# Legal fees with house move



## Just a girl (Mar 6, 2008)

Hi
I'm after a bit of guidance. We are in the process of selling up and so far I've had one quote for all legal fees attached to the selling and purchasing of a new property and it comes in just under £4000. Does this sound about right? I signed up to a website which was meant to email me quotes but it didn't so I thought I'd ask my wise ff's especially as I've just returned to work from mat leave and I'm struggling to find time to get everything done, let alone sit down and make numerous phonecalls with two little monkyes chorusing in the background.   
Many Thanks in advance x


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## strawbs (May 16, 2005)

Hi

No seems expensive to me!!!
We have bought and sold numerous houses and never more than £1500.  I think DH sometimes pulls in favours, but my mum just buying one (nothing to sell) and is £700 (lives in north).  We live in Surrey so prices will differ wherever you live.  london may be more (although should imagine on a par with surrey)
It does depend on certain aspects such as complicated issues with freeholds, interested parties, but 4k sounds  lot to me!
strawbs x


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## ~ S ~ (Oct 27, 2003)

It's probably including the stamp duty??

S x


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## MandyPandy (May 10, 2010)

Is it strictly legal fees or are expenses also covered in that?

If it is just the legal fees, it possibly depends on the cost and the type of transactions - but £2k per transaction with all expenses (barring SDLT) included doesn't sound too bad to me for leasehold.  If it's freehold, it does sound a bit on the expensive side.  I used to be a conveyancer and that was about the average of what we charged.


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## Just a girl (Mar 6, 2008)

It's freehold and does include the stamp duty? I know to sell ours is about £700 and the rest is the buying fees. So if including stamp duty on a property hopefully being bought for £215, is that ok? Sorry it's the first time we have sold a property so it's all a bit confusing. X


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## MandyPandy (May 10, 2010)

Just a girl said:


> It's freehold and does include the stamp duty? I know to sell ours is about £700 and the rest is the buying fees. So if including stamp duty on a property hopefully being bought for £215, is that ok? Sorry it's the first time we have sold a property so it's all a bit confusing. X


Yep, buying is the tough part. Selling is relatively easy.

SDLT (what used to be Stamp Duty) on a £215k property is 1% (so £2,150 of the 'legal fees' are actually HMRC taxes - assuming that is actually included in the £4k).

This leaves the actual legal costs at £1850 - which is a bargain on a linked transaction, i.e., £700 on the sale and around £700 on the purchase (search fees, etc., on the property you are purchasing will be around £150 - £400 depending on where you're buying and what the property's history is).

I would say that you have a good deal at £4k all in. I used to charge around £1500 - £3000 for a purchase _excluding_ expenses and SDLT/Land Registry fees.


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