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Telegraphic transfer fees -
If you are buying a house or property your
lawyer will have to send the purchase money
to your seller’s solicitor by telegraphic
transfer. If you are selling or re-mortgaging
your solicitor may have to repay your existing
mortgages or loans by telegraphic transfer. The
bank makes a charge for this and the solicitor
passes that charge onto you.
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Local search indemnity insurance
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If you are buying or
re-mortgaging a property and do not want to have
a full local search carried out, if your lender
agrees, your solicitor can obtain local search
indemnity insurance to protect your lender/you
against any problems that might have been
revealed in a local search.
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Other indemnity insurance -
Indemnity insurance is widely
used by solicitors to deal with problems in
deeds, leases, insolvency, restrictive
covenants, missing landlords etc. This insurance
is arranged by the solicitor and the premium is
paid by you.
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Leasehold disbursements -
Your solicitor should not include any fee for
dealing with a lease in the disbursements
section as this should be included in their
conveyancing fee. You will however find that you
must pay your new Landlord a Landlord’s
notice fee for registering you as the new
owner and your lender as interested as a
mortgage lender. If there is a separate
management company you may have to pay a
Management Company fee for registering you
as the owner and your lender as the mortgage
company. Occasionally, Landlords and/or
Management companies may require new tenants to
sign a document agreeing to obey the terms in
the lease. This document is called a Deed of
Covenant. The Landlord/Management company
may make a charge for supplying and registering
this deed. You may also find that you are asked
to pay Ground Rent, Buildings Insurance and
Service Charge in advance.
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New properties and some ‘Right to
Buy’ properties -
When you buy a property from a developer, the
local authority or a housing association they
insist upon providing a standard form of
Transfer deed. They usually make a charge for
this known as an Engrossment fee which
must be paid by you.
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Value Added Tax (VAT) -
Where VAT applies to the solicitor’s charges and
the disbursements this will be shown.
Additional Leasehold Property Disbursements
The following
disbursements may also apply:
A Notice Fee to the Landlord for stamping the
Notice provided by your solicitor to the Landlord
notifying that you are the new owner and details of
your mortgage company. An average would be £75 plus
VAT but this does vary enormously from nothing up to
£200. It depends on the Landlord. Your solicitor
will find this out and notify you at the earliest
opportunity.
If
there is a separate management company they may
also require a notice and may also charge a fee.
Again your solicitor will find out what this is and
notify you as soon as possible.
Ground Rent/Service Charge. Sometimes the
Vendor has paid in advance to the end of the year
and you might need to repay part of this.
If it is a new lease there will be a small
amount of extra stamp duty and land registry fees.
This is worked out on the ground rent and the term
of the lease and again the solicitor will notify
you at the earliest moment.
Items
that may be listed as
disbursements which are not
genuine
disbursements
