Conveyancing quotations from CMS

Disbursements

The definition of a 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 estimate or quote you would assume therefore that the items listed under the 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 disbursements section.

Some conveyancing firms charge an unrealistically low conveyancing fee 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 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 disbursements but are part of that firm's 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 searches carried out against the property. There are many types of conveyancing search 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

• Highways

• Land required for public purposes

• Land to be acquired for road works

• Drainage agreements and consents

• Nearby road schemes

• Traffic schemes

• Nearby railway schemes

• Outstanding notices in relation to building works, the environment, health and safety, housing

• Contravention of building regulations

• Planning enforcement. Notices, orders directions and proceedings under planning acts

• Compulsory purchase

• Contaminated land

• Radon gas

  Additional local enquiries

  The local authority may also answer specific additional enquiries. These additional enquiries are not required under the Home Information Pack (HIP) Regulations but may be included in the HIP as authorised information. 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. The local authority charges an additional fee for this service.

  Water/drainage search

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

  • 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

  • Adoption of water mains and service pipes

  • Sewerage and water undertakers

  • Connection to mains water supply

  • Water mains, resource mains or discharge pipes

  • Current basis for sewerage and water charges

  • Charges following change of occupation

  • Surface water drainage charges

  • Water meters

  • Sewerage bills

  • Water bills

  • Risk of flooding due to overloaded public sewers

  • Risk of low water pressure or flow

  • Water quality analysis

  • Water quality standards

  • Sewage treatment works

  • Disbursements continued

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    Conveyancing Explained

    Conveyancing is the word that defines the transfer of land or property from one party to another. Property conveyancing in England & Wales is carried out by conveyancing solicitors who are governed by the Law Society or licensed conveyancers who are governed by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Both of these organisations are there to protect the public and all conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyancers must have in place indemnity insurance to protect their clients. The conveyancing process can be complex and stressful and it makes sense to use a qualified conveyancer to take care of your property transaction. If you have a mortgage on the property all mortgage lenders will insist that you use a qualified conveyancer who is on their conveyancing panel. All of the conveyancers on the CMS panel have been chosen by us because they are either Law Society or CLC registered and are on the panels of all major mortgage lenders. For a more detailed explanation of how the Conveyancing process works check out our Conveyancing Guide which you will find in the menu on the left hand side.

    How to choose a good conveyancer

    CMS have been providing conveyancing services since 1995. Our Directors have between them almost 60 years of experience of working in the conveyancing industry and we know what we are looking for in a good conveyancing firm. We insist that our conveyancing solicitors are registered with the Law Society or the CLC. Every conveyancing firm must have at least two partners and be on the panel of all major mortgage lenders. Our conveyancing solicitors must specialise in conveyancing. We insist that a dedicated and named conveyancer is appointed to take care of CMS clients and every conveyancer must be qualified to carry out conveyancing services. We look for conveyancing firms who present a good, public image via their own web-site, who provide up to date electronic case-management and on-line tracking and updating. All of our conveyancers sign a legal agreement to abide by the quotes we provide, not to charge "hidden extras" and also to provide the level of service published in our Service Charter - which you will find in the left hand menu. In a nutshell a good conveyancer will be qualified, experienced, pro-active, IT literate, able to communicate effectively and have a friendly and helpful personality.  Get your conveyancing quote here.