A. Williams & Co. (Solicitors)

Speciality Practice - Residential Conveyancing

Speciality Practice

Residential - Conveyancing

The services we provide are all on a privately paying basis.

Information on the Residential Property Conveyancing Services we provide and those we do not provide

We provided advice and representation to both landlords and tenants in respect of their rights in applications to acquire the freehold of leasehold houses and lease extensions of both flats and houses. We also advised property owners on short-term lettings for investment purposes and prospective tenants on the terms of tenancy agreements for occupation.Additional work done included;

1. Property conveyancing in England and Wales.
2. Cross border property trust litigation.
3. Remortgaging.
4. Advice on Cross border property finance.
5. Preparation of lease extensions.
6. Preparation of Licences to Assign.
7. Effecting Charge of property in the Land Registry.
8. A consideration of the effect of a freehold merger on existing underlease covenants and section 139 of the Law of Property Act 1925.

INFORMATION ON THE SERVICES WE PROVIDE

Our fees covers all of the legal work stated below required to complete the purchase of your new home or property, 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.

THE BREAKDOWN OF OUR SERVICES PROVIDED

The services provided and the precise stages involved in the purchase of your residential or other property may vary according to the circumstances.

However, below we have suggested some key stages that will be included in our services:

1. We take your instructions and give you initial advice
2. We check your independently sourced finances are in place to fund the purchase and contact lender's solicitors if needed.
3. We receive and advise you on the contract documents.
4. We carry out searches on the property.
5. We obtain planning documentation if required.
6. We make any necessary enquiries of seller's/buyer’s solicitor as required.
7. We provide you with a legal report on title which will include written advice on all documents and information received.
8. We go through conditions of mortgage offer with you (if required) although the issue of your financing is a separate cost to be agreed with you.
9. We send you a final contract for signature.
10. We agree a completion date (date from which you own the property).
11. We exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened.
12. We arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you.
13. We complete the purchase by making the payment to the Seller’s solicitors and / or to you depending on whom we are acting for.
14. We Deal with the payment of Stamp Duty/Land Tax (as required).
15. We deal with the application for registration at Land Registry (as required).

THE SERVICES WE DO NOT PROVIDE

We do not provide you with a broker or financing service to source loan monies to purchase your property and you have to source this independently of our firm.

We generally only carry out the residential conveyancing service only for our established clients.

THE PEOPLE CARRYING OUT THE RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING WORK

Akin Williams our Principal has over 30 years post qualification experience as a solicitor and barrister in a foreign common law jurisdiction and over 17 years post qualification experience as a UK solicitor. He has the overall responsibility for your case. He is qualified as an International Bar Fellow in International Legal Practice. He is assisted by barristers or legal assistants or other experts as may be required. Having previously successfully acted for a freeholder in central London for over 15 years , Akin Williams spends 100% of his time on each of the work areas and supervises those who assist him with the work being carried out.

OUR PRICES AND COSTS

Our Legal fee starts from a minimum cost of £3,860 plus 20% vat upwards depending on the complexity of the transaction. This is because we carry out an in-depth conveyancing service for our established clients and the professional time that we have to spend on the work to be done such as the preparation of a detailed legal report on title to ensure that you, as our client is fully advised as to your rights on the purchase justifies our cost for the work. Whilst we understand that others may be less expensive, we do not carry out volume conveyancing as we have seen the pitfalls that may be involved in the event a client’s right is overlooked which may become considerably much more expensive to rectify in the future for the client.

Please see the table below for our range of our basic fees including our cost for a detailed report on title dependent on the property value and the work to be done;

WE DO NOT PROVIDE BROKER SERVICES FOR LOANS

Our fees stated above do not include our work on your financing transaction. After your broker who is FCA regulated has advised you on your loan and you have received an offer, we will then review the legal documents required by the lender in relation to your loan separately in the event you request that we also assist you with your lender.

ADDITIONAL LEGAL COSTS TO REVIEW LOAN DOCUMENTATION

Our cost for this work will depend on the amount of professional time we will have to expend on your financing transaction. For example, if your transaction is financed through Islamic Musharrakah Financing whereby you pay no interest, our experience is that this requires considerably more time to be spent on documentation and structure than conventional financing and will cost an additional sum of up to £3500.00 plus 20 % vat. If your preferred mode of financing is through a conventional lender whereby interest is paid to your lender directly by you, we will charge up to £2500.00 plus 20% vat to carry out the work to satisfaction by the lender. If you have no financing and it is a “cash buy” we will not charge even though we will have conducted our due diligence searches on your source of funds.

OUR DISBURSEMENTS SUCH AS SEARCH FEES, HM LAND REGISTRY FEES, MONEY TRANSFER FEE,REFERRAL FEES

In addition to the basic costs, we find that search fees are usually a minimum of £150.00 depending on the nature of the searches required

HM Land Registry fees will not usually be less than £540.00

Electronic money transfer fee £21 per transfer

20% VAT is payable is dependent on the fees charged

Referral fee

Referral fee may be payable as an application fee in the event you had previously arranged this with your lender

Amount of referral fee to be paid and the recipient to be paid will be stated in the Agreement.

Estimated total to be confirmed upon receipt of full instructions and will be included in our client care letter.

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Stamp Duty or Land Tax (on purchase)

This depends on the purchase price of your property. 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.

Estimated total will be calculated and provided upon receipt of your full instruction as this will give our clients a clear understanding of the total cost of the transaction and the full funds the client will need to complete it.

HOW LONG WILL MY HOUSE PURCHASE TAKE?

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 3 – 8 weeks.

It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it could take up to eight weeks. However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between three weeks – six months. In such, a situation additional charges would apply.