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Original poster

Can you haggle conveyancing fees

43 replies

Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 14:58

hello,
we have a leasehold property to sell valued at £290k and we want to buy a new-build house at £370k one of the quotes I received including legal fees, disbursements, and stamp duty is £9300 for buying and selling. Is that a good deal and is it possible to haggle on this if so how would I proceed to do that? Via email or phone, or face to face?

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CampervanKween · 20/02/2023 15:00

If you want a good job doing then you have to pay. A lot of that will be stamp duty and other disbursements which the solicitor has no control over.

Cheap overloaded solicitors hold up chains and cause extra costs a lot of the time.

SpecialK2023 · 20/02/2023 15:01

How can anyone advise without knowing how much your stamp duty is? It could be £9250!

PatsyJStone · 20/02/2023 15:02

Conveyancers aren’t generally known for haggling.

RidingMyBike · 20/02/2023 15:04

How much of that is stamp duty?!

We got quotes from 3 solicitors and went with the one that we thought would do the best job. That gives you an idea if the cost is reasonable or not. The cheapest is often not the best in these situations...

Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 15:07

Sorry I forgot to put that down. Stamp duty is £6000

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Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 15:07

I forgot to mention that! It's £6000

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CatOnTheChair · 20/02/2023 15:19

Why not get another quote, and see how similar it is?
The quotes we got were very very similar to each other.

Mammyloveswine · 20/02/2023 15:38

So your fees are only around £3,000 without stamp duty?! Op I used to work in conveyancing and it was a PITA to go through everything with a fine tooth comb! But that I did because inevitably something would be missed further down the long delaying things!

You cannot haggle, they will be set fees. Her quotes and recommendations and then decide.

Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 15:45

Only around £3000? Looking at average 2023 uk prices the average is around £2500

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PleaseJustText · 20/02/2023 15:50

At the firm where I used to work they wouldn't haggle. It was a take it or leave it quote and clients were welcome to go elsewhere. To be honest, it sounds fairly normal and you won't see much variation locally. You could save a bit more using a cheap conveyancing factory in a cheaper area of the country but the service won't be great. My poor DH used one. He was allocated to a woman who used to pretend to be her own secretary and say she was busy. She had a very distinctive voice but every time he questioned it she doubled down 🤣

Thecatisboss · 20/02/2023 15:58

Leasehold cost more then freehold as there is more work involved. Get a couple of quotes from local firms to compare them and see if anyone you know can recommend anyone (but would second don't use an online bulk firm as they can be very slow).

CatOnTheChair · 20/02/2023 16:11

Search costs vary by authority.
Leasehold will add to it.
You are buying an above average house in terms of price.

Just phone another company and ask for a quote if you are unhappy with this one.

Mildura · 20/02/2023 16:13

Take off the stamp duty, then it's £3300.

Presumably at least some of it attracts VAT and that's in the total too? So, take off another £400 for VAT, then we're at £2900. Disbursements could well be around £600.

That makes around £1150 per transaction, seems pretty good to me.

Mmmmdanone · 20/02/2023 16:17

When I told one firm that i was using a different one they offered to better their quote so there is probably some negotiation possible.

Toooldtoworry · 20/02/2023 16:17

Leasehold involves more work than Freehold and the legals on that are always more expensive. We're just calculating what ours will look like because we're intending on moving in a couple of years and ours will be around 17k. Our stamp duty is 12.5k though. Includes everything including land registry, etc.

CampervanKween · 20/02/2023 16:21

If you are buying and selling with that level of stamp duty then that sounds really reasonable tbh.

Leasehold is more complicated as are new builds. The land registry fee for a new build will also be higher than for an already registered title.

MinnieMountain · 20/02/2023 16:39

I can’t imagine my employers agreeing a reduction on new build fees. They’re a lot of work.

SpecialK2023 · 20/02/2023 16:43

PleaseJustText · 20/02/2023 15:50

At the firm where I used to work they wouldn't haggle. It was a take it or leave it quote and clients were welcome to go elsewhere. To be honest, it sounds fairly normal and you won't see much variation locally. You could save a bit more using a cheap conveyancing factory in a cheaper area of the country but the service won't be great. My poor DH used one. He was allocated to a woman who used to pretend to be her own secretary and say she was busy. She had a very distinctive voice but every time he questioned it she doubled down 🤣

That’s brilliant!

I only discounted BTL and investor clients who I did a lot of work for, I wouldn’t for a one off client. IME the ones who quibble the most about fees are also the ones who are the biggest PITA.

senua · 20/02/2023 16:46

Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 15:45

Only around £3000? Looking at average 2023 uk prices the average is around £2500

How much are you paying the Estate Agents for selling (only one property)?

Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 16:49

For selling it's £1,365.00 and for buying £7940 including stamp duty

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MotherOfPuffling · 20/02/2023 16:53

So less than £3,500 for the buying AND selling combined? That seems really cheap. That’s roughly what I paid last time for buying (freehold), the (leasehold) sale was more like £4,000. That was in the last 2 years in London / SE

Mildura · 20/02/2023 17:00

Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 16:49

For selling it's £1,365.00 and for buying £7940 including stamp duty

That's really pretty decent value.

It only sounds high because you're including the stamp duty charge in the figures.

Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 17:09

Yes perhaps that's correct it's the first time we're selling so it sounds high I think as it includes stamp duty. The disbursements include: land registry fees, bankruptcy search, land registry search, stamp duty,bank transfer charge, searches, leasehold fee, mortgage fee, chaps bank transfer charge, id search, postage, land registry documents, and companies house electronic filling fee company purchase only and companies house mr01 admin fee which I don't think applies to us. I think these are all the common disbursements included?

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senua · 20/02/2023 17:11

You didn't answer my question. I asked how much the EA are charging you. Did you haggle over that?

Original poster
Alexatancu · 20/02/2023 17:20

They were charging £3250 + VAT and negotiated to £3100 + VAT. We got quotes 1% + VAT by a different agent but we liked this one more and they seem to have more success in selling and getting asking prices

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