Expert Property Solicitors and Conveyancers with a Personal Approach

Ryan Property Law has gained a strong reputation for providing clear and easy-to-understand costs information.

We offer a fixed fee service and will be happy to provide a free, no obligation personal quotation tailored to your own individual transaction. Every case at Ryan Property Law is dealt with by one of our seven lawyers; four of whom are partners of the firm, one of whom is an experienced solicitor and the remaining two being Associates of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. Your transaction will be allocated according to complexity and each lawyer's capacity at the time of your instruction.

Residential Property Charges

On any conveyancing transaction, the charges you pay are broken down into three specific parts:

• Costs – this is how much the conveyancer will charge you for the work that they do. At Ryan Property Law, we work on a fixed fee, agreed at the outset with you, for transactional conveyancing. You will find that most conveyancers, including ourselves, will show their fees to be exclusive of VAT, which is currently set at 20%. Be aware that many conveyancers charge a basic fee and then have “add ons” for standard work, such as verifying your ID, dealing with your mortgage lender or to prepare the Stamp Duty Land Tax return. This type of work is included in our basic fee.
• Disbursements – these are sums that the conveyancer will pay on your behalf to third parties. Most commonly, the conveyancer will pay out your search fees to obtain information from the local Council, the local Water Authority and (in areas with historic mining activity) the Coal Authority. The conveyancer may also have to pay money to the Land Registry for documents relating to the property and to register a transaction once it has completed.
• Tax – on purchases and on transfers of ownership, Stamp Duty Land Tax (or, in Wales, Land Transaction Tax) will apply. The rate you pay will depend on whether you already own a property and, if you do, whether you are replacing your main residence. Lower tax rates are also available for most first-time buyers.

Conveyancing Costs

Our charges are based on the value of the property and any anticipated complexity that we become aware of (for example, where the property is newbuild, leasehold or shared ownership).

For example, a straightforward freehold residential sale transaction for a price up to £200,000 should result in a fee of around £550 to £950 plus VAT. A higher value property in the region of £500,000 should result in a fee of around £650 to £1,050 plus VAT.

A straightforward freehold residential purchase transaction for a price up to £200,000 should result in a fee of around £600 to £975 plus VAT. A higher value property in the region of £500,000 should result in a fee of around £800 to £1,250 plus VAT.

Remortgages should cost in the region of £425 to £575 plus VAT. Where a remortgage also involves a change in the ownership of the property (for example, adding a person to the mortgage or removing someone), the fee is likely to be in the region of £525 to £675 plus VAT.

In addition, the conveyancing process usually requires same-day bank transfer payments to be made on your behalf, such as to pay the purchase price to the seller’s solicitors or to repay an existing mortgage on completion. We charge a fee of £28 plus VAT for each occasion on which a same-day payment is required, which reflects the administration involved and also covers the bank charges incurred by us in making such a payment on your behalf.

In some cases, additional charges may apply and further information on this is detailed in the sections below.

Disbursements

On a sale transaction, charges are usually limited to obtaining documentation from Land Registry, which can range from £6 on a straightforward freehold property to £30 on a more complicated leasehold property.

On a purchase transaction, search fees vary between each local authority. For example, in Leeds or Wakefield, the cost of a local authority, drainage and water and a Coal Authority search will be in the region of £175, whereas in Bradford or Calderdale, the same searches cost around £245. On commercial transactions, the cost of searches can be significantly higher and you should contact us for a bespoke quotation.

In addition, on purchase and remortgage transactions, fees are payable to the Land Registry to carry out a final check on the deeds just before completion (usually ranging from £3 to £15) and also to register the new purchase and / or mortgage. For example, to register a purchase at £150,000 will usually cost £95, whereas a purchase at £350,000 will ordinarily cost £135.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

The calculation of Stamp Duty Land Tax is complicated and is dependent upon a number of factors, by reference to the following table. In most cases, we can confirm the applicable figure to you from the outset of the transaction but in more complicated cases, you may need to obtain specialist tax advice. The information below shows the rates that apply from 23 September 2022: 

*this rate can only be used where the purchase price is £600,000 or less

When might you be charged more for the work that we do?

We can assure you that, only in rare cases will the level of our charges be varied from the level set out in our initial letter. This may occur in instances where the transaction takes much longer than anticipated or where the form of any proposed documentation requires drafting or substantial amendment by the firm (additional documentation may, for example, be in the form of a Statutory Declaration or a Deed of Trust between the owners).

