Fees for Individuals

Fees for Individuals

We know that legal costs can sometimes seem difficult to understand. Here at Whitehead Monckton, we are transparent with our fees and we always strive to give you a clear indication of what you can expect to pay for your needs. Choose from the options below for more information or send us a message to ask for a cost estimate.

Conveyancing

Please see below a breakdown of our standard conveyancing fees as at 1st January 2024.

Freehold sale

  • Up to £250,000 = £1,230 to £1,410
  • Up to £350,000 = £1,410 to £1,650
  • Up to £450,000 = £1,650 to £1,770
  • Up to £550,000 = £1,830 to £1,950
  • Up to £650,000 = £1,950 to £2,070
  • Up to £750,000 = £2,070 to £2,190
  • Up to £850,000 = £2,190 to £2,430
  • Up to £900,000 = £2,430 to £2,670
  • Over £1,000,000 = please contact

 

Freehold purchase

  • Up to £250,000 = £1,170 to £1,530
  • Up to £350,000 = £1,530 to £1,770
  • Up to £450,000 = £1,650 to £1,890
  • Up to £550,000 = £1,830 to £2,070
  • Up to £650,000 = £1,950 to £2,190
  • Up to £750,000 = £2,070 to £2,310
  • Up to £850,000 = £2,310 to £2,550
  • Up to £900,000 = £2,550 to £2,790
  • Over £1,000,000 = please contact

 

Leasehold sale

  • Up to £250,000 = £1,710 to £1,950
  • Up to £350,000 = £1,950 to £2,190
  • Up to £450,000 = £2,190 to £2,430
  • Up to £550,000 = £2,550 to £2,670
  • Up to £650,000 = £2,670 to £2,910
  • Up to £750,000 = £2,910 to £3,150
  • Up to £850,000 = £3,150 to £3,390
  • Up to £900,000 = £3,390 to £3,630
  • Over £1,000,000 = please contact

 

Leasehold purchase

  • Up to £250,000 = £1,830 to £2,070
  • Up to £350,000 = £2,070 to £2,310
  • Up to £450,000 = £2,310 to £2,550
  • Up to £550,000 = £2,550 to £2,790
  • Up to £650,000 = £2,790 to £3,030
  • Up to £750,000 = £3,030 to £3,270
  • Up to £850,000 = £3,270 to £3,510
  • Up to £900,000 = £3,510 to £3,750
  • Over £1,000,000 = please contact

 

Additional Fees to be included if the following apply:

  • Help to Buy = £1,200
  • New build = £1,200
  • Shared ownership = £1,200
  • Help to Buy ISA/LISA = £60
  • Remortgage = £1,440
  • Bank Transfer/TT fee = £36.00

 

Disbursements

The above level of legal fees do not include disbursements payable on the transactions.  Disbursements are fees payable to 3rd parties during the course of the transaction (such as search fees, stamp duty, land registry registration fees, land registry search fees, lease fees etc). The list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply depending on the type of property. We will update you on the specific fees upon receipt of that information.

 

Usual Disbursements for Freehold  Purchases: 

  • Stamp Duty: This depends on the purchase price of your property and your eligibility to pay the same. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website.
  • A Land Registration fee Scale 1 for registration of your purchase: Click here for current costs
  • Search fees approximately £168.96 + VAT. Purchase and re-mortgage searches comprise a pack of four standard searches (Local, Environmental, Water Authority and Chancel Check)  however, the fee of £300.00 + VAT  is a guideline as this can vary depending on the charge imposed by the individual Local and Water Authorities. There may also be additional searches required depending on the location of the property, such as a mining search or common registration search
  • Land Registry Pre-completion search £3.00 + VAT
  • Land Charges Bankruptcy Search £2.00 + VAT per name

 

Additional Anticipated Disbursements for a Leasehold Purchase

The purchase of a Leasehold Property can incur additional disbursements to those above as they involve third parties such as Freeholders and management companies who require fees paid to them on completion of the transaction as required under the Lease.

