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Cost Information

Below we set out details of our charges for dealing with Residential Conveyancing and Uncontested Probate cases on your behalf. These figures exclude VAT and disbursements, which are costs that are payable to third parties that relate to your matter, for example stamp duty when buying a house, or probate court fees when applying for a Grant of Probate. At the outset of a case it is often difficult to predict the actual cost and nature of a disbursement, so, when necessary, we will provide example or average disbursement costs to help you.

The costs detailed below are as accurate as is possible to predict before your file is opened, so upon receiving your initial instructions we will always provide you with a formal written quotation in our “Terms of Business” letter, for your approval and acceptance. It is only when these costs are agreed do we commence work on your behalf.

In any case, there is always a possibility that our charges may exceed the quoted cost, but if this occurs you will be informed in writing as early as possible. Matters typically exceed the quoted fee when they are particularly complicated, for example, in conveyancing cases with unforeseen issues, such as, and not limited to, defective or unregistered titles, building regulation or planning permission problems, where a Lease has to be extended as part of the purchase of a leasehold property, or where there are missing documents, or, in probate cases where there are foreign assets, missing Beneficiaries, Executors refusing to act and lifetime gifts to be taken into account.

UNCONTESTED PROBATE (ALL ASSETS IN THE UK)

When dealing with Probate cases, many law firms charge a percentage value of the estate IN ADDITION to the cost of the time spent on dealing with the estate. This often adds £1,000’s onto the costs of the estate administration. At Kirkham Legal, we only charge for the time spent on dealing with the work involved.

Probate work at Kirkham Legal is dealt with by Daniel Prince, a senior Solicitor and Kathryn Doogue, Director and Licensed Conveyancer, and their charge rate is £175 per hour, with letters and telephone calls being recorded at 1/10 of an hour. These rates are subject to VAT.

There are essentially 2 ways in which you may wish to instruct us to obtain Probate either (i) for Grant of Probate only or (ii) for full estate administration.

(i) Grant Only – this means that we prepare the probate documents on your behalf, deal with the submission of the same to the Probate Registry, and obtain the requisite Grant for you. You are responsible for collating the value of the assets in the estate (bank accounts, insurance policies, properties, vehicles, stocks and shares etc) so that we can prepare the documentation, and following the Grant, you are then responsible for collecting the assets, selling or dealing with property (these fees do not include conveyancing costs), completing Tax Returns, paying tax, liaising with Beneficiaries, making necessary searches and advertisements, preparing Estate Accounts and ultimately distributing the estate to the Beneficiaries.

Depending upon a number of factors, which we will ascertain at our first meeting (such as applying for the Transferable Nil Rate Band allowance, issues with the validity of the will, difficulties in tracing Executors/Administrators and whether Inheritance Tax is payable) our costs will be in the region of £525 to £1050 plus VAT, which is based on our assumption that such work will take in the region of 3 to 6 hours to complete.

(ii) Full Estate Administration-this means that once we have been provided with details and documents relating to the estate, we then undertake all of the tasks detailed above in “(i) Grant Only” on your behalf. You will appreciate that this will include a significant amount of work (which will vary depending on the make-up of the estate, such as the number of assets, debts, Executors, Beneficiaries, the number of properties, foreign assets, tax issues, whether there were any lifetime gifts or life interests to be taken into account, and whether there are any issues with regard to the validity of the Will, the willingness of Executors to act, if the estate is likely to be contested, if there are any missing Beneficiaries or if forensic work is required to create a family tree in intestacy cases) which may be difficult to define at the outset. As an estimate, such cases tend to involve between 8 and 30 hours of work, meaning that costs are likely to be between £1,400 and £5,250 plus VAT and disbursements. VAT is currently chargeable at 20%.

The likely disbursements in a probate case are as follows:

  • Property valuation – between £100 and £200 plus VAT, per property.
  • Share valuation – depends on the number of shares, but say £100 plus VAT.
  • Probate court fees – currently £155.
  • Certified copies of the Grant – £0.50 each.
  • Oath fees – £5 per person where there is no Will, £7 per person where there is a Will.
  • Statutory Advertisements – £150 to £200.
  • Bankruptcy searches for Beneficiaries – £2 each name.
  • Office copies of the title to property – £6 per property.

The above list is not exhaustive. In addition, depending on the size of the estate, Inheritance Tax may be payable, but this is very difficult to predict at the outset of a case, so this will be discussed in detail with you once the situation becomes clearer. You can obtain information about Inheritance Tax on the Government website “gov.uk inheritance tax information” (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-landtax/#/intro)

RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING

Below we set out our standard charges for dealing with the more common conveyancing transactions (sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity), together with a summary of additional charges that may arise on any given case. We have also provided some examples as to how these fees work out in practice.

In addition, VAT is chargeable on our fees and most cases attract disbursements (as explained above, these are costs payable to a third party in relation to your case).

Our Fixed Fees:

  1. Sale Price:
    Up to £250,000 – price band between £495 plus VAT and £595 plus VAT
    Between £250,001 to £750,000 – price band between £595 and £795
    Above £750,001 – price on application.
  2. Purchase Price:
    Up to £250,000 – price band between £495 plus VAT and £675 plus VAT
    Between £250,001 to £750,000 – price band between £675 plus VAT and £950 plus VAT
    Above £750,001 – price on application.
  3. Re-mortgages – standard fee of £395 plus VAT.
  4. Transfer of Equity:
    Without a mortgage £395 plus VAT
    Subject to a mortgage £495 plus VAT.

