Timescales

We have agreed to charge a fixed fee for our conveyancing services and confirm that the cost for dealing with your matter.

Please note that the above fee is only an estimate, not a quote, and assumes that your matter will proceed to completion without any difficulties. If any unforeseen, additional work is required, we will either provide a revised estimate or agree that any additional work will be charged. In either case, we will not carry out any further work until any changes to our original estimate have been agreed in writing. If at any point you would like to agree a ‘ceiling figure’, at which point we will not incur any further costs without your written consent

In addition to our charges, you must also pay for any expenses that we incur on your behalf. These expenses are commonly referred to as ‘disbursements’ and sometimes attract VAT. The disbursements that we anticipate will be incurred in this matter are:

Disbursements:

  • Land registry fee
  • Bank Transfer Fee
  • Bankruptcy Fee
  • OS1 Land Registry fee
  • Lawyer Checker
  • Legal Searches
  • AML Check/ID Check

It is normal practice to ask for money on account of such expenses and, as such, we would ask that you let us have a cheque for £214.00 made payable to Woodhall Solicitors.

If you are buying the property with a mortgage, your lender may also require us to put in place contingency insurance to cover certain defects in the title of your property. We will of course inform you of the cost of any such policy before taking it out on your behalf.

As you are using a mortgage to purchase the property, we will deal with the formalities relating to SDLT, due to the obligations to your lender, so the additional SDLT Fee of £50.00 plus VAT is payable to us.

If the matter does not proceed to completion you will be charged according to the work, we have carried out on your behalf. We will calculate our costs based on the time spent on the matter. Where a fixed fee has been agreed, the charges will not exceed that fixed fee. Generally speaking, Solicitors and Lending Organisations need at least 5 working days between exchange of contracts and completion to be able to carry out legal checks, pre-completion searches and the drafting of legal documents necessary to transfer ownership and to finalise mortgages on the property. If you require us to complete your purchase in a period of less than 5 working days from exchange of contracts then we will do our best to achieve your wishes, providing that we are satisfied that the period is feasible and acceptable to all parties (including your Lending Organisation). The work will, however, attract a supplement charge of £300.00 inclusive of VAT to cover the extra work in trying to achieve this earlier completion.

As far as timescales are concerned, it is very difficult at the outset to provide a realistic estimate, but based on general transaction, we would estimate that a matter will complete in 4-6 weeks. We will keep you informed of progress throughout, explain the reasons for any delays and advise you if any additional unforeseen work becomes necessary. Some examples of the factors which could affect the timescale noted above are as follows:

  • How quickly your mortgage lender deals with your mortgage application.
  • Delays in obtaining access to a property for a survey.
  • The survey reveals defects or issues that need attention or further investigation.
  • How long the local searches take, this can vary depending on authority and time of year.
  • The seller looking for a property, quite often sellers may not look for a property until they have a buyer.
  • Delays in getting seller’s replies to pre-contract enquiries, questions that are not answered in documents provided.
  • Getting documents from third party organisations – these can include NHBC certificates, information from management company or proof of planning consent.
  • Issues with Title Deeds – these can include property not being registered with HM Land Registry or where property is being sold by the executor of someone who has died; and
  • If you are in chain, then transactions and transfers need to be coordinated.