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What's included in a conveyancing quote

Every quote the calculator produces is built from three separate things, and knowing which is which is most of what you need to compare two quotes properly.

The legal fee is what the conveyancer charges for their own work: taking your instructions, checking or drafting the contract, raising and answering enquiries, liaising with your lender, and getting you to exchange and completion. This is the part that genuinely varies between firms, and the part a comparison is actually comparing.

Disbursements are costs your conveyancer pays to somebody else on your behalf and passes on at cost — search fees, HM Land Registry charges, bank transfer fees. They are largely fixed by whoever levies them, so they are similar wherever you go. A quote that looks unusually cheap has often left them out rather than reduced them.

VAT applies to the legal fee and to some disbursements but not others. Search fees generally carry VAT; HM Land Registry fees generally do not. A quote showing a headline figure "plus VAT" is not comparable to one showing a figure that includes it, which is why every total in our calculator is shown the same way.

What the disbursements actually pay for

These are the third-party costs that appear on most conveyancing quotes. Which of them apply depends on whether you are buying, selling or remortgaging.

• Property searches. Chiefly the local authority search, plus environmental and water and drainage searches. They reveal planning history, road schemes, contaminated land risk and how the property connects to the mains. Buyers pay these; sellers do not. Our guide to what property searches covergoes through each one.
• HM Land Registry fees. Official copies of the title early on, and the registration fee after completion that records you as the new owner. The registration fee is scaled to the property price.
• Bankruptcy and priority searches. Small, lender-required checks carried out immediately before completion — one confirms no bankruptcy proceedings against a buyer, the other freezes the title so nothing can be registered ahead of you.
• Bank transfer fee. The charge for sending completion monies by same-day transfer, which is how property funds move.
• Leasehold costs. If the property is leasehold, the freeholder or managing agent charges for the management pack, and there are usually fees for serving notice of transfer and notice of charge after completion. Seewhat an LPE1 pack contains.
• Stamp Duty Land Tax. A tax rather than a fee, payable by buyers to HMRC. Your conveyancer calculates it, submits the return and pays it from funds you provide.How SDLT works covers the thresholds and first-time buyer relief.

What can move the price

Two properties at the same price can carry different conveyancing costs, because the legal work involved is different. The calculator asks about these up front rather than discovering them later:

• Leasehold instead of freehold. The single biggest factor. A lease has to be read and reported on, a management pack obtained, and notices served afterwards.Freehold vs leasehold explains what actually differs.
• A linked sale and purchase. Usually cheaper as one instruction than two separate ones, because exchange and completion have to be synchronised anyway.
• New build. Contracts are the developer's, deadlines are tighter, and there is often a plot transfer and a warranty to check.
• Shared ownership or a lender scheme. Adds a housing association or scheme administrator as a third party to the transaction.
• Unregistered title. Rare now, but it means proving ownership from paper deeds rather than the register, which takes considerably longer.
• A gifted deposit. Requires additional source-of-funds and anti-money laundering checks on whoever is gifting.What a gifted deposit involves.

What "fixed fee" should mean

A fixed fee should mean the legal fee does not move because the transaction took longer than expected, or because more emails were sent than someone anticipated. It does not mean nothing can ever be added — if the facts change, the work changes.

The distinction that matters is who bears the risk of the ordinary. A genuine fixed fee puts the risk of a slow chain, an awkward enquiry or a difficult counterparty on the firm. A fee described as fixed but hedged with hourly top-ups for anything unusual puts it back on you. Before instructing anyone, ask what specifically would trigger an extra charge and get the answer in writing.

On sales, PropertyLawyers4You offers No Sale—No Fee: if the sale does not complete, the legal fee is not charged. Disbursements already paid to third parties are not recoverable and remain payable — no firm can refund a search it has already bought.Fixed fee conveyancing goes through what should be included as standard.

What happens after you get your quote

The quote arrives on screen and by email, with no obligation and no call centre chasing it. If you decide to go ahead, we introduce you to a vetted conveyancer who is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. They send you their own engagement letter and act for you directly — you deal with the lawyer handling your file, not with us.

PropertyLawyers4You compares quotes and makes the introduction. It is a trading name of Seasons Law Ltd and is not itself a regulated law firm, so it does not carry out the legal work or hold your money. If you want to see how the rest of the process fits together first, start withwhat a conveyancer actually does.