While we are all always looking for the most affordable option when it comes to purchases, we also want to ensure that we are getting the best quality for our money. The same is true when it comes to cheap conveyancing quotes UK wide. While it is important to find good conveyancing fees, you also need to be aware of the services included in that quote.
The reason we say that is because there are many examples of people being caught out by a hidden solicitors conveyancing fee that wasn’t made clear to them by their chosen conveyancer. While it is possible to find good quotes on conveyancing services that will not include any hidden charges, it’s good to know the types of conveyancing work that should be included in any solicitor conveyancing quote as standard.
Hidden fees can really depend on the reason that you are using a conveyancing service. For example, if you are buying and/or selling a property, your conveyancer will need to perform some pre-completion searches on the land registry, to ensure that there are no previous disputes over the land and property that could affect the sale of a property. Some firms will either include this in their base fee, or will detail it in their itinerary of services. Other firms, however, will not inform their client of this fee until after they have secured the work.
Another hidden fee can happen when there is a contract race for your property. This leads to a conveyancer doubling up on their work. Any good conveyancer will always inform you that this will likely require an additional fee so that you don’t end up being surprised by your final bill.
Any good quote for conveyancing should include an itinerary of what is included in the quote. A buyer should expect to see fees for property searches, stamp duty, land registration fee(s), leasehold notices and charges, ID searches, bankruptcy and priority searches and of course, legal fees. A seller, on the other hand, should expect costs to be made up of legal fees, production of a title plan and leasehold management pack, as well as fees for the production of office copies of documents. If any of the above details are missing from your conveyancing quote, or you haven’t received a breakdown, then you should ask the solicitor for more details.
A good way to cover off any potential future problems with fees is to ask your conveyancing solicitor for a guarantee that you won’t receive any extra fees that can come from cheap conveyancing quotes UK wide. However, it should be noted that there may be circumstances whereby an additional fee may be asked – especially if your solicitor has to perform extra work that goes beyond standard conveyancing.
Lastly, if you are involved in buying and/or selling properties that are new builds, right to buy, let to buy, shared ownership, help to buy or leaseholds, then these properties may require additional work and therefore, additional costs.
A great way to navigate this tricky field is to find good websites that allow you to compare conveyancing quotes. That way, you will get a better idea as to whether or not the cheap conveyancing quotes UK based firms have offered you elsewhere are legitimate.