Mortgages and remortgages

Costs information

Our legal fees cover the work we are required to carry out to complete your sale, the scope of which will be confirmed in the terms of our engagement with you. Please see below under 'Stages of the process' for a summary of the work we typically carry out for mortgages and remortgages.

Generally, we charge on an hourly basis and our hourly rates range from £185 to £395 (for a partner) plus VAT . We adopt a partner-led approach so your matter will always have some involvement of a senior member of the residential property team. The exact number of hours it will take to complete your mortgage or remortgage will depend on a number of factors such as whether legal title is defective or part of the property is unregistered, whether building regulations or planning permission have been obtained or whether there is delay by any party in providing us with documentation.

No property or property transaction is exactly the same and our fees will reflect the particular requirements of your mortgage or remortgage.

We will provide you with a bespoke fee estimate at the outset of your matter once we have the details of the property involved.

In addition to our legal fees, you will need to pay any disbursements incurred in connection with your mortgage or remortgage. Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as search fees and Land Registry fees. We will usually handle the payment of disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Again, we will give you an indication of the disbursements which are likely to be incurred at the outset of your matter.

An administration charge may be levied on our fees at the rate of 3% (Administration Charge) to cover general expenses such as telephone calls, photocopying and printing, where charging on an individual basis is not practical.

Simple transaction – an example

By way of illustration, we estimate that our fees for dealing with the mortgage of a leasehold flat in London valued at £2m with no title or planning issues are likely to be between £1,750 and £2,250 plus VAT (at a rate of 20%), disbursements and the Administration Charge. These fees will include the work under 'Stages of the process' below:

Disbursement (inclusive of VAT)	£
Local authority search	215.00
Drainage and water search	61.32
Chancel repair search	24.00
Environmental search	94.80
Search provider case charge for online searches	34.20
Management pack/replies to leasehold enquiries	200.00 - 500.00
Land registration fee	455.00
Land Registry OS1 search fee	3.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) administration fee	12.00
Lawyer Checker	12.00
Telegraphic transfer fee	18.00 (per transfer)
Notice of Charge fee	75.00 - 150.00

Timescales

For the transaction in the above illustration, typically, we would expect to be in a position to complete the mortgage or remortgage within 3-6 weeks from being engaged, depending on a range of factors including: how quickly we are able to complete our client due diligence procedures, when we receive the mortgage offer and the turnaround time for search results (if required by the lender). In some circumstances, it may be possible to complete within a matter of hours or days of receiving a mortgage offer.

Assumptions

The above fee estimate assumes the following:

That the property is registered with the Land Registry.
That our investigations do not reveal any legal issues which must be resolved prior to completion.
That there are no other unusual problems or complications.
We receive clear and timely instructions from you.
Your landlord / managing agent provides timely and full leasehold disclosure.

If any of these key assumptions are incorrect or change over time, we would provide a revised scope of work, timetable and fee estimate.

Complicated transaction – an example

If we were dealing with a mortgage or remortgage where there have been unauthorised alterations and a complex title structure, we would expect our fees for the work under 'Stages of the process' below to be in the region of £3,000 to £5,000 plus VAT at 20%, disbursements and the Administration Charge.

In addition to the above, you might expect to pay the following:

Fee relating to retrospective consent – £1,500 – £2,500 plus VAT at 20% and disbursements. In addition, you will probably be responsible for the landlord’s legal and surveyor’s costs in respect of your application for retrospective consent

Stages of the process

Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice.
Obtaining evidence of title.
Extensive review of the legal title to the property, to ensure that there are no onerous covenants or rights; and to ensure that all necessary rights are in place to allow use of the property for all normal residential purposes.
Preparing completion statement and drawing funds down.
If necessary, dealing with the redemption of the existing mortgage.

Registering the mortgage at the Land Registry and providing a copy of the registered title to the client

Who will carry out the work

Your work may primarily be carried out by any of the solicitors, trainee solicitors or paralegals in our UK Real Estate practice under partner supervision. Please click here for details of the members of our team.

Below is a list of our hourly rates (we have included our rates both excluding VAT and including VAT).

First Name	Last Name	Job Title	Hourly Rates (excluding VAT)	Hourly Rates (including VAT)
Michael	Morris	Group Partner	£395	£474
Shelagh	Mason	Consultant	£395	£474
Donald	Millar	Senior Associate	£330	£396
Anna	Douglass	Senior Associate	£280	£336
Paige	Williams	Paralegal	£185	£222
Jess	Burgess	Paralegal	£185	£222
		Trainee Solicitor*	£195	£234

*Our Trainee Solicitors rotate between our firm's different practice areas as part of their training programme. We will provide you with the name of any Trainee Solicitor who may work on your matter (under the supervision of one of the senior members of our team) in the terms of our engagement with you.