At some stage during the process of buying or selling land or property, we all have to use the services of some form of property or land “Conveyancer”.

The term Conveyancer actually covers “Solicitors” as well as “Licensed Conveyancers”. - They can both do basically the same job, - which is to look after all the legal aspects of the process of buying or selling “Real Estate” (be it land or property).

Many people wish that they didn’t have to get involved in all the legalities and all the expense that that process brings with it, but unfortunately gone are the days when a “wad of money” changed hands and a “handshake” sealed a property deal! – You might say: “That’s a Shame!”- But is it?

In the past, if people had a dispute over land, they would take to “pistols at dawn” or some other “fairly dramatic” method to settle it. - Now, thankfully we have moved on a bit.

However a lot of people still look upon the fact that they need to utilize these sorts of professional ( and often expensive) services as “an unnecessary evil”.

The opinion of many people is that we have to pay far too much to a “Legal Representative” when we purchase property, and that they “don’t really earn it” - “After all, all they do is just fill a few forms in, charge us an extortionate hourly rate, and don’t seem to be trying to hurry the process up at all for us”. – Is that just about how you see it? – I wouldn’t be surprised if it is!

Although I too “baulk” at the amounts I sometimes have to pay out in legal fees when buying or selling land or property, I would have to say that, over all, I am glad these people are there.

The process of buying a selling property is an extremely complicated one, strewn with “hazards” and “booby traps” which could catch any one of us out at any stage of the process.

You may have read about people from the UK buying property abroad, who, in good faith, pay out and purchase property in “The new growth area”. - Expecting that the property will be either their “retirement home”, or possibly a fantastic investment. - Only to find out some years later that the government of the country has now enforced some law or other which gives the land that they bought, back to the people who owned it many years ago, or are now building a new road straight through the garden!

Thankfully we don’ tend to hear those sorts of stories here in the UK, and one of the reasons for this is that the Legal people do a pretty good job.

The fees you pay may seem expensive, with hourly rates of around £150 being quite common. But here again, I actually think that the headline amount of possibly £150 / hour gives a false impression of the what you are really paying (and no, I do not have a Solicitors business in the family! ).

What we need to remember is that when we take on a Solicitor or Conveyancer, we only tend to see one person. What we don’t see is the team who are working “around” that person. F

For a start there is the Secretary, and then there are all the “back room” people, typists, Admin people etc. These When we sign up with a legal representative, we don’t agree to pay each one of the team separately, we just pay a “blanket hourly rate” to cover everyone involved.

OK, when you get your invoice, you may see additional charges, and yes there are some separate charges for some of the services, over and above the hourly rate, but the way it tends to work generally, is that the Solicitor who you are dealing with keeps a record of their hours working on your sale or purchase, and they charge you the hourly rate JUST for the time that THEY personally spend on it.

The hourly rate includes “the whole team”, plus the business overheads of the office, insurance etc, and a percentage for profit.

Don’t get me wrong, I have never seen a poor Solicitor! - But these people do have a very stressful job. - They are constantly pressurized from all angles, and if they make one single mistake, then WE are the first people to be threatening to sue!

You may see an advert promising to complete all the legal work on your sale or purchase for three or four hundred pounds.

These offers may be perfectly genuine, but just be careful that the company is not simply working on the principal “Pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap”, and taking on as much new business as possible, without having the professional “back up support”” they need to deal with it all efficiently.

 If that is the case, and they are trying to do too much work with limited resources, you may find that the process can take a lot longer than it should and can become very frustrating for you.

If things are being rushed, there is also a greater possibility of mistakes being made, and, in the worst case, due to the length of time being taken to complete the process, you could lose the deal as the seller loses patience and withdraws from the deal.

“Horses for courses”: 

Legal people tend to “be good”, or specialize in one particular area.

For a lot of my purchases and sales I use a “Commercial and Residential Property Specialist” Solicitor. - He has many years of expertise in dealing with just the sort of thing that I do.