These fees vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given below. Whilst the list below is not exhaustive these may include:

  • Notice of Transfer/Notice of Charge fee. These fees if chargeable will be set out in the enquiries form completed by the Freeholder or Management Company and provided during the course of the transaction. They can range between approximately £100 to £400 and are due on completion of the purchase
  • Certificate of Compliance fee – This fee if chargeable can range between £100 to £200
  • Deed of Covenant (if required under the lease)  – The fee for either provision of the draft document or acknowledgement of completion of the same by the Freeholder/management company  can be difficult to estimate. Often it is between £200 to £400
  • Membership/Share Certificate fee – this fee if chargeable can range between £100 to £200

 

PLEASE NOTE: 

You should also be aware that ground rent and service charge are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as  we receive this information

 

Usual Disbursements for Sales: 

Official Copy of Register Entries and copy documents from the Land Registry generally and Land Charges Search (where necessary) approximately £20.00 + VAT

 

Usual Disbursements for Re-mortgages/Transfers of Equity*: 

Official Copy of Register Entries and copy documents from the Land Registry generally and Land Charges Bankruptcy Search/Land Registry Pre-completion Search approximately £20.00 + VAT .  Transfers of Equity may also be subject to Stamp Duty Land Tax depending on the consideration being paid for the  share of the property and any current mortgage liability secured thereon.

*Land Registry fees calculated on Scale 2: Click here for current costs

 

PLEASE NOTE:

All transactions where there is a requirement for monies to be transferred by telegraphic transfer for same day payment will be subject to an additional charge of £35.00 + VAT.

All work is handled from start to finish by experienced specialist Solicitors/Licensed Conveyancers and supervised by other specialist Solicitors/Licensed Conveyancers.

 

Stages  and Timescale of the Transaction

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 9-12 weeks.

It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain and the complexities of the transaction.  For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing an existing freehold property with no chain and have  a mortgage in principle, it could take 9 weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires a new lease or extension of the lease as well, this can take significantly longer, between 3 and 5 months. In such, a situation additional charges may apply and we will advise you of the same.

The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. Some key stages are listed below:

  1. Acceptance by you of our quote and provision by you of required identity documents, evidence of funding, completed client instruction forms and monies on account of initial costs
  2. Provision of any initial advice and making contact with solicitors acting on the seller’s side to confirm instructions
  3. Receive and advise on contract documents
  4. Carry out searches
  5. Obtain further planning documentation if required
  6. Give you advice on all documents and information received
  7. Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitor
  8. Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
  9. Send final contract and our report on the transaction to you for signature
  10. Agree completion date (date from which you own the property)
  11. Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
  12. Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
  13. Complete purchase
  14. Deal with payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax
  15. Deal with application for registration at Land Registry

 

Our fees

Our quoted fees cover all of the work* required to complete the purchase of your new home as per the information initially provided by you, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

*Whilst our standard charges are generally a fixed fee, we reserve the right to vary the fee should anything unusual/untoward come to light during the course of the transaction which would require additional work by us.

 

Our quoted fee assumes that:

  • this is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title or planning issues which require remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction,
  • the transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complication arise
  • all parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
  • no indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

 

If you wish to use an online quote calculator for residential conveyancing

Below is list of things you may wish to consider if you use an online quote calculator for conveyancing matters as these may affect the level of quote provided:

  • value of the property
  • first-time buyer
  • re-mortgage
  • freehold or leasehold
  • new build
  • first registration of title
  • whether a mortgage or not, or Islamic mortgage
  • in purchase cases, whether primary residence, buy to let or second/holiday home
  • multiple owners
  • shared ownership scheme
  • using a help to buy scheme, and whether it is an equity loan or ISA
  • purchase under right to buy
  • purchase at auction
  • property has been repossessed

 

Full details of our complaints procedure can be found here.

Please contact us for a full quote and we will provide confirmation of the disbursements payable for your specific transaction(s).

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Dispute Resoluion

We ensure that you only pay for what you need with our dispute resolution services: no more, no less. Talk to us today to let us know about your situation and we will provide you with a no-obligation estimate.

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Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Estate Administration

The costs for our Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Estate Administration services depend on factors such as the complexity and size of your estate. We ensure you only pay for what you need.

Wills

Learn about our fees here.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

Learn about our fees here.

