We appreciate selling and buying a property is both an exciting and stressful time for you. Our Residential Property Lawyers are Solicitors with over 20 years qualified experience enabling us to offer you a bespoke property service. We encourage you to call into our offices which are centrally located in Cardiff to have an initial meeting with your Solicitor to discuss your requirements and the way we will work for you in your transaction. For more information on our team use the link – https://www.mpgsolicitors.co.uk/our-team/
Purchase Property
Our legal fees cover all of the work* required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and facilitating the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) if the property you purchase is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (LTT) if the property you purchase is in Wales. VAT is charged on our legal fees at the current rate of 20%. Our legal fees are set out on a scale of costs based on the purchase price of the property – see below
Disbursements – are costs related to your purchase that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees, search fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
Stamp Duty or Land Transaction Tax – is a tax paid to the government on a property purchase (or transfer) – the sum paid depends on the purchase price of your property and the circumstances of the purchase eg if you are purchasing a second property the higher rate of tax applies. We complete the Land Transaction Tax application on the information provided by you and submit it to the relevant Revenue authority following completion of your purchase. We charge a fee of £50 plus vat for submitting the application for you. You can calculate the amount of tax you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website if the property is located in England https://www.stampdutycalculator.org.uk or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website – https://beta.gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority
We do not provide advice on Stamp Duty/Land Transaction Tax or the reliefs available and you must obtain such advice from an independent tax adviser
Land Registry fee – is the fee is paid to the Land Registry to register you as owner of the property following completion of your purchase – the fee paid depends on the purchase price of the property and the type of property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using Land Registry’s website – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fees-hm-land-registry-guides
Search fees – are the fees paid to third parties to carry out searches specific to the property. The usual searches undertaken on a purchase are Local Search (to check local matters eg planning affecting the property), Drainage and Water Search (to check connection of drainage and water supply to the property), Environmental Search (to check for environmental matters eg contamination from passed use of the land on which the property is situated)
Electronic money transfer fee – is the fee paid for sending the funds to the seller’s lawyer on the day of completion via electronic transfer
Legal Fees
We set out below our legal fees for acting on a purchase of a registered freehold property in England and Wales (*see below for circumstances where additional legal fees will apply). An estimate of the disbursements which are added to our Legal fees are set out below under the heading Disbursements.
| Price | Legal fee | VAT @ 20% | Total |
| 0-£300,000 | 1,080.00 + VAT | 216.00 | 1,296.00 |
| 300,001- 400,000 | 1,250.00 + VAT | 250.00 | 1,500.00 |
| 400,001-550,000 | 1,300.00 +VAT | 260.00 | 1,560.00 |
| 550,001-750,000 | 1,400.00 + VAT | 280.00 | 1,680.00 |
| 750,001+ | 0.20% of purchase price capped at £3,500.00 + VAT |
The following fees will also apply to all purchase transactions:-
| Electronic Bank Transfer fee | £30 + VAT = £36 |
| Land Transaction submission fee | £50.00 (plus vat of £10.00) = £60.00 |
Disbursements if applicable (paid by us to third parties on all purchases in addition to legal fees)
| Search fees | £300.00 – £500.00 (approximately) based on where the property is located |
| Priority Search fee | £7.00 (per title) |
| Bankruptcy Search | £6.00 (per name) |
| Electronic ID Check | £6.00-£14.40 (per name) |
| Lawyer check | £18.00 approximately |
| Chancel Insurance | £15.79 (including vat) |
| Land Registry fee | use link below to calculate – based on price and circumstances of purchase |
| Stamp Duty (England) | use link below to calculate – based on price and circumstances of purchase |
| LTT (Wales) | use link below to calculate – based on price and circumstances of purchase |
Land Registry – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fees-hm-land-registry-guides
Inland Revenue (England) – https://www.stampdutycalculator.org.uk
Welsh Revenue Authority (Wales) – https://beta.gov.wales/welsh-revenue-authority
*ADDITIONAL LEGAL FEES
Our above legal fees are based on the purchase transaction being a registered freehold property. If the transaction is not a registered freehold property or the transaction will require additional work we will charge additional legal fees. We set out below examples of the additional fees which will be charged IN ADDITION to our legal fees set out above :-
Supplementary Charges on Purchase Transactions (all are PLUS VAT @20%)
| LTT/SDLT submission | £50 |
| Leasehold house | £300 |
| Leasehold defect -Lease | £750 |
| Leasehold – no management company | £800 |
| Leasehold – one management company | £800 |
| Leasehold – two management companies | £950 |
| Leasehold – England over 11 metres/high rise | £1,000 |
| New Build | £500 |
| Freehold with management company | £300 |
| Freehold with two management companies | £400 |
| HTB ISA or LISA | £50 |
| Company purchase with a mortgage | £400 |
| Company purchase without a mortgage | £200 |
| London property | £200 |
| Trust Deed with basic provisions | £500 |
| Declaration of Trust | £300 |
| Shared Ownership/Equity | £400 |
| Part Exchange | £400 |
| Help to Buy | £400 |
| Tenancy/BTL | £300 |
| 3rd Party Lawyer Dealings | £150 |
| Unregistered Title | £400 |
| Statutory Declaration/Statement of Truth | £200 |
| Lease Extension ** | £600+ |
| Freehold Purchase simultaneous | £500 |
| Transfer of part (not new build) | £600 |
| Repossessions or other deadline completions | £300 |
| LPA or Attorney (seller) | £400 |
| Executor (seller) | £150 |
| Conservatory questionnaire | £50 |
| Private drainage/water supply | £200 |
| Solar Panels | £200 |
| Japanese Knotweed | £200-300 |
| Obtaining certificates/documents (eg planning) | £10 per document |
| Complicated Title | £300 |
| Possessory Title | £100 |
| More than one title | £100 per extra title |
| Ancillary matters | |
| Unknown lawyer check | £25 (plus disbursement) |
| Indemnity Policy | £25 (plus premium) |
| Proof of Funds – more than two accounts | £50 per additional account |
| Adult Occupier Consent | £75 |
| Third Party Gift – in mortgage offer | £75 |
| Third Party Gift – not in mortgage offer | £125 |
| Seller Gifted Deposit | £100 |
| Stock Transfer Form | £50 |
| Deed of Covenant | £85 |
| Tenancy Agreements | £300 |
| Retentions eg unadopted sewer/service charge adjustment) | £200 |
| Transferring monies outside UK | £50 |
| Licence to enter between exchange and completion | £150 |
| Additional contract clauses | £50 per additional clause |
| Late Completions (irrespective of cause) | £200 |
| Non-Standard Searches | £150 |
| Unsecured Loan Agreement | £150 |
| Second Charge | £250 |
| Deed of Variation | £750 |
| Application for possessory Title | FROM £600 |
| Lenders with Additional Requirements | |
| LMS/UCLS Lenders | £25 plus disbursement |
| Paragon/Kent Reliance/Kensington | £200 |
** Lease Extensions
- if a leasehold transaction requires a lease extension our legal fee will be based on whether you have agreed the lease extension with the freeholder or if you have not agreed the lease extension with the freeholder and Notice is required to be served on the freeholder under the relevant legislation. Our legal fees for acting on a lease extension will be calculated on an hourly rate of £200 plus vat. These will be additional to the legal fees for your sale:-
- A Lease extension agreed with freeholder – £600.00 – £1,100.00 plus vat plus disbursements
- A Lease extension with Notice required to be served on the freeholder – £1,000.00 – £1,800.00 plus vat plus disbursements
- As a leasehold property owner you will also be responsible for the freeholder’s legal costs and surveyor’s fee