The short answer
A genuinely fixed conveyancing fee is one price, agreed before any work starts, that does not go up as your sale or purchase progresses. At Pinnacle Law that price is £1,995 including VAT to sell, £2,495 including VAT to buy (searches included) and £4,490 including VAT to sell and buy, for residential property up to £2,000,000 in England and Wales. It covers our legal work and the admin charges other firms often add later.
This is the first part of the Pinnacle Price Promise: one fixed fee that never goes up, nothing to pay until you complete, and nothing to pay if your move falls through.
Ask anyone what they think a “fixed fee” is, and they will give a fairly straightforward answer: “I’d expect to pay X to get Y, and I would expect to pay exactly, and only, what I was quoted.”
Simple enough, right? In conveyancing, it is often not the case. Here is why we price the way we do, and how to check whether another firm’s “fixed fee” really is fixed.
Why do so many conveyancing quotes end up costing more?
Most conveyancing quotes are built from a low headline fee plus a list of extras. The headline fee is fixed, but the total is not.
The extras have different names from firm to firm, and they apply whether you are selling or buying. You may see a case set-up fee, an ID check fee for each person, a bank transfer fee each time money is sent, or a supplement for a leasehold property or for complex title work. Sellers are often charged extra for dealing with the lender when their mortgage is paid off. Buyers may also see charges for submitting the Stamp Duty return, for acting for their mortgage lender, or for checking gifted money from a family member. Some are listed in the quote. Others sit in the terms and conditions, or are added when the lawyer finds the work is more involved than expected.
Add them up and a quote that starts at a few hundred pounds can end up two or three times higher. Using typical market charges for each extra, a sale that looks cheap at the outset can reach £2,730 including VAT, and a purchase £3,750 including VAT, once each extra is charged once. That is before anything added later at the firm’s discretion. You can see the item-by-item breakdown on our compare conveyancing quotes page.
What does a genuinely fixed fee include?
A genuinely fixed fee includes everything the firm will charge you for its own work, whatever the transaction turns out to involve.
On a sale, our fee covers the legal work, case set-up, identity checks, bank transfers, Land Registry document costs, paying off your existing mortgage, leasehold work and complex title work. On a purchase, it covers all of that plus your property searches, your Stamp Duty return, work for your new mortgage lender and the extra anti-money laundering checks needed for gifted deposits. If the property turns out to be leasehold, or the title needs untangling, the price stays the same.
Which costs can no conveyancer include?
Some costs are paid to someone else, so no conveyancer can include them. If you are selling, these are your estate agent’s fee and any early repayment charge or exit fee your lender applies when your mortgage is paid off. If you are buying, they are Stamp Duty Land Tax, the Land Registry registration fee and your lender’s arrangement fees. On either side, a landlord or management company may charge for leasehold information, and you may choose to take out an indemnity insurance policy.
We tell you about these upfront so they are not a surprise, and we never add a handling charge on top of them.
Why does Pinnacle fix its fees?
We fix our fees because you cannot plan a move around a number that might change. Selling or buying a home is usually the biggest transaction people make, and most people are working to a budget that has to cover an estate agent’s fee, a deposit, removals and everything else.
A fixed fee also changes how a law firm behaves. If a firm can charge more when a file gets complicated, there is little reason to keep the work efficient. When the price is fixed, the risk of extra work sits with us, so we are motivated to run every file well from the first day.
It also makes comparing quotes honest. Since December 2018, firms regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers have had to publish clear information about their prices, including whether fees are fixed and what disbursements are likely to cost (Legal Futures). A single all-in figure is the clearest way we know to meet the spirit of that rule.
How can I tell if a conveyancing quote is really fixed?
Ask the firm one question: “Is there any situation in which I will pay you more than this figure?” If the answer is anything other than no, the fee is not fixed.
It also helps to check the quote for words like “from”, “supplement”, “if applicable” or “per transfer”, and to read the section of the terms and conditions headed additional charges. If a firm cannot tell you the total before it starts, it is unlikely to be the figure you end up paying.
Is the cheapest conveyancing quote the best value?
Not usually. Every conveyancing firm has a minimum it needs to charge to run properly, so a quote far below the rest is often made up later through extras, through a very high caseload per lawyer that slows your move down, or through giving cases to junior staff who cost less to employ.