residential conveyancing and property matters since qualification. Elizabeth is assisted by Jennifer Newton, a legal assistant who also has many years of specialism in this field. Elizabeth and Jennifer have been working as a team for 15.5 years.
Our priority is to ensure that we provide you with a high quality service and will always endeavour wherever possible to return calls same day and respond to email communications as expediently as possible. We understand the importance of maintaining contact and providing regular updates.
For more information or a same day cost quotation please do not hesitate to contact us on 01636 640649 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Residential Conveyancing – Pricing Information
We will always provide a fixed fee quotation in respect of our Conveyancing services. Or fees in respect of sale and purchase transactions of residential properties in England and Wales are detailed below.
| Sale/Purchase Price | Freehold | Leasehold |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £100,000 | £550 plus Vat | £650 plus Vat |
| £100,001 to £150,000 | £600 plus Vat | £700 plus Vat. |
| £150,001 to £180,000 | £650 plus Vat | £750 plus Vat. |
| £180,001 to £200,000 | £700 plus Vat | £800 plus Vat. |
| £200,001 to £250,000 | £750 plus Vat | £850 plus Vat. |
| £250,001 to £300,000 | £800 plus Vat | £900 plus Vat. |
| £300,001 to £500,000 | £850 plus Vat | £950 plus Vat. |
| £500,001 to £750,000 | £900 plus Vat | £1000 plus Vat. |
| £750,001 to £1m | £950 plus Vat | £1050 plus Vat. |
| £1m to £1.5m | £1200 plus Vat | £1300 plus Vat. |
Our fees cover all work required to complete the sale and purchase of your property.
Vat is chargeable at 20% of the fee payable for example a fee of £600 will attract an additional vat charge of £120 making a total payable of £720. We will always notify you when vat is applicable to any of our charges.
Our fees cover all work required to complete the sale and purchase of your property and include the following:
Steps to be taken in connection with your purchase:
- The taking of initial instructions and file opening procedures.
- Money Laundering ID checks
- Source of funding enquiry
- Liaising with Agents and vendors Solicitors
- Taking receipt of contracts and supporting papers with consideration and review of the same
- The raising of any appropriate enquiries relating to legal title and consideration of the replies
- Applying for searches and review of the results
- Reviewing terms of mortgage offers and ensuring full compliance
- Meeting with you to discuss all issues to include outcome of all title investigations and searches
- Arranging signing of papers
- Advising as to methods of ownership
- Preparing Transfer documentation
- Dealing with exchange of contracts and agreeing dates of completion
- Undergoing pre completion searches and requisitions on title
- Overseeing completion
- Dealing with stamp duty requirements
- Overseeing registration formalities
How long will my purchase take?
How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 6- 8 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, a chain involving numerous parties with mortgage finance will take longer than a small chain with cash buyers. The process is also dependant on the outcome of any title investigations and the number of enquiries needing to be raised and resolved. The purchase of a leasehold property will usually take longer as information is needing to be obtained from the freeholder/management company. In every case we will endeavour to work towards your preferred timescales.
Steps to be taken in connection with your sale
- The taking of initial instructions and file opening procedures.
- Money Laundering ID checks
- Liaising with Agents and Buyers Solicitor.
- The deduction of title
- Collating all information to include warranties guarantees certifications and protocol property forms
- Preparing contracts for submission to buyers Solicitor
- Dealing with additional enquiries raised by the buyers Solicitor
- Approving Transfer papers
- Arranging for signing of papers
- Obtaining redemption statements from registered mortgagees
- Arranging indemnity insurance policies (if required)
- Overseeing exchange of contracts
- Preparing for an overseeing completion formalities
- Redeeming registered mortgages
- Arranging settlement of Agents Account
- Reporting to client regarding any net proceeds of sale
- Dealing with any agreed retentions (if applicable)
How long will my sale take?
This will be dependent upon your buyers position i.e. are they cash buyers, are they undergoing searches and do they have a related sale transaction. The average process take between 6-8 weeks.
A bank transfer fee of £36.00 (inclusive of Vat) is charged for any monies sent by way of same day bank transfer. These can include the repayment of any mortgages or charges, the remittance of purchase monies or if you elect to receive any net sale proceeds electronically.
A file storage fee is also charged in respect of the storage of your file at £18.00 (inclusive of Vat).
In addition to our fees you will need to pay some disbursements, these are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties i.e. search providers. The likely disbursements payable in relation to your sale and purchase transactions are detailed below:
Disbursements on a sale
| Official copy entries | usually between £6.00 and £15.00 |
| Anti Money Laundering Search | £5.60 per name |
Disbursements on a purchase
| Local Authority Search | Dependant on Local Authority |
| Drainage and Environmental Searches | £70.00 |
| Mining Search (if required) | £39.60 |
| No Search Chancel Indemnity (if required) | £13.22 |
| OS1 | £3.00 |
| Bankruptcy Searches | £2.00 per name |
| Land Registration fees | please see table below. |
| Lawyer check fee | £12.00 (inclusive of Vat) |
| Anti Money Laundering Search | £5.60 per name. |
However please note these are subject to change.
Land Registry fee Guide
| Value or Amount | Fee (for transfers of whole of other Dealings of whole applications, submitted electronically) | Fee (for all other applications |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 80,000 | 20 | 40 |
| 80,001 – 100,000 | 40 | 80 |
| 100,001 – 200,000 | 95 | 190 |
| 200,001 – 500,000 | 135 | 270 |
| 500,001 – 1,000,000 | 270 | 540 |
| 1,000,001 and over | 455 | 910 |
We will ask for an initial payment to cover the search applications at the commencement of your matter.
Please be aware that our charges are on the understanding that the transaction does not become unduly protracted or varies from your initial instruction, if this is the case we reserve the right to re assess our fees accordingly.
In the event that you have the aid of a Help to Buy ISA or a Lifetime ISA an additional charge will apply of either £50 plus Vat or £80 plus Vat respectively, due to the extra work involved in the requirement to draw down funds.
We also reserve the right to charge an extra £150 plus vat for the purchase of a new build property as a result of the extra work involves in matters of this type.
We will adopt the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol (5th Edition) in respect of your matter.
If you instruct us to deal with your purchase it will be to deal with the legal work in connection with the transaction only on the basis that the property you are purchasing is to be utilised for the same planning use that it enjoys at the time of your purchase. Furthermore, apart from the issue of any stamp duty liability on your purchase, we do not advise on tax matters associated with the transaction. If advice on this is required, you must seek the advice of an accountant.
On matters concerning the structural condition and any environmental issues of the property, these are entirely a matter for the surveyors’ profession and not a matter for which your solicitors are responsible in any way. If you commission a survey report then whilst we are happy to respond specifically to any legal matter which is put in writing to us and raised by such a report we cannot, as we are sure you will understand, comment on anything else in the Survey and all comments and enquiries must be addressed to the Surveyor you have instructed to represent you.
We recommend that all clients when purchasing a property should have the property surveyed by a qualified surveyor. You have no legal remedies against a surveyor carrying out a valuation only on behalf of any organisation lending you monies to assist in your purchase.
Service Standards and Communication
We are committed to providing you with a high quality service. In particular we aim to:
- return telephone calls as soon as practically possible.
- respond to emails in a timely fashion.
- letters are to be written in succinct English.
- keep you informed of progress throughout.
Please contact us to discuss your individual matter in more detail and we will at this stage tailor our quotation to fit your needs.