Estate Administration

Estate Administration

The administration of an estate can be time-consuming and complicated and so many of our clients ask us to assist them with all the responsibilities that entails. At Whitehead Monckton our team has extensive experience in dealing with high value, complex estates and can advise regarding the associated tax issues.

Our fees

We will offer you a choice of a fixed fee or an estimate where our fees are calculated based on the amount of time we spend carrying out your instructions as per our terms & conditions. For your information, our hourly rates are currently:

Directors & Associate Directors         £395.00      Consultants                                    £395.00

Senior Associate Solicitors                 £380.00      Associate Solicitors                        £370.00

Senior Solicitors                                    £345.00          Solicitors/ Legal Exec                    £325.00

Senior Trainee Sols/Legal Exec       £290.00        Trainee Sols/Legal Exec                £265.00

Legal assistants                                     £215.00

VAT will be added to these amounts at the prevailing rate (currently 20%).

It is always difficult to provide projections of costs in estate administrations at the outset as each one has its own issues and you are of course free to instruct us to do as much or as little of the work as you wish.  However, in our experience, where we are instructed to carry out the whole administration from start to finish, in estates which are worth up to around £750,000 our fees tend to work out between 2.5% to 3.5% of the gross probate value and for estates worth in excess of £750,000 the fees fall between 1.5% and 3%.  This is not however the basis of charging.

Examples – applying for the Grant, collecting and distributing the assets

If the gross probate value of the estate is around £300,000, it is likely to take between 23 and 33 hours to deal with the whole estate administration and our fees may fall between £7,500 plus VAT and £10,500 plus VAT. This is based on there being

  • a valid Will
  • UK only assets
  • no more than one property
  • no more than three bank accounts
  • no other intangible assets
  • no more than three beneficiaries
  • no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets
  • no claims made against the estate
  • no Inheritance tax payable and the Executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC

If the gross probate value of the estate is around £850,000 and is taxable to Inheritance Tax, but otherwise straightforward, our fees may fall between £12,750 plus VAT and £25,500 plus VAT.

Inheritance Tax

Any Inheritance Tax payable will be in addition to the fees quoted. You can check whether it is payable using the HMRC online calculator here:

https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/estimate-estate-value#use-the-online-inheritance-tax-checker

Other expenses

During the administration, there will be other expenses we shall have to pay called “disbursements”.  The most common disbursements will be:

  1. The probate application fee of £273.00;
  2. Sealed office copies of the Grant of Probate at £1.50 each;
  3. Estate Account Production fee of £60 plus VAT;
  4. Property Ladder Group fee of £150 plus VAT to deal with the valuation of the property;
  5. Share valuations – variable amount
  6. EstateSearch asset search fee of between £25 and £185 plus VAT;
  7. Creditors’ search advertisements or insurance alternative – variable amount;
  8. Deceased Bankruptcy search at £2.00
  9. Executors’ combined ID and insolvency check at £7.00 plus VAT each; and
  10. Beneficiaries’ combined ID and insolvency check at £7.00 plus VAT each.

There may also be others which we will advise you of if necessary.

Potential additional costs

Our fees are likely to be higher for more complex estates including:

  • intestacies (there is no valid Will)
  • multiple shareholdings (stocks and bonds)
  • agricultural or business property
  • complex investment structures
  • foreign assets
  • estates where numerous lifetime gifts have been made
  • complex inheritance tax calculations
  • estates with a contentious element and where we may be acting as an Independent Administrator

We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information. Also dealing with the sale or transfer of a property in the estate is not included but we can provide a separate quote from our Property team if required.

Timescales

In most cases we complete the valuation process and are able to apply for the Grant of Probate within 2 to 4 months after having received your complete instructions.  This will entirely depend on how quickly the various institutions we have to obtain information from take to answer our correspondence.   We then normally expect to obtain the Grant of Probate within the following 16 to 20 weeks depending on whether or not Inheritance Tax is payable.  Thereafter, it is extremely difficult to give you an accurate estimate of how long it will take to complete the administration as each case is different.  We will however provide you with an updated time estimate once we have the Grant, if appropriate

Where it looks as though these timescales are not going to be met, we shall do our utmost to give you an update at the appropriate time and explain why.

