Residential purchase

Buying residential property

Buying and selling your home, whether it is a freehold house or a leasehold flat is one of the most costly complex and risk filled transactions you are ever likely to undertake.  It is important to instruct skilled professionals to undertake this process for you. At Hudgell and Partners your matter will be handled by a qualified solicitor. You will be able to contact your conveyancing solicitor directly by phone or by email. As well as being Lexcel accredited (the Law Society’s practice Management standard) Hudgell and Partners also hold the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation. We are on the panels of most high street lenders and the solicitors who will handle your matter have extensive experience in conveyancing and property law.

We offer the following service when acting on a Purchase for you:

  • A named contact will support you throughout the purchase process, always available to answer your queries
  • Checking the title for the property, carrying out searches, investigating the planning history and  creating a report for you  about your new  property
  • Liaising with  the seller, the seller’s solicitor, and  the estate agent
  • Meeting you to go through your report, and signing the contract
  • Negotiating an exchange of contracts for you
  • Preparing the transfer deed and checking that the seller's title has not changed
  • Preparing a financial statement for you
  • Obtaining any mortgage funds and completing the purchase for you
  • Completing and submitting a stamp duty tax return to HMRC
  • Registering the purchase with the Land Registry, post completion
  • Hudgell & Partners act for  most major lenders, dealing with the legal work relating to mortgages

 

The matter normally takes between 3 and 6 months to complete.

 

Please note that it is sometimes difficult to predict what problems will arise when you undertake a conveyancing transaction. Although our quoted fees will cover most of the time that we expend on your behalf it does not cover every eventuality. Our fees for a purchase or sale do not include dealing with any second mortgage or drafting deeds of covenant, trust, easement, lease extension or variation, power of attorney or licence to assign. Additional fees will also apply to the transfer of share of freehold arrangements, help to buy schemes and other ancillary services that may be required for your purchase. A list of the most common additional services that we are asked to undertake and the estimated cost of them is on this page. We will obtain your consent before incurring any additional expense.  Please be aware that if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may require us to incur an additional expense and we will advise you if this happens.

Use the Hudgell & Partners’ online conveyancing calculator to work out how much your legal fees will be for buying and selling a property.  In addition to your legal fees we will have to pay other sums on your behalf for carrying out searches, paying stamp duty land tax (where necessary) and paying Land Registry and other fees, known as “Disbursements”, which are detailed below.

 

Disbursements on a Purchase

Local authority, drainage and environmental searches which give vital information about the Property that you are buying. The cost of these 3 searches is £195.89

Land registry fees. These vary according to the value of the property.  See the following link to calculate them Land Registry Fee Calculator 

Stamp duty is normally payable when buying a property.  The following HMRC calculator will tell you how much: Stamp Duty Calculator

On the purchase of leasehold property you may have to pay some or all of the following to the Landlord of the property:

Notice of transfer fee. This fee is usually between £60 and £180

Notice of charge fee. The fee is usually between £60 and £180

Deed of covenant fee. The fee is usually between £60 and £150

Certificate of Compliance fee. The fee is usually between £90 and £150

  • Click here if you are buying a property
Key Stages
Likely timescale
Obtaining instructions and identification evidence
1 week
Receiving draft contract papers, submitting searches and raising enquiries
1 to 2 weeks
Receiving search results, replies to enquiries and mortgage offer
Freehold: 1 – 2 weeks
Leasehold: 1 – 4 weeks
Exchanging contract and arranging completion
1 to 2 weeks
Registering your ownership at the Land Registry
Freehold: 2 weeks
Leasehold: 4 weeks