Low conveyancing charges from UK solicitors

Why not instructing a fixed fee conveyancing solicitor through CMS today. Our helpful and friendly staff will give you full contact details of your chosen firm immediately. Then you can relax as CMS will keep you fully informed throughout.

CMS provide you with a cheap fixed fee transparent conveyancing quote that is easy to understand. All disbursements are listed and the total price for the conveyancing plus disbursements is added up for you. Thus you know exactly what go are going to pay. You will receive a selection of our best three competitive quotes including a local one (where we have a panel solicitor available).

CMS constantly monitor other conveyancing websites. We have found that the majority advertising unrealistically low fees from £120 or less charge extra for many items listed above (which CMS include for free). In particular most of them charge extra if you are obtaining a mortgage and this together with other extras can increase their quote by up to £200.

The definition of a conveyancing disbursement is a payment that has to be made to a third party such as The Land Registry for online or direct registration of property title in England or the UK generally.

When you see the word disbursement on a conveyancing charges estimate or quote you would assume therefore that the items listed under the conveyancing disbursements section would be payments that the solicitor will be making on your behalf to third parties. This is not always the case and items are often wrongly listed in the conveyancing disbursements section.

Some conveyancing firms charge an unrealistically low conveyancing charges hoping that the consumer will just compare that fee to other companies' fees and accept is on face value as a lower quote. However, it is very important to check the TOTAL amount quoted by the conveyancing firm as some companies are in the habit of including part of their conveyancing fees in the disbursements section.

Listed below are genuine conveyancing disbursements with an explanation of what the payment is for. We have also listed some items that you may find in the disbursements section of some firms that are not genuine conveyancing disbursements but are part of that firm's conveyancing charges:

Genuine Disbursements

• Stamp duty If you are buying or transferring a property and it is liable for stamp duty the amount will be shown as a disbursement. Stamp duty is a government tax levied when a property is sold or transferred. This tax is payable by the buyer of the property or share in the property. Some properties are exempt from stamp duty because of where they are situated. For current stamp duty rates and details of stamp duty exempt areas visit www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.

• H M Land Registry fees When you buy a property, take out a new mortgage or transfer a share in a property the transaction must be registered at the Land Registry. The Land Registry charge a fee for registering the transfer and this is on a sliding scale depending upon the price of the property. To check the current Land Registry fees visit www.landregisteronline.gov.uk.

• Official Copy Entries and Filed Plan When you sell or re-mortgage a property your solicitor will apply to the Land Registry for an Official copy of the deeds relating to your property and an Official Copy of the filed plan relating to your property. If the Official copy refers to a document that is not set out in the Official copies then your solicitor will also have to obtain an Official copy of that document. Sometimes when you are buying your solicitor will obtain an Official copy of the filed plan to use for search purposes.

• Searches When you buy a property or take out a new mortgage you will have to have certain legal conveyancing searches carried out against the property. There are many types of conveyancing searches but the most typical are:

The local authority search

This is a search of the registers of the local authority and covers the following matters:

Planning decisions and pending applications

The search must stipulate what applications for any of the following have been approved or rejected or whether there is a decision pending by the relevant authority:

• Planning permissions

• Listed building consents

• Conservation areas

• Certificates of lawful use of existing use or proposed use or developments

• Building regulations approvals

• Building regulations completion certificates

• Planning designations plans and proposals

Additional local enquiries

The local authority may also answer specific additional enquiries. The CON 29 has an additional question section CON 29 Part II from which the conveyancer or HIP provider can select additional enquiries. A typical enquiry would be whether the property is affected by a public footpath or by-way. The local authority charges an additional fee per enquiry. The conveyancer or HIP provider can also raise additional enquiries of the local authority in a separate written enquiry.

Water/drainage search

This is a search of the registers of the water authority local to the property. It must cover the following matters:

• Public sewer maps

• Foul drainage and surface water

• Public adoption of sewers and lateral drains

• Public sewers within the boundary of the property

• Public sewers near to the property

• Building over a public sewer, disposal main or drain

• Map of the waterworks

• Sewage treatment works

Always insist upon a fully comprehensive quote in writing and make sure you read the full Terms and Conditions - Frequently Asked Questions and Disbursements sections. If you wish CMS can run through these with you as part of our service.