Our charges: buying and selling residential property

How much do we charge?

You can find full details of how we calculate our conveyancing charges below. For a quote specifically tailored to your case please just drop us an email at info@cohencampbell.com and we can give you an exact quote.

Our charges are made up of:

a) our fees for the legal work;

b) ‘disbursements’ - disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to other people, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process; and

c) for property purchases, Stamp Duty Land Tax (see below).

Where VAT is referred to below please note that this will be charged at the applicable rate, which is currently 20%.

Our fees

Our fees depend upon the value of the property you are buying or selling, whether it is a leasehold or freehold and the complexity of the matter. For a simple freehold transaction with no mortgage, costs can start from approximately £1,500 (excl VAT) and range upwards depending on complexity. For a leasehold property, our costs can start at approximately £2,500 (excl VAT) and also vary upwards depending on complexity.

Please note that VAT of 20% is also charged on all of our fees or legal work.

If, at any point during the transaction, money needs to be sent by telegraphic transfer, we charge a fee of £25 excluding VAT. If you are buying a property we will complete the HMRC stamp duty form on your behalf and submit it at the completion of the transaction. For this we charge a fee of £55 excluding VAT.

Disbursements

The ‘disbursements’ which you pay will depend upon whether you are buying or selling property or both, whether you are buying a freehold or leasehold property and the location and type of property concerned. Properties in certain locations for example need more searches and checks than others.

Normally all clients who are buying a ‘freehold’ property will need to pay the following disbursements:

• Search fees- Approximately £350 excluding VAT

• HM Land Registry fee £135 dependent on purchase price

• Bankruptcy Search £2 each.

• Land Registry Priority Search £3 each

• AML search fee £8

When selling a property, you will ordinarily need to pay:

• Land Registry Office Copy Entries and Title Plan which cost approximately £6 per title number

Depending on whether or not the property is leasehold or freehold, additional disbursements may be incurred. These may include:

• Notice of Transfer fee – This fee if chargeable is set out in the lease. Often the fee is between £100 - £250 exclusive of VAT. (leasehold only)

• Indemnity insurance policies covering title defects and obligations attaching to the property, management packs, the costs of which vary greatly.

Other costs may include Deed of Covenant and Certificate of Compliance fees. We will advise you on these costs on an ongoing basis.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

If you are buying a property you will also need to pay stamp duty land tax. The amount which you need to pay to the government depends on the price of the property.

You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC's website (or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority's website here.).

Other costs to consider

If you have a mortgage on the property or have incurred an estate agent’s fee, we would also typically need to pay the money owed directly to your lender and agent as needed from the sale money we receive for you.

You should also be aware that if you are purchasing a leasehold property then ground rent and service charges are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as we receive this information.

How long will my house sale / purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted to completion will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 8 and 12 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the ‘chain’. For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle and the transaction goes smoothly it could take as little as 6 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 3 and 6 months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply.

What legal work will you be doing for me?

The precise stages involved vary according to the circumstances. However typically in a property sale we need to do the following:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice

• Receive and advise on sale contract documents where applicable

• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate

• Give you advice on all documents and information received

• Send final contract to you for signature

• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)

• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened

• Complete the transaction

In a property purchase we need to do the following:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice

• Check finances are in place to fund purchase where applicable and contact lender's

• solicitors if needed

• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate

• Obtain further planning documentation if required

• Make any necessary enquiries of seller's solicitor where applicable

• Give you advice on all documents and information received

• Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you

• Send final contract to you for signature

• Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)

  Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened

• Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you

• Complete purchase

• Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax

• Deal with application for registration at Land Registry

If we are simply helping you to remortgage your property then we would generally speaking only need to:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice

• Carry out searches on the property you are buying where appropriate

• Obtain further planning documentation if required

• Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you.

• Send final documents to you for signature

• Apply for mortgage advance.

• Redeem any previous mortgages

• Deal with application for registration at the Land Registry.

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur other costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

Debt Recovery Price Transparency Statement

Our charges

Our overall fees vary depending upon how complex your case is and what you would like us to do. For a free quote specifically tailored to your circumstances please email info@cohencampbell.com . We would be more than happy to discuss your case.