In order to keep our pricing structure competitive, you should be aware that the following matters are common reasons where additional charges may apply:

• Where, after opening our file, we discover that the property is in fact leasehold or where the property is a shared ownership property. An additional charge will apply, depending on the complexity of the leasehold documentation involved. This reflects the additional work involved in dealing with a freeholder and / or management company, investigating rent and service charge and also in approving the terms of the lease and dealing with the requirements on any transfer or new mortgage. Generally speaking, the leasehold structures in smaller developments are much more straightforward in smaller residential blocks than they are in larger developments, particularly those in town and city centres or which are in a block with combined commercial and residential use. You should expect to pay a supplement of around £300 to £600 plus VAT on properties which are in smaller developments and £500 to £800 plus VAT on larger developments with more complicated management arrangements or in higher rise buildings.
• Where, after opening our file, we discover that the property is freehold but is subject to a maintenance arrangement in respect of shared or communal areas. This reflects the additional work involved in dealing with the estate management company, investigating service charge and also in dealing with the requirements on any transfer or new mortgage. The additional fee will be in the sum of £95 plus VAT.
• Where we are required to correspond with more than one party on a transaction (common examples include, a couple in the process of separating who require copies of letters to be sent to each of them or who require us to see them at separate appointments or where you have appointed another firm of solicitors to deal with a linked transaction, such as a related re-mortgage, sale or purchase), we will charge a further £85 plus VAT to reflect the additional work involved.
• Where a property is being purchased through a limited company, we must reserve the right to charge additional sums to investigate the ownership and control structure of the company and the content of the company’s constitution. The additional charge will be £125 plus VAT if the transaction is a sale or otherwise is a purchase or transfer of equity that does not involve a mortgage. Where there is a new mortgage being created, a charge of £225 plus VAT will be made. Please note that some lenders require the directors of limited companies to enter into personal guarantees, for which a further charge will be made in the event that the lender allows this firm to provide independent advice to the directors of the company.
• Where a property is newly built, either being purchased from the first time from the developer or where it is being sold by the first occupier within the first few years following its construction, we must reserve the right to charge a supplement to review the substantial additional documentation that applies to newly-built properties, which might include road and drain adoption agreements, the terms of planning permissions, the suitability of newbuild warranties, planning obligations and the terms of the build contract. You should expect to pay a supplement of £275 to £435 plus VAT if the property you are purchasing is newly-built or has been built in the last ten years.
• Where the property involves a sale, purchase, remortgage or transfer which is subject to the terms of a tenancy agreement (i.e. where a third party occupier will remain in the property once the transaction has completed). In those instances, we will charge a supplementary fee of £125 plus VAT to reflect the work involved in dealing with the regulatory aspects, advice on the terms of the tenancy and its suitability for any lender and in dealing with any bond or deposit that the tenant might have paid.
• Where a property is purchased with the assistance of a Help to Buy ISA or a Lifetime ISA or similar scheme, we shall charge £50 plus VAT for each ISA account where we are to claim a Help to Buy ISA bonus on your behalf or make arrangements to draw down Lifetime ISA monies for you (in accordance with the Government’s recommended figure) to reflect the additional work involved.
• Where we are asked on a sale transaction to prepare a statutory declaration to deal with matters relating to (for example, occupation of land, use of a right of way, the solvency of an individual) or similar, we reserve the right to make a charge of £50 plus VAT for dealing with this.
• In most cases, if you are buying a property with a mortgage, the lender you choose will also appoint us to act on their behalf in ensuring that the property is acceptable for their mortgage security. In rare occasions, the lender will appoint separate solicitors to act for them – in those cases, not only will you usually be responsible for the fees of those solicitors, we will charge an additional fee for the extra correspondence in liaising with those solicitors and satisfying their requirements. This will usually be in the region of £375 plus VAT.
• We will charge an additional sum of £85 plus VAT where you change mortgage lenders part-way through a purchase or re-mortgage transaction and we are required to report on the terms of the alternative mortgage offer and associated documents.
• Where a property being bought or sold is subject to a lease of the solar panels attached to the roof, this will incur a typical additional charge in the region of £150 plus VAT to reflect the additional work involved.
• We will charge an additional £60 plus VAT for each loan, other repayment or third party interest (such as credit card repayments, second mortgages, debts or other interests which are registered against the property) that we are required to deal with, either by you or as a condition of any mortgage offer, to reflect the administration time involved in dealing with those parties. Please rest assured that, if you have only a single mortgage to be repaid on a property that you are selling or remortgaging, this charge will not apply.

You should be aware that, if for any reason your transaction does not proceed, we must also reserve the right to charge a proportion of our fee to reflect the time we have spent on the matter (this will be based on a percentage of the total work carried out at the point at which the transaction does not proceed), in addition to which you will also remain liable for any disbursements that have been incurred.