Conveyancing fees increase by over 21% in the last year

Latest research of 100 residential conveyancing firms reveals that average conveyancing fees for house sales have increased from £899.79 to £1,090.32 since early 2021.

Property Solvers’ annual research of legal practices (in England and Wales) has revealed that average residential conveyancing fees for a freehold tenured property purchase and sale in early 2022 stood at £1,090.32 and £1,092.89 respectively (inclusive of VAT).

This represents increases of 21.17% (for home sales) and 19.92% (for purchases) relative to similar data collected in early 2021.

The sell-house-fast company and auctioneer approached 100 conveyancing firms for online quotes. It was assumed that mortgage finance was being redeemed upon the sale’s completion or the property was being purchased with a mortgage. Property values in the quote request never exceeded £450,000 for purchase or sale. The fees do not include disbursements (telegraphic transfer charges, searches, ID checks etc.).

Average conveyancing costs for a leasehold property sale also grew by 18.64% (from £907.95 in 2021 to £1,077.20 in 2022) and by 15.83% for leasehold property purchases (from £842.30 in 2021 to £975.66 in 2022).

Remortgaging costs (based on the secured loan of £315,000) saw the lowest average cost rise of 7.27% (from £565.40 in 2021 to £606.51 in 2022). According to Property Solvers, leasehold supplementary costs tend to lie at between £100 and £250.

Ruban Selvanayagam, of Property Solvers, commented:

“It comes as little surprise that conveyancers / conveyancing solicitors have been increasing fees in line with rising inflationary pressures across most service-led sectors alongside sustained demand from the home sales market at large over the last year.

“Conveyancing fees, compared with estate agency costs, tend to have more disparities relative to the firm’s location and reputation. For instance, there were several leasehold purchase quotes ranging from as low as £588 right up to the £2,000+ range. We also came across a remortgage conveyancing fee at £246 and as high as £1,434 (inclusive of VAT).

“However, we would generally advise steering clear of quotes that seem too cheap as your case may well be one of a huge pile that the conveyancing firm is dealing with. This could jeopardise the successful completion of the transaction. On this note, in addition to online reviews, it’s always worth checking the firm’s current workload (most will be honest with you).”

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Main photo courtesy of Pixabay