Conveyancing fees: what you pay on a sale

Conveyancing fees are what a solicitor or licensed conveyancer charges to handle the legal side of transferring ownership, plus the disbursements they pay on your behalf. On a sale in England and Wales, the professional fee is normally a fixed price and the disbursements are passed through at cost. Estate agent commission is a separate cost, agreed with the agent.

What conveyancing fees cover on a sale

A conveyancing quote has two parts: the professional fee for the legal work, and disbursements, which are third-party costs the firm pays and then collects from you.

The professional fee pays for the work on your file. On a sale that usually means gathering the title documents, preparing the contract pack for the buyer's solicitor, answering enquiries about the property, dealing with the buyer's mortgage lender where needed, agreeing a completion date, exchanging contracts, and on completion redeeming any mortgage on the property and sending you the balance.

Disbursements are the costs the firm cannot avoid paying to someone else. Typical items on a sale include official copies of the registered title from HM Land Registry, and, for a leasehold flat or house, a pack of information from the freeholder or managing agent. Some firms also list a search or an identity check. Each item should appear in the quote with its own amount, so you can see what you are paying for.

Quotes are sometimes shown with the professional fee excluding VAT and the disbursements including it, or the other way round. Ask whether each figure includes VAT before you compare two quotes, because a cheap headline fee can hide extra items further down the page.

Solicitor or conveyancer fees and disbursements on a sale

On a sale, the professional fee is usually a fixed amount agreed in advance, and the disbursements are listed separately. That split matters, because the fixed part is the bit you can compare between firms, while the disbursements depend on the property rather than on the firm.

Solicitors and licensed conveyancers both carry out residential conveyancing in England and Wales, and both are regulated. What differs is how much work your property needs. A registered freehold house with one owner and a straightforward buyer is the simplest case. A leasehold flat usually costs more, because the freeholder or managing agent has to supply information about the building, the service charge and any planned works, and that information is charged for.

Some firms advertise a no-sale-no-fee arrangement. That usually applies to the professional fee only, so if the sale falls through you may still owe the disbursements already paid. Ask what happens if the sale collapses before you instruct anyone.

What pushes the cost up or down

The property, not the postcode, decides most of the difference in cost. Two houses on the same street can produce very different bills.

Factors that add work include a leasehold title, an unregistered title, an arrangement where a third party such as a housing association has to consent, a mortgage that has to be redeemed on completion, a long chain, and buyers whose solicitor raises a large number of enquiries. A sale that is part of a chain also depends on other people's timings, which is a common reason for delay rather than for extra fees.

Two things reduce the cost in practice: having the title documents, service charge accounts and any guarantees ready before you instruct a firm, and choosing a firm that quotes a fixed fee in writing rather than an hourly rate.

How to compare conveyancing quotes

Compare on the total, not on the headline fee, and read the list of what is excluded. A low fee with several items added later is rarely the cheaper option.

When you have two or three quotes side by side, check:

• whether the professional fee is fixed or charged by the hour
• which disbursements are included and which are estimated
• whether the figures include VAT
• what happens if the sale falls through
• who will actually handle the file, and how you will be kept informed

Budget the whole cost of selling, not just the legal bill. Agency commission is normally the largest single cost of a sale, and it is agreed separately with the agent, so our guide to estate agent fees covers how that side of the bill works. Mortgage redemption, removal costs and any early repayment charge on your mortgage also sit outside the conveyancing quote.

Where sold prices and conveyancing sit together

Conveyancing fees are a cost of selling, while sold prices are the evidence of what a sale might achieve. HM Land Registry records the price paid for properties in England and Wales, and that data sits behind the price information on this site.

You can look up what nearby properties actually sold for on sold house prices, see how a street or an area compares on house prices, or get a view of the wider pattern on the house price map. If you want a figure for your own home, the house value page explains how an estimate is produced and what it is based on. If you later ask to be put in touch with a local agent, how it works sets out the process, and nothing is shared without your consent.

Frequently asked questions

Are conveyancing fees fixed or hourly?

Most residential sale quotes are fixed fees, but not all of them. Ask the firm to confirm in writing that the professional fee is fixed and to list the disbursements that are not included.

Who pays the conveyancing fees when a house is sold?

Each side pays their own solicitor or conveyancer. A seller pays for the work on the sale and a buyer pays for the work on the purchase, so the seller's legal fee is not normally recovered from the buyer.

Can I do my own conveyancing on a sale?

You can handle a sale without instructing a firm, but it is unusual and the work is not just paperwork. You would still need the title information, you would deal directly with the buyer's solicitor, and a mortgage lender will usually require a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to act on redemption.