The Cost of Selling Your Home
Selling a property involves one of the biggest financial transactions you will ever make. We will make sure that you’re aware of the costs involved before you get started.
How can we help you?
We will give you a fully inclusive estimate at the beginning of the process as to how much it will cost you, so you’ll have all of the information that you need to know in advance. If your sale does not complete then the fee we charge will depend on the amount of work which we have carried out at the time the transaction falls through and we will discuss this with you at the time if this happens.
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- Catherine Lawrence
- Chartered Legal Executive
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- Emma Town
- Conveyancer
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- Richard Broadhead
- Head of Residential Property
Your matter will be handled by one of the Lawyers in our Residential Property team whose details can be found above. Team Leader, Richard Broadhead, supervises the work of all of the Lawyers in the Residential Property Team. When you are selling a property the costs involved include:
Estate agent’s fee
Estate agents will normally charge you a fee based on a percentage of the final sale price of your property. You’ll agree that rate with your estate agents at the outset.
Legal Fees
To give you an idea of the typical fees we’ll charge you for your property sale, our average VAT inclusive fixed fee between January 2024 and June 2024 was £1,690. 81% of our fees were between £1,194 and £2,000.
In the event that we need to transfer funds by telegraphic transfer (TT), same day payment, we will make an additional charge for this service of £36 (including VAT) per transfer, in addition to which our bank will charge £6 (including VAT) per transfer, which will be payable by you. A Telegraphic Transfer may be required to repay a mortgage, for example. We will also give you the opportunity to choose to receive any balance of monies from your sale by same day transfer as opposed to BACs transfer, which may take 3-5 days, but we will need to charge for the same day service.
We are required by law to verify our client’s identity and also a number of other types of individual such as executors for example. We will charge £10 plus VAT (£12 in total) per individual / UK Company that we check. Where a company is located overseas the charge will be £35 plus VAT (£42 in total). More information on the types of individuals we are required to check can be found in our Terms of Business.
Additional costs
When you are selling your property there are a number of additional costs that your Lawyer must incur on your behalf. Your lawyer will charge you whatever they have to pay, so these additional costs will generally be the same whichever Lawyer you choose to work with.
An example of the additional costs are:
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- Official copies of your registered title
- Management information pack – these will generally apply to leasehold properties. However, there are some freehold properties where a management company is in place to deal with communal areas on an estate
- Bank transfer fee
| Additional costs involved in your property sale | Freehold | Leasehold | Includes VAT? | From | To |
| Official copies of your registered title | Yes | Yes | Yes | £7.20 | £24 |
| Bank Transfer Fee | Yes | Yes | Yes | £6 | £6 |
| Leasehold Information Pack | N/A | Yes | Yes | £120 | £600 |
Any necessary additional work
Occasionally, additional work of a non-routine nature may be required such as:
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- Drafting a statutory declaration or Statement of Truth
- Attending to removal of second legal charge
- Attending to removal of further charges/cautions
If any of these are needed, we’ll let you know and advise you how much they will cost.
We have made the following key assumptions about your sale. If any of the following occur the matter becomes more complex and we may need to revise the quote that we have given you
- Your transaction is standard, that no unforeseen matters arise, and that work of a non-routine nature is not required
- Your transaction is completed in a timely manner
- Your title is registered
- Any joint sellers are in agreement and they do not require separate correspondence or representation
- All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
- If the property has been extended or altered that you are in possession of all the necessary documentary evidence of compliance with planning and building regulations
- You have full records and compliance certificates for all services
- If there is a mortgage to discharge you have one lender who is cooperative in respect of providing settlement figures when required
- If leasehold, or subject to a rent, that you have a receipt for rent payment and have not breached any title covenants
The following do not form part of our standard legal service and would typically increase the cost of our service. We will let you know about any additional costs as soon as they become apparent. These include
- Rectifying unusual or onerous defects in the leasehold or freehold title
- The need to prepare any documents that are not part of the main transaction such as a statutory declaration for example.
- The need for an indemnity policy which may also be required in some non-routine circumstances
- If you do not provide crucial documents which we have previously requested
If you require a transfer of equity, for example, in divorce proceedings a property may be transferred into one of the party’s names as part of the financial settlement, we will provide you with a separate quote for this work.
We do not give advice on tax issues – we can refer you to an accountant if necessary – or negotiate price changes with your buyer, this is taken care of by your estate agent.
We have listed the key stages that are included as standard in our legal fee here.
How long it will take from you accepting an offer on your property until you can move out / into your new home will depend on a number of factors. The average process can take up to 12 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain.
Contact our Solicitors in Colchester or Clacton
We’re here to help. Get in touch or contact one of our offices: