Disbursements
To disburse money is to
pay out money. The definition of
disbursement is a payment that has to be
made to a third party.
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, 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
