Fees for Conveyancing
Fees for Conveyancing explained
These are made up of the solicitors own fees for conveyancing plus those for disbursements paid to third parties. 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.
Listed below are the most common disbursements with an explanation of what the payment is for.
Disbursements
- Stamp Duty
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.landregistry.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. 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. 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
- Building regulations approvals
- Building regulations completion certificates
- Planning designations plans and proposals
- Land required for public purposes
- Drainage agreements and consents
- Nearby road schemes
- Traffic schemes
- Outstanding notices in relation to building works, the environment, health and safety
- Contravention of building regulations
- Planning enforcement
- Contaminated land
- 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 solicitor can select additional enquiries.
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
- 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
- Surface water drainage charges
- Water meters
- Sewerage bills
- Water bills
- Risk of flooding due to overloaded public sewers
- Water quality analysis
- Water quality standards