Fixed Fee Conveyancing — Every Cost, Listed Upfront

The complaint we hear most often about other firms is not the price. It is the surprise.

A quote arrives at £750. The completion statement says £1,400. Nothing was hidden exactly — it was all in the small print — but nobody explained it, and by the time you notice you are two months in and cannot easily move.

This page lists everything. Our fee, every disbursement, and the third-party costs we do not control. If something is not on this page, we will not charge you for it.

What "fixed fee" means here

Our legal fee is fixed at the outset and stated in writing in your client care letter. It does not change because the transaction took longer than expected, because there were more enquiries than usual, or because we spent more time on it than we anticipated. That risk is ours, not yours.

There are a small number of circumstances where additional work genuinely falls outside the original scope. Those are listed in full further down this page. If any of them arise, we will tell you at the time, explain the cost, and get your agreement before doing the work. You will never learn about an extra charge from the completion statement.

What is not a fixed fee

Disbursements. These are payments to third parties that we make on your behalf — search fees, Land Registry fees, Stamp Duty. We do not set them, we do not mark them up, and we pass them on at cost. They vary depending on the property and the local authority.

Anyone advertising a single all-inclusive figure is either estimating the disbursements or excluding them. We prefer to show you both parts separately so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

Our legal fees

Basis of charges: fixed fee. Fixed Fee — please contact us for a quote

Supplements — charged only if they apply

Every one of these is quoted to you before we start, once we know what your transaction involves.

Disbursements — money paid to others

Buying

Buying leasehold — additional

Set by the landlord or managing agent, and outside our control:

These vary enormously between buildings. We obtain the actual figures as soon as the landlord provides them and tell you immediately.

Selling

Stamp Duty Land Tax

SDLT is a tax paid to HMRC, not a fee. We calculate it, file the return and pay it from your completion funds.

Standard residential rates

First-time buyer relief — no SDLT up to £300,000, then 5% between £300,001 and £500,000. No relief where the price exceeds £500,000.

Additional property surcharge — an extra percentage on top of standard rates where you will own more than one residential property at the end of the day. This catches people buying before selling, and it is refundable if you sell your previous main residence within the relevant window.

Non-UK residents — a further surcharge applies.

We will calculate your exact liability as part of your quote. If you might be caught by the additional property surcharge, tell us early — the difference is substantial and it is better known at the outset.

Key stages of the work

The SRA requires us to set out what you are paying for. For a purchase:

1. Taking your instructions and confirming them in writing
2. Checking finances and the source of funds
3. Receiving and reviewing the contract pack
4. Carrying out searches
5. Raising enquiries with the seller's solicitor
6. Reviewing the mortgage offer and advising on its conditions
7. Reporting to you on title, searches, enquiries and the mortgage
8. Sending final documents for signature
9. Agreeing a completion date and exchanging contracts
10. Requesting mortgage funds and your balance
11. Completing the purchase
12. Filing the SDLT return and paying the duty
13. Registering you at HM Land Registry
14. Sending you the completed registration

Timescales

Chains, mortgage delays, slow landlords and unresponsive parties are the common causes of extension.

What could increase your costs

We will tell you as soon as any of these emerges:

• Title defects requiring indemnity insurance or a deed of rectification
• Unregistered land requiring first registration
• A lease requiring variation or extension
• Missing building regulations or planning consents
• Statutory declarations
• A significant boundary or access issue
• A change of lender part-way through
• An abortive transaction where matters must be re-run
• Probate, matrimonial or company complications
• Additional independent legal advice for a third party

None of these are common. All of them are possible. You will hear about the cost when it arises, and never afterwards.

If your transaction falls through

Roughly one in three property transactions in England and Wales fails before exchange.

If yours does, you pay for the work actually done and any disbursements already incurred — searches in particular are non-refundable once ordered. We will provide a clear account of what has been spent.

Fixed Fee — please contact us for a quote

Frequently asked questions

Is your fee really fixed? Yes. The legal fee stated in your client care letter is what you pay, unless additional work outside the original scope becomes necessary — the situations listed above. In that event we tell you the cost and get your agreement first.

Why is your quote higher than the one I got online? Compare like with like. Online quotes frequently exclude disbursements, add supplements for leasehold or new build later, and charge separately for things we include. Ask any firm for the total figure including all disbursements and supplements, then compare. Ask who will actually handle your file, and whether they are a qualified solicitor.

When do I pay? We usually ask for money on account at the start to cover searches. The balance of our fee and remaining disbursements is settled on completion, from the transaction funds.

Do I pay VAT? VAT applies to our legal fee and to some disbursements. Land Registry fees, SDLT and bankruptcy searches carry no VAT. Every line above shows its VAT treatment.

What is the cheapest way to do this? Honestly, an online factory conveyancer will usually quote less. Whether that is cheaper overall depends on whether the transaction is straightforward and how much your time and stress are worth. We are not the cheapest option in the market, and we do not claim to be.

Can you beat a quote I have been given? Send it to us. We will tell you honestly whether it is genuinely comparable — often it is not, once disbursements and supplements are included. If it is, we will tell you that too.

Internal links out: /conveyancing/ · /quote/ · /first-time-buyers/ · /new-build/ · /contact