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Employment Law

Introduction

Our team of Employment Law experts regularly advise clients on a broad range of employment tribunal claims. No claim is the same and we adapt our approach and strategies to each unique case. Our client’s objectives, the strength of the claim, the volume of documentation and the complexity of the issues are all factors that are likely to affect strategy. There are also external factors, such as whether the Respondent is represented and the Tribunal’s availability to hear a case that will impact on the costs that are incurred.

With this in mind, our fees in providing representation to our clients can also vary. The following is an illustration of what clients can realistically expect their costs to be when instructing us to represent them in claims for unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal, subject to a number of assumptions.

Basis of Engagement

The majority of the Employment Tribunal work we undertake is charged on a time spent basis at our standard hourly rates:-

Director/Associate Director    – £340 plus VAT

Solicitor                                   – £230 plus VAT

 

Where possible we may agree to undertake elements of the work on a fixed fee basis, including where we have agreed a “price and slice” approach where we have agreed pricing for different tasks associated with the claim, this would typically include:-

  • Initial advice/ACAS conciliation
  • Drafting the ET1 claim form
  • Preparation for and attendance at a Preliminary Hearing
  • Collation of documents and disclosure
  • Bundle Preparation
  • Preparation of witness statements
  • Preparation for final hearing

 

Likely costs

Subject to the assumptions listed below, our costs are likely to fall within the following ranges:-

Type of Claim

 

Likely lower range fee Likely upper range fee
 

Wrongful Dismissal

 

 

£4,000 plus VAT

 

£7,000 plus VAT

 

Unfair Dismissal

 

 

£9,000 plus VAT

 

£13,000 plus VAT

 

Unfair and Wrongful Dismissal

 

 

£10,000 plus VAT

 

£17,000 plus VAT

 

For these purposes we would assume that a wrongful dismissal claim would require no more than one witness per party at an employment tribunal hearing that lasts no longer than a day.

In terms of the unfair dismissal claims, whilst the range given can be applied to both unfair and constructive unfair dismissal claims the range given would apply to claims where there are no additional claims (such as claims under the Equality Act 2010 or whistleblowing claims), that only one preliminary hearing is required and that the matter is listed for no more than three days and requires no more than four witnesses to give evidence in total.

In all cases, the range assumes that the Respondent would be represented by an employment law specialist or that they would conduct the case reasonably, that no expert medical evidence needs to be considered and that no hearing will be postponed.

Representation at the Hearing

The range of costs provided does not include the costs for representation at the hearing itself. Such representation is generally provided by expert Counsel. We have strong relationships with leading Barristers’ Chambers in both Kent and London with whom we work closely on contentious matters.

Counsel’s fees are charged as disbursements and are typically the only additional disbursements you will incur based on the assumptions listed above. We will always agree these with you in advance of instructing counsel and will ask for money on account of these fees before the hearing.

Counsel’s fees for cases of this nature will generally vary between £1,500 plus VAT and £7,000 plus VAT depending on length of hearing and required preparation time.

Timescales

It is difficult to estimate how long a case will take to conclude at this time due to the significant backlogs and time pressures most Employment Tribunals are under. A straight forward, one day wrongful dismissal claim may be heard within one year of the claim form being issued, but it is more likely that a longer hearing may not be heard for closer to two years after the claim form was issued.

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Family and Divorce

Your family law and divorce costs will depend on how complicated your scenario is, and how long it takes for you to agree. We will always work with you to come to a quick conclusion wherever possible. To find out a breakdown of our costs, please enquire today.

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Notarial

The costs of our notarial services depend on your requirements and scenario:

  • Certification of documents
  • Foreign powers of attorney
  • Cross-border property purchases & sales
  • Single status declaration for marriages abroad
  • Hague apostille

 

In order to understand what your notarial costs are likely to be, please speak to a member of our team.

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The costs of our notarial services depend on your requirements and scenario:

  • Certification of documents
  • Foreign powers of attorney
  • Cross-border property purchases & sales
  • Single status declaration for marriages abroad
  • Hague apostille

 

In order to understand what your notarial costs are likely to be, please speak to a member of our team.

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Professional Negligence

When it comes to professional negligence, we know that the last thing you need is additional financial stress. We will work with you to be completely transparent with our pricing – tell us today what situation you are facing and we will talk you through what it is likely to cost.

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