If you are simply buying a plot or property to start a Self Build or Renovation project on, then the chances are that you will simply need to hire the services of someone who has “relevant” qualifications and experience in “Residential property sales”.

In reality, in many cases, “word of mouth” is the way we tend to find these sorts of people. For example, a friend may have bought a new house in the area and may recommend their Conveyancer to you.

That’s fine as far as it goes, but just because they worked on a simple “new property purchase”, does not mean they are experienced in buying “land” which may have lots of “legal and Planning restrictions” on it, or “property which needs major structural attention”.

If a Solicitor / Conveyancer deals with dozens of all types of plot and property sales each year, and have done so for many years, the chances are that they are likely to have come across most of the problems, - and have found ways to solve them.

Using people who have experience in YOUR TYPE of purchase, may save you time over using someone who has to “learn about” and then try to deal with some of the problems and situations that they encounter as the process proceeds.

It’s worth talking to at least a couple, if not a few different companies before you decide which one to go with. – Fee scales will vary, the set up will vary, and their systems could vary. You may simply not like the look of them and don’t think you’ll get on! – You need to feel that you are with the right people during this important process which is dealing often with very large sums of YOUR MONEY!

You will normally be given a free initial meeting with any legal representative, so make the most of it.

Go and sit with them, see how professional and knowledgeable they appear to be on the subject of whatever it is you plan on doing, whether it buying a single or multiple plots of “land” or a “property to renovate / convert”.

Have a few pertinent questions ready to ask, and make sure that you feel comfortable with the company before you “sign up”, such as:  

Not a great deal. As was mentioned at the top of this section, one would be called “A Conveyancing Solicitor” and the other “A Licensed Conveyancer”. They can both do the same thing in so far as your needs as a “land or property” “buyer or seller” are concerned.

Solicitor’s practices often however are more geared up to cater for a wider range of legal work. -They may employ specialists from various sectors of business, have large premises, many staff, and as such may have high overheads.

Their hourly rates may be therefore be higher than, say a “Licensed Conveyancer”, who only deals in matters of property and land sale and purchase, and who only needs an office “set up” geared up to cope with that one specialist line of business.

You may find that “Licensed Conveyancers” are the most likely to be the ones offering the “special”, or “lower rate” packages.

These figures can vary widelt depending on what sort of practice you use and where abouts in the country they are located.

A fee of around £500 - £600 (+ vat  + “ancillary costs”*) for buying or selling a £100,000 property or plot would probably be as low as you would go “sensibly” – Any lower and you should ask why? (Ancillary costs include anything which is not part of the basic legal process, so fees and various other expenses will be charged separately) (You can’t reclaim your VAT on Solicitors fees as part of a Self Build VAT claim )

However, as the property price goes up, so usually does the fee. The cost could also then increase dramatically if there are ANY significant obstacles to overcome during the process.

The initial price quoted by any Conveyancer will usually be for the “basic process” - assuming there are no “unusual” matters which need extra attention. – Unfortunately, because every purchase is “a one off”, there are often at least one or two small extras which will crop up as the purchase process proceeds:

“Boundary disputes” are commonplace and can take extra time to resolve. “Ransom strips”, “access”, “Planning restrictions”, “rights of way”, and a hundred and one other things can also appear out of the blue to slow you down and cost you money.

I generally find that once we have found all the problems and solved them, that the fees I tend to pay to buy or sell property / land are in the region of around £1000 - £1500 including VAT.

If you want a figure to use when you prepare your costs, if you budget somewhere between the two you should usually be in the right “ball park” (but I can’t promise!).

Your relationship with you Conveyancer will usually be a purely “business / professional” one. However, it is still very useful if you “get on well”.

Most companies, who advertise their services for looking after the legal side of buying or selling land or property, are perfectly capable of doing the job. – There are strict regulations which should quickly catch any “cowboys”.

Someone experienced and qualified, who you think is going to do a good job FOR YOUR TYPE of purchase.