Additional Charges:

  1. Postages, telephones and incidentals £30 plus VAT.
  2. Bank transfer fee (per transfer) £40 plus VAT.
  3. HMRC Stamp Duty Land Tax return completion fee £75 plus VAT.
  4. Fee for arranging any required indemnity policies £40 plus VAT.
  5. Legal fee of preparing and engrossing a Statutory Declaration £75 plus VAT.
  6. Legal fee for liaising and obtaining required information and correspondence with Managing Agents £125 plus VAT.
  7. Help to Buy ISA (per person) £50 plus VAT.
  8. Help to Buy Equity Loan £150 plus VAT.
  9. New build property £150 plus VAT.
  10. Deed of Covenant £100 plus VAT.
  11. Declaration ofTrust £125 plus VAT.
  12. Gifted deposit £60 plus VAT.
  13.  Leasehold property: preparing and serving a Notice of Transfer (Leasehold Properties) £100 plus VAT.
  14. Dealing with separated parties £100 plus VAT.
  15. Fee for dealing with management enquiries, service charge information (Leasehold Apartment) £150 plus VAT.

Likely Disbursements:

  1. Office copies (per title) £6.
  2. Land Registry priority search (per title) £3.
  3. Land Registry bankruptcy search (per name) £2.
  4. Local Authority search (purchase) – this depends on the Local Authority as the fee does vary from Authority to Authority – for example the Oldham MBC fee is £133.
  5. Environmental search (purchase) £62.40.
  6. Coal mining search (purchase) £49.20.
  7. Water and drainage search (purchase) £57.60.
  8. Land Registry registration fee (purchase) – this is a scale fee depending on the value of the property and whether the property is already registered. If the property is already registered, the electronic fee applies, if unregistered then the postal fee applies (so, for example, if you are buying a new build property then the postal fee will apply).
Property value Electronic fee Postal fee
Upto £80,000 £20 £40
£80,001 to £100,000 £40 £80
£100,001 to £200,000 £95 £190
£200,001 to £500,000 £135 £270
£500,001 to £1,000,000 £270 £540
£1,000,001 and over £455  £910

9. Stamp Duty (purchase) – the amount of Stamp Duty payable depends on the purchase price of the property and your individual circumstances. You can access a Stamp Duty calculator via https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro. This will tell you how much Stamp Duty Land Tax you will have to pay on completion of your purchase.

10. Notice fee (purchase) – this is often a hidden cost in a purchase transaction. This is a fee payable, upon completion of a purchase, to any ground rent or rent charge collector. This fee does not apply in all transactions but will, more often than not, apply when a property is leasehold or freehold subject to a rent charge. The fee, payable to the ground rent/rent charge collector, can vary between £10 and £324. We will not be aware, at the outset of the transaction, whether this charge even applies and, if so, the amount.

It can be seen, therefore, that the disbursements payable on a purchase are significantly more than those payable on a sale.

Examples of our Charges:

SINGLE FIRST TIME BUYER, PURCHASE FEE AT £150,000 IN OLDHAM, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A FAMILY GIFTED DEPOSIT AND HELP TO BUY ISA. FREEHOLD PROPERTY. MORTGAGE REQUIRED.

Legal fee £495.00 to £675.00
VAT £99.00 to £135.00
Gifted Deposit £60.00
VAT £12.00
Help to Buy ISA £50.00
VAT £10.00
Postages, telephones & incidentals  £30.00
VAT £6.00
Bank transfer fee £40.00
VAT £8.00
Local Authority Search £133.00^
Environmental Search £62.40
Coal Mining Search £49.20
Water and Drainage Search £57.60
Land Registry priority search £3.00 (per title)
Land Registry bankruptcy search £4.00
HMRC Stamp Duty Land Tax return completion fee £60.00
VAT £12.00
Land Registry registration fee £95.00
TOTAL £1,286.20 to £1,502.20*

^Oldham MBC fee – other local authorities have different charges

*plus notice fee (if applicable)

ONWARD PURCHASE AT £250,000. PROPERTY UNREGISTERED AT THE LAND REGISTRY. LEASEHOLD PROPERTY. MORTGAGE REQUIRED.

Legal fee £495.00 to £675.00
VAT £99.00 to £135.00
Postages, telephones & incidentals £30.00
VAT £6.00
Bank transfer fee £40.00
VAT £8.00
Leasehold fee £100.00
VAT £20
Local Authority Search £133.00^
Environmental Search £62.40
Coal Mining Search £49.20
Water and Drainage Search £57.60
Land Registry priority search £3.00 (per title)
Land Registry bankruptcy search £2.00 (per name)
HMRC Stamp Duty Land Tax return completion fee £60.00
VAT £12.00
Land Registry registration fee £270.00
Stamp Duty See below+
TOTAL £1,447.20 to £1663.20*

*plus registration fee, stamp duty and notice fee (if applicable)

^Oldham MBC fee – other local authorities have different charges

+ The amount of Stamp Duty Land Tax payable depends on your circumstances and the purchase

price of the property. You can work out how much you will need to pay at HMRC’s website

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#/intro

SALE FEE AT £200,000. LEASEHOLD PROPERTY

Legal fee £495.00 to £595.00
VAT £99.00 to £119.00
Postages, telephones & incidentals £30.00
VAT £6.00
Bank transfer fee (per transfer) £40.00
VAT £8.00
Leasehold fee £100.00
VAT £20
Office Copies (per title) £6.00
TOTAL £804.00 to £924.00

We are regulated by the CLC

Our Practice Licence Number is 11250.

Kirkham Legal

Kirkham Legal