Conveyancing Category by Paul Dodds Law
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Purchase of a Freehold Property

Our team has over fifty years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to residential conveyancing.  There are few areas of residential conveyancing that the team has not dealt with before and you can be assured that the team will make the purchase of your property as easy and stress free as it can be.

We have five members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Paul Dodds, Partner and Head of Conveyancing.  Paul Dodds is assisted by Liam Bradshaw, Solicitor, Rob Mason, Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (FCILEx), Megan Hughes, Solicitor and Emma Hunter, Paralegal.

Paul Dodds – Partner

Senior Partner Paul Dodds qualified as a solicitor in 1979 and opened his own firm, this firm, in 1983.  He has over 40 years’ experience in property law and conveyancing.

Liam Bradshaw – Solicitor

Liam is an experienced solicitor specialising in property law.

Rob Mason – FCILEx

Rob has been a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (a non-solicitor lawyer) since 1982 and is now a Chartered Legal Executive.  He has over 30 years experience in property law and conveyancing.

Megan Robinson – Solicitor

Megan qualified as a solicitor in 2023 and assists Paul, Liam and Rob with day to day matters.

Emma Hunter – Paralegal

Emma is an experienced conveyancing matter who assists the qualified fee-earners in the department.

Each of our fee-earners undertaken regular training on conveyancing to ensure that they remain up to date with the law.

What’s Included

Our fees cover all the work* required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property is in Wales.

The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential freehold property vary according to the circumstances. However, key stages include:

  • Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice
  • Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
  • Receive and advise on contract documents
  • Carry out searches
  • Obtain further planning documentation if required
  • Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor
  • Give you advice on all documents and information received
  • Go through conditions of mortgage offer
  • Send final contract to you for signature
  • Draft Transfer
  • Advise you on joint ownership
  • Obtain pre-completion searches
  • Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
  • Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
  • Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
  • Complete purchase
  • Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
  • Deal with application for registration at Land Registry

How long will my house purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 6-8 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it could take 4 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 2 and 3 months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply.

Our Fees

Residential conveyancing work is generally undertaken on the basis of fixed fees.  The following information is provided to assist you in understanding how our fees are calculated.  The prices provided are indicative of the likely cost in a transaction or case and should not be taken as an absolute quote.  You must still contact us to obtain a detailed quote which takes into account the individual circumstances of your transaction or case.

Fees

  • Legal fees £438.00
  • Electronic money transfer fee £30.00**
  • VAT payable £93.60
  • AML check admin fee £30.00 (per person)****
  • VAT payable £6.00 (per person)
  • Subtotal £597.60

Our fee assumes that:

  1. this is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction
  2. the transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complication arise
  3. all parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
  4. no indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as search fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. There are certain disbursements which will be set out in the individual lease relating to the Property. The disbursements which we anticipate will apply are set out separately below. This list is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply depending on the term of the lease. We will update you on the specific fees upon receipt and review of the lease from the seller’s solicitors.

  • HM Land Registry fee: £3.00
  • Search fees: £201.50***
  • VAT on search fees: 40.30***
  • Land Registry fee: £95.00
  • Subtotal: £339.80

Grand total £931.40

*These fees vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given above. This is our average fee during the three months to 30 September 2018.  We can give you an accurate figure once we have sight of your specific documents.

**We make a charge of £30.00 plus VAT for each telegraphic (electronic) transfer that we undertake.  On a purchase there is likely to be one such transfer to pay the purchase monies to the seller’s solicitor.

***This is the cost of a standard search bundle required in every case.  There are other searches that you may wish to undertake, such as a flooding risk search, and there will be an additional charge for these.

You may choose to receive any monies due to you by cheque or telegraphic transfer.  There is no charge for receiving proceeds or other monies by cheque.  If you choose to receive monies by telegraphic transfer then we will charge an additional fee of £30.00 plus VAT.

****We use an external company to undertake AML (anti-money laundering) checks on our behalf.  We are legally required to undertake AML checks on each person involved in a transaction and we will charge a fee for each check undetaken.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Stamp Duty may additionally be payable.  This depends on the purchase price of your property and whether or not you own any other properties. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website.

A stamp duty land tax (SDLT) form is required in all cases.  You may be able to choose to complete this yourself.  If there is a lender then we will have to complete it for you.  If you ask us to complete the form or we have to complete it then we will charge an additional fee for £75.00 plus VAT.