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No Completion No legal Fee |
No Mortgage Lender Fee |
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No Solicitors Indemnity
Charges |
No Expedition Fees for
quick completions |
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No charges for phone calls
and faxes |
No other Petty
Disbursement charges |
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Lower Local Search fees
(not estimated) |
No extra charges for
Leasehold (flats) |
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Free
quote beating service |
Hidden Extras to watch out
for elsewhere |
What is
Stamp Duty Land Tax?
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax the purchaser
pays on the purchase price of land and buildings. When you buy a property or
take on a lease you may have to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax to the government.
When you buy a freehold or a leasehold property the
purchase price of which is more than £125,000, you will pay Stamp Duty Land Tax of between one
and four per cent of the whole purchase price upon legal completion of the
purchase. See the table below for more
detail.
If the purchase price is £125,000 or less you don't
pay any Stamp Duty Land Tax.
First-time buyers
If you are a first-time buyer the threshold for when
you start to pay SDLT is £250,000. This is only if you have never owned a house
or flat in the UK or anywhere else in the world. If you are buying with someone
else they must never have owned property before either. This higher threshold
applies to purchases made on or after 25 March 2010 and before 25 March 2012.
|
Purchase price of residential property |
Rate of SDLT (percentage of the total
purchase price) |
Rate of SDLT - first-time buyers (percentage
of the total purchase price) |
|
£0 - £125,000 |
0% |
0% |
|
£125,001 - £250,000 |
1% |
0% |
|
£250,001 - £500,000 |
3% |
3% |
|
£500,001 or more |
4% |
4% |
·
SDLT
Disadvantaged Areas Relief
If you buy property in an area designated by the
government as 'disadvantaged' you may qualify for Disadvantaged Areas Relief. In
this case the threshold for Stamp Duty Land Tax is £150,000. If you are a first-time buyer you
don't need to apply as the threshold for first-time buyers is higher.·
You can check the HMRC website to see if the
property you are buying is in an area designated as disadvantaged.
Stamp
Duty Land Tax relief for the first time buyer
From 14 June 2010, the new code 32
for the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) first time buyer rate relief came into
force.
First time buyers may apply for stamp duty relief if all of the following apply:
the completion date is on or after
25 March 2010 and before 25 March 2012
the consideration (purchase price) given is £250,000 or less
the buyer intends to live in the property and it will be their only or main home
the buyer has not previously owned property or land either in the UK or anywhere
else in the world, including property bought with anyone else.
The threshold for qualifying
first-time buyers is set at £250,000
The relief does not apply in the following circumstances:
non-residential or mixed-use property
leasehold property with a lease of less than 21 years
SDLT payable on rent for leasehold properties (relief applies only to the
premium)
properties that are treated as linked transactions for SDLT purpose - unless
it's to do with the same property, eg a separate lease on a garage
shared ownership schemes where the payment is made in stages (but the relief can
be claimed if a market value election is made - your solicitor will advise you
on this).
Your CMS quote will show the stamp
duty as not everyone is eligible for relief but provided you meet the above
criteria the stamp duty will not be charged and you may deduct the UK stamp duty
from your total quote.
CMS give
you 3 of the best priced uk conveyancing solicitor quotes that are easy to understand.
All disbursements
are listed and the total price plus
disbursements is added up for you
showing the total payable. CMS
constantly monitor other uk conveyancing solicitor competitor websites. We
have found that the majority advertising unrealistically
low fees from £120 charge extra for items
listed
above (which CMS include for free). Most charge extra if you
have a
mortgage
plus other extras
increasing their best conveyancing solicitors quote by up to £200.
Always
insist upon a fully comprehensive quotation in writing and
ensure you read the full
Terms and Conditions -
Frequently Asked
Questions and
Disbursements
sections.
(CMS can explain these as part
of our service).
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 solicitor 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.
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:
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