To give you an idea of how we charge however, and to comply the SRA price transparency rules, we have set out below details of our typical charges.

Our charges are made up of:

a) our fees for the legal work; and

b) ‘disbursements’ - disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to

other people, such as fees for bailiffs. We handle the payment of the disbursements

on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Where VAT is referred to below please note that this will be charged at the applicable rate,

which is currently 20%.

Our fees

In debt recovery work the legal fees often vary depending upon how much work we need to

do to recover the debt. Our hourly rate for a partner is £450 (excl VAT). We tend to charge

fees for each stage of the recovery process and only charge clients for the parts they need:

1) Letter before action

A Letter Before Action is a letter which formally demands payment from the person who owes you money (the ‘debtor’). This is the first step for any debt recovery process before starting court proceedings. This stage normally takes 7 -21 days depending upon the nature of the debt.

This can be charged at a fixed cost. The firm offers a fixed fee letter before action service for 2.5 hours of a solicitor’s time at £625 plus VAT (charged at a discounted hourly rate of £250 plus VAT). If the client requires a claim form to be drafted with the letter before action this will bring the fixed fee to 3.5 hours at £875 plus VAT (that can also be charged at a discounted hourly rate of £250 plus VAT).

and includes:

• Undertaking appropriate searches

• Sending a letter before action

• Receiving payment and sending onto you, where applicable

Some cases may be more complicated and require us to charge on a different basis and may take longer than usual. Contact us for a quote tailored to your circumstances. For debt recovery claims over the £10,000.00 fix costs figure, the above fixed rates are still available for the client to use, however, any additional work will be charged at our standard hourly rate. 

Debt recovery matters of a high substantial value, (£100,000.00 and above) we estimate that the total cost to bring or defend a case in the court will be approximately:

• £100,000.00 claim – Costs would start from £25,000.-£30,000.00 plus VAT

• 100,000.00- £500,000.00 - Costs would start from £30,000.01 to £100,000.00 plus VAT

• Please note for higher value claims and more complex issues the costs will increase .

Disbursements

You will need to pay for ‘disbursements’ in addition to our costs as described above. In a debt recovery matter the most common disbursement is the Court fee and the cost for these are listed above. If we need to go to Court then a barrister (sometimes called ‘Counsel’) is often used to deal with the hearing. We will however guide you on this as and when such costs need to be incurred. Other disbursements may include fees for expert witnesses. If any other costs are necessary, we will inform you.

Other costs to consider

The costs set out above do not include enforcement action such as for bailiffs to go out and collect the debt on your behalf. The costs also do not include costs incurred in using a process server to serve important documents such as a statutory demand. We will notify you before incurring such costs.

The ‘estimated total legal costs’ above do not include defending emergency applications brought by you or your opponent – However, should such action be needed we would notify you before incurring additional fees.

We should also point out that we aim to try and settle claims before any trial takes place, as it is required by us to do so by the courts in accordance with the “overriding objective”. If settlement is reached before trial, this would reduce the overall cost. If you instruct us you will be provided with a tailored quotation for your case in our client care letter/terms of business.

Costs you may have to pay to another party

If you are unsuccessful in your claim, you may be liable for the costs of the other party, however, the value depends on the value of the debt claim. If the value is less than £10,000.00, costs which can be claimed by either party are fixed in accordance with Part 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules.  However, if the value is over £10,000.00 costs can be awarded on a standard or indemnity basis.

Key stages of your case

The costs described above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a debt recovery process:

• Discussing your case with you and, where appropriate, reviewing documents you provide

• Performing relevant checks and searches

• Sending a letter before action (see above)

• Receiving payment and forwarding payment to you or, if a debt is not paid, drafting

• and issuing court proceedings

• If no response is received, applying to the Court for Judgment in Default, subject to the additional costs for doing so as detailed above being paid;

• If Judgment in Default is received, writing to the other side to demand payment

• If payment is still not received within the specified timescale, providing you with guidance on the next steps and likely costs

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.