Conveyancing fees when buying a house
Buying carries the heavier half of the legal cost, because almost everything investigative happens on the buyer’s side.
Guides · 5 min read · Last updated 22 September 2026
The short answer
A buyer’s bill is roughly twice a seller’s, and the difference is almost all third-party cost rather than fee: searches, registration and the lender’s requirements. Budget for the legal fee plus several hundred pounds of disbursements — the cost guide has the current ranges, the full disbursement list and the Land Registry fee scale, and there is no sense repeating them here.
Stamp Duty sits on top and is often the largest single number in the transaction, though first-time buyers below the relevant threshold pay none. It is set in law rather than by your conveyancer, who calculates and submits it; nobody competes on it.
What this page covers is the part a price list doesn’t: why the buyer’s side is the expensive one, and what makes a quote change after you accept it.
Why the buyer pays more
A seller hands over information. A buyer has to verify it, and verification costs money:
- Searches tell you what the seller’s forms don’t — planning history, flood and contamination risk, whether the road is adopted, what the water company has underneath the garden.
- Title investigation is the work of checking the seller actually owns what they’re selling, on the terms they claim, with no covenants or rights that would stop you using it as you intend.
- Registration transfers the title into your name at HM Land Registry, on a statutory fee scale.
- The lender’s requirements add a whole second client. Your conveyancer usually acts for your mortgage lender too, and the lender’s conditions have to be satisfied before completion.
The supplements that appear later
This is where quotes diverge, and where a cheap headline fee earns its reputation. The cost guide prices each supplement; what matters here is which of them are buyer problems rather than line items:
- Leasehold costs you twice. There’s the supplement on the legal fee for reading the lease — and then notice fees after completion, set by the lease and payable to the freeholder or managing agent, which land weeks later when you have stopped budgeting.
- New build brings a deadline, not just a fee. Developers commonly require exchange within 28 days of contracts being issued, which compresses searches and mortgage offer into a window that leaves no slack.
- A gifted deposit is the most common cause of a stalled file. The money has to be evidenced to source and the person giving it advised separately — start it the day you know, not the week you exchange.
Rule of thumb: ask which supplements apply to your purchase before you compare. A quote that doesn’t ask about tenure, new-build status or your deposit hasn’t priced your transaction — it has priced an average one.
Reading a buyer’s quote properly
Compare the total, and check four things:
- Is VAT included in the figure shown? A fee quoted excluding VAT is 20% larger than it looks.
- Are searches itemised, and which ones? A “search pack” at £250–£450 should name the local authority, drainage and environmental searches. Some areas need a mining or chancel search on top.
- Is the Land Registry fee on the statutory scale? It runs £20–£500 by price band. It is not negotiable and should not be marked up.
- Is there a no-move-no-fee clause, and what does it actually cover? Usually the legal fee, rarely the money already spent on searches.
Comparing buyer quotes? The form asks about tenure, new-build status and your deposit before pricing, so the supplements that apply to you are already in the figure. Get my tailored quotes — free.
What your conveyancer will need from you
The transaction moves at the speed of its slowest document, and several of the slow ones are yours:
- Proof of identity and address, early — anti-money-laundering rules are strict and firms cannot start substantive work without them.
- Proof of the source of your deposit. Savings need a paper trail; a gift needs a letter from the giver and their own ID. This is the most common cause of a stalled file.
- Your mortgage offer, as soon as the lender issues it.
- Prompt answers on enquiries. Your conveyancer cannot chase what you haven’t replied to.
Quick answers
How long does the legal work take?
Commonly eight to twelve weeks from instruction to completion on a straightforward freehold purchase, longer for leasehold or a chain. Search turnaround varies by local authority from days to several weeks, which is the single biggest variable outside anyone’s control.
Can I use my own conveyancer if my lender has a panel?
Usually, but the lender must approve them, and if the firm isn’t on the panel the lender may instruct its own solicitor at your cost. It is worth checking the panel position before instructing rather than after.
Do I need a survey as well?
A survey and conveyancing are different things: the survey tells you about the building’s condition, the conveyancing tells you about the legal title. A mortgage valuation is neither — it is for the lender’s benefit, not yours.
Is a fixed-fee quote really fixed?
A properly itemised fixed fee should only change if the transaction changes — a leasehold discovered to be a share of freehold, a gifted deposit that appears late. Ask what would cause it to move, and get the answer in writing.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Conveyancing Index is not a firm of solicitors or licensed conveyancers — a regulated specialist will advise on your own circumstances.