Lawyers fees

[bubba28]

How much do lawyers charge when buying a house. Its a first time buy

T.I.A

[CheekyChops]

Lawyers don't charge anything as we don't use them for such simple thing as a house purchase in the UK.

Are you in the US? If so, you will probably be better using a US based website rather than a UK one.

[Barmaid]

When you buy a house in the UK, there are certain formalities that will need to be done. Whilst it is possible to do it yourself, I would not advise it.

I would be inclined to shop around local firms and find a fixed fee quote. In the current climate you will probably find that there are some really competetive prices out there.

[jen78]

Usually a fixed fee, often calculated on the purchase price and may be add ons depending on if it's a leasehold or something with more work involved.

Just make sure they give you a full illustration which includes Land Registry fees, any stamp duty and any disbursements or additional fees like TT's.

Definitely ring round, find someone who uses email as this will speed things up no end (the more old fashioned sorts who can't get a letter out without dictating it, waiting for a secretary to type it, checking it then waiting for it to arrive by post/DX just slows things down unecessarily.

It just makes for far quicker transactions, you can e.mail the seller's sols and copy the client and agent in in one go and forward replies, HIPS are usually online and documents like transfers and mortgage deeds can be e.mailed.

As if they have a policy about fees if the transaction doesn't proceed as some will not charge you if it doesn't complete, you would only pay for disbursements which are much lower now HIPS are involved.

I might be biased as it's what I do but I really would recommend using a lawyer as there are things you may not know or pick up on which could cause problems further down the line.

Many solicitors would also be wary of dealing with a private individual who is not represented and, if you are getting a mortgage, the lender would want legal advisors to ensure all that would be done properly. It's like they would charge you for it so you may as well get a legal advisor who does the whole thing.

As a guide my legal fees on a purchase for �100k would be �345.00 plus VAT and disbursements.

[jen78]

Licenced conveyancers can often be cheaper and the bulk conveyancing firms though, in the case of the latter, you will often have different people dealing with different stages and it can be hard to speak to someone if you want things explaining. For a quick no frills job though they're ok.

The market is crap at the moment so there is room to negotiate as firms are desparate to get the business in so worth mentioning what fees others have quoted you ifd you like the sound of someone and see what they can do.

[buildersmate]

Great advice from Jen.
It's 4 years ago since I conducted my own survey. On selling a property I phoned around a dozen high street solicitors in various parts of the country all over England & Wales. All offered quotes over the phone and my specified parameters were identical. The finding was (to me) surprising - all of the quotes were within 5% of one another with an average price of �530. This persuaded me to believe that most (if not all) solicitors use a scale of recommended fees published by the Law Society and never undercut it. No one can claim the business overheads are the same from Guildford to Little Snorting-in-the-Marsh.
I eventually used a licensed conveyancer at a fixed price of about �350.