Our Pricing - Property Services

Our Residential Property Team

Our Residential Property Team has over 59 years of collective experience in delivering a high quality service in the residential property sector.

We have 3 members of the team who may work on your matter.  The Residential Property Department is supervised by Lynn Norris, Director and Head of Property.

Lynn Norris – Director

Lynn is the head of our property team and supervisor with almost 20 years’ experience in property work, both residential property and commercial property.

Lynn qualified as a solicitor in 1999 after graduating from Magdalen College, Oxford and the College of Law (now the University of Law), Guildford.

Lynn completed her training contract at Shoosmiths and spent 6 years as a solicitor and associate solicitor in their property department.  She then moved up to Yorkshire and spent over 5 years at a Leeds firm, Beachcrofts (now DAC Beachcroft) as an associate solicitor. 

She joined RDC in March 2011 and became a director in April 2017.

Lynn has many years experience in both residential and commercial property sales, purchases and re-mortgages along with commercial leases and has experience in dealing with complex transactions.

Anthony Horrocks

Anthony is an experienced Property Executive based at our  Bingley office having joined RDC from a major firm in Leeds.

He specialises in residential property transactions having over 16 years’ experience in conveyancing. Anthony began his career in re-mortgaging work and then progressed to sales and purchases having gained a strong reputation for his attention to detail and emphasis upon client service. He is often complimented upon his no nonsense approach and his ability to provide jargon free advice.

Anthony is an Associate Legal Executive with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

Mark Thompson

Mark is a Chartered Legal Executive with many years’ experience handling most types of residential conveyancing matters.

Mark joined RDC having had previous positions with firms in Leeds and has a strong client focus.  

What our clients say about us

“My mother and I cannot thank you enough for the friendly, efficient and extremely professional manner in which you dealt with the purchase of our new home – much appreciated!".  Dr B - Ilkley.

“We found your services to be very efficient, very helpful and straight forward when answering queries from us.    Definitely very satisfied customers!”   Mr & Mrs M - Guiseley.

"Excellent and efficient services.  Staff very friendly, polite and professional.  No problems whatsoever”  Mr and Mrs S, Harden - Bingley 

How long will my sale or purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your new house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 6-8 weeks.

The onus is on the seller to get the transaction up and running. We offer a service where we are happy to send you the initial sale papers before a sale is agreed. This should give you time to complete the sale forms as thoroughly as possible and have them with us ready for submission to a buyer’s solicitor when a purchaser is found. This can save up to two weeks of the transaction time.

Transactions can be slowed down depending on other parties in the chain whose conduct is outside of ours and your control. Also, if unforeseen legal issues arise with your property this can cause a delay. For example if the Lease for the property needs extending, or if an extension has been erected without planning and building regulations consents, delays of several months can arise. We will always notify you if we believe an issue has been uncovered which will cause a delay in proceedings.

The precise stages involved in a property transaction vary according to circumstances. We have compiled a useful leaflet which sets out the process and this can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.

Sale and purchase of residential property

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax if the property you purchase is in Wales.  Our fees are generally on a fixed fee basis, as set out below.  If your matter becomes protracted and extends beyond 12 months from you instructing us, we may need to review our initial fixed fee.  If your matter is particularly complex, then we may base our fees on an hourly rate, and in these circumstances, we would advise you before engagement of our services.  Details of our hourly rates are set out below. 

Residential property fees and disbursements

Legal fees

Please see the table below for our standard legal charges for acting on a sale, purchase or remortgage of a residential freehold property.  VAT is payable on our fees and is shown at the current rate of 20%

Sale price	Selling fee quote
Up to £350,000	£775 (+£155) VAT = £930
Up to £500,000	£825 (+£165 VAT) = £990
Up to £750,000	£895 (+£179 VAT) = £1,074
Up to £999,000	£995 (+£199 VAT) = £1,194
Over £1m	0.1% of the sale price + VAT

 

Purchase price	Purchase fee quote
Up to £350,000	£850 (+£170 VAT) = £1,020
Up to £500,000	£925 (+£185 VAT) = £1,110
Up to £750,000	£995 (+£199 VAT) = £1,194
Up to £999,000	£1,200 (+£240 VAT) = £1,440
Over £1 million	£1,500 (+£300 VAT) = £1,800 or 0.12% of the purchase price + VAT (whichever is the higher)

 

Remortgage loan amount	fee quote
Up to £500,000	£550 (+£110 VAT) = £660
Over £500,000	£650 (+£130 VAT) = £780

There are certain types of residential property transactions that require additional time and work in order for the process to move as smoothly as possible. Below we have listed our additional charges for these instances.  VAT is payable on our fees at 20%.

