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:
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, highways or public
health
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
matters:
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
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.