Leasehold property	£150 (+£30 VAT) = £180
New-Build property	£200 (+£40 VAT) = £240
If you are purchasing with the aid of a help to buy equity loan	£175 (+£35 VAT) = £210
If the property is unregistered at HM Land Registry	£150 (+£30 VAT) = £180
Same day Bank transfer fee (purchase price, mortgage redemption)	£35 (+£7 VAT) = £42
Mortgage instruction (charge will depend on nature of lender and complexity of instructions)	£50 - £100 (+£10 - £20) = £60 - £120

In addition to our legal fees, £18.00 (£15.00 + VAT) will be payable per individual for an online identification search to comply with our money laundering obligations.

Disbursements

With every transaction there are disbursements which are payments to third parties required in relation to your matter. The most common disbursements are listed below and the costs here include VAT at the current rate of 20%.

Disbursements on sale transactions	Cost
Land Registry office copies (freehold)	£14 plus £7 per additional document
Land Registry office copies (Leasehold)	£35 plus £7 per additional document

 

Disbursements on purchase transactions	Cost
Searches	£176-£248 depending on the products you wish to order and the locality of the property you are purchasing. We prefer to undertake official searches direct with the relevant authorities. The costs of these can vary from local authority to local authority. In our opinion official searches are much more reliable and in most cases come back very quickly. The local authority set the charges for official local searches in their area and below is a list of the standard search packs in each locality that we work with regularly:- Bradford           -           £242 Leeds               -           £176 Harrogate         -           £208 Craven              -          £239 York                   -          £248 We do offer an alternative search product where an agent is paid to undertake the searches with the authority themselves. These searches can take a little longer but the fee is slightly lower than most official packs levied by local authorities. Our current provider has a standard pack charge of £255. Please note all search packs quoted above include environmental, water and drainage and local authority searches. They do not include coal searches as these are not always required. The current cost of a coal mining search is £50. If you are not purchasing in one of the five localities mentioned above please do not hesitate to let us know so we can arrange for our search provider to obtain a quotation for you.
Land Registration fee	This is dependent on the purchase price of your property. This fee is set by HM Land Registry and their charges are as follows:- 0-80,0000                              -             £20 80,001 – 100,000                  -             £40 100,001 – 200,000                -             £100 200,001 – 500,000                -             £150 500,001 – 100,000                -             £295 1,000,001 and over               -             £500 Please note that if you are purchasing part of an existing title (a Transfer of Part) the Land Registration fee doubles. Most new-build transactions are a Transfer of Part application.
Land Registry bankruptcy searches	£6 (per person)
Land Registry Priority searches	£7.00

Stamp Duty Land Tax

This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website here https://www.gov.uk/stamp-duty-land-tax

Third party charges

There are in some cases additional costs that need to be paid to third parties that we cannot always quote for at the outset of a transaction. We will of course make you aware as soon as these costs arise. These are most commonly found in leasehold transactions, but can sometimes appear in freehold purchases of properties on estates with “managed areas”.

These additional costs are most commonly paid to a landlord, management company, managing agent or their solicitor on completion. These are separate charges that can be levied and are detailed below.  VAT is payable on fees at the rate of 20%.

Notice of assignment/purchase	£35 - £150 (+£7 - £30 VAT) = £42 - £180
Notice of Charge	£35 - £150 (+£7 - £30 VAT) = £42 - £180
Deed of Covenant fee	£75 - £250 (+£15 - £50 VAT) = £90 - £300
Land Registry compliance certificate	£75 - £250 (+£15 - £50 VAT) = £90 - £300

Landlord/Management Company fees for providing, information relating to ground rent, insurance and service charges etc

£150 (+£30 VAT) = £180  (this is an estimate as fees vary)

As you can see above these fees vary depending on who they are payable to. The range could be even greater, the above fees are the average costs we have come across.

Estimated total

Below is an example of a full quote inclusive of VAT (currently 20%) and disbursements for an individual client buying a freehold property for £250,000 in the Bradford area.

Search fees	£      242.00
Land Registration fee	£      150.00
Same day bank transfer fee for sending purchase price (£35 + VAT @ 20%)	£        42.00
Land Registry priority & bankruptcy search	£          7.00
RDC Solicitors legal charges	£      750.00
VAT on legal charges	£      150.00
Online identification search fees (per individual). Each search is £15.00 + VAT @ 20%   Total	£           18.00          £1359.00
In addition, Stamp duty land tax payable	Varies

Additional services or factors

If you instruct us via a referral agent that may increase overall costs. The referral agent will provide you with a detailed quote which you may decide whether or not to accept.

There are some additional services that we have standard fees for – please contact us for a copy of our “Additional fees” document.

If unforeseen issues arise there may be additional charges but we will tell you about these in advance and agree them with you before costs are incurred.

If your matter is particularly complex, then we may base our fees on an hourly rate, and in these circumstances, we would advise you before engagement of our services.  Details of our hourly rates are set out below

Lynn Norris £275 plus VAT

Anthony Horrocks £225 plus VAT

Mark Thompson £225 plus VAT

Legal Assistants £135 plus VAT