Conveyancing Fees

Conveyancing fees in most cases are fixed fees that we will agree with you in writing. These range, in the main, from £495 – £795 plus VAT and disbursements (see below).

We won’t start any work for you – or incur you any costs – until we agree a written fee with you.

We do reserve the right to agree different fixed fees depending on our assessment of the case but this will always be agreed in writing with you.

As well as fees for the actual conveyancing work, there will be usually fixed charges for other work and services but this will depend on the nature of your case.

There are payments we’ll need to make on your behalf. These are sometimes called disbursements, and typically are:

  • “Searches” – in the case of you’re buying a property (and sometimes remortgaging). These might cost upwards of £250 but that really depends on the location of the property.
  • “Land Registry Fees” in the case of buying (or remortgaging a property) a Land registry fee will need to be paid and this usually is determined by the price paid. Here is a link to the Land Registry Calculator.
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax – this can be a complex calculator because it does depend on a number of factors including a price paid, whether you own other property and sometimes your marital status. Here is a link to the Stamp Duty Calculator.

The average time for a conveyancing transaction to complete is 8 -12 weeks. The people who will deal with your case will be one of the three solicitors mentioned on our website. Further information can be found on the Law Society’s “People at K4 Law Limited” page.

Wills

A full estimate of costs will be provided to you for your signed agreement before any fee-generating work is carried out.

We’ll generally charge £200 for a Will (plus VAT), but we will first send you a quotation depending on your particular situation.

Lasting Powers of Attorney

Advice in relation to a Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and the preparation and registration of the documentation ranges from £350 plus VAT to £495 plus VAT with court fees of £82 per document payable in addition. These fees are dependent on your particular circumstances and, in many cases, can be less depending on how many LPAs are required at the same time.

Administration of an estate:
Applying for the Grant, collecting and distributing the assets

Costs of administering an estate for a deceased person will depend on the individual circumstances of the estate. For example, will Inheritance Tax be payable, do you want K4 Law to just ‘get the probate’, is there a house to sell, does any Will contain trusts that need to be managed, is anyone contesting the will? A full estimate of costs will be provided to you for your signed agreement before any fee-generating work is carried out.

We will arrange a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements.

On average, the range of fees for this type of work is £2,000 – £4,000 plus VAT and disbursements (please see below).

The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the estate. Where possible, we will always aim to provide you with a clear estimate of charges.

How long will it take?

This will depend on the number of assets and liabilities in the estate, whether IHT is payable, and whether or not there are properties or other assets to be sold before administering the estate.
The average time for an estate administration would be between 9 to 12 months if there is no property to be sold.

The people who will deal with your case will be one of the three solicitors mentioned on our website. Further information can be found on the Law Society’s “People at K4 Law Limited” page.

There will be some other expenses you might need to pay and these usually include the following:

Court Fee: This is currently £155 but might change from time to time.

Notices Fees: Sometimes, but this does depend on the Will or the estate generally, we have to give notice of any death in certain publications. This is about £300.

Debt recovery

Our charges for work related to recovering monies owed to you depend on your particular circumstances, how much the debt is for, and whether or not this is a one-off demand for payment. We will always discuss with you your requirements, usually at an initial free consultation, and provide a written estimate of fees before starting any work on your behalf. These are calculated in stages, wherever possible, so as to give you control over how much expense you are incurring. For example, costs for an initial demand for payment could start from £250, to costs for a final trial at court which could range from £5,000 – £15,000.

Disbursements

Court fees – dependent on how much the debt is.

Other fees – these could be fees for a process server, barrister, surveyor or other expert, etc., and depend on the nature of each case. A quote/estimate of fees is provided to you prior to the instruction of the expert.

Recovery of costs

Please see below the current rules for recovering legal costs from your opponent.

The rules relating to the recovery of legal costs from your opponent in connection with Court proceedings are complicated. This leaflet is intended to give you a brief outline of the rules relating to costs and to give you an idea as to whether you are likely to be able to recover your costs from your opponent or not. This leaflet must not be treated as an explanation as to whether you are likely to recover your costs from your opponent in all circumstances

(A) Small Claims Court Procedure

  1. If the proceedings involve a claim for less than £10,000, generally speaking (but not always), the claim will be dealt with in the Small Claims Court procedure. If your claim includes a claim for compensation for injuries sustained the limit is £1000 rather than £10,000.
  2. If the claim is dealt with by the Court within the Small Claims Court procedure it is unlikely that either party will be ordered to pay the other party’s legal costs of the proceedings.
  3. If the Court is of the view that one party has behaved unreasonably within the proceedings that party may be ordered to pay part or all of the costs of the other party by the Court at the Court’s discretion.

(B) Costs if you win and Court proceedings have been issued (and if the claim does not fall within the Small Claims Court procedure)

  1. Generally speaking if you are successful in the proceedings (whether you are pursuing a claim or defending a claim) you will be entitled to an order that your opponent pays some or all of your legal costs. Even when you are successful in the proceedings it is unlikely that you will recover all of your legal costs from your opponent but subject to any special circumstances you ought to be able to recover a large proportion of the legal costs that have been incurred. It should be noted that where the claims involves a sum in dispute of less than £15,000 you may recover a lower proportion of your costs than if the proceedings had involved a sum exceeding £ 15,000.
  2. If you are successful (whether you are pursuing a claim or defending a claim) you should be aware that the Court rules only allow you to recover those costs which are proportionate to the sums involved in the proceedings from your opponent. For example if you instruct this firm to pursue a claim for say £10,000 and you are successful but you have incurred legal costs of £15,000 it is unlikely that the Court will order your opponent to pay all of your costs because the Court may decide that the level of costs that you have incurred are not proportionate to the value of the claim.
  3. You should also please be aware that the Court does have the power to reduce the amount of costs that you are entitled to recover from your opponent, if the Court is of the view that your conduct in the Court proceedings justifies a reduction in the amount of costs that you can recover from your opponent.
  4. You should be aware of the possibility that even if the matter is won and even if you are entitled to recover your costs from your opponent, your opponent may not be in a position to pay those costs.
  5. If you are successful and a Court orders the other party to pay some or all of your costs it may be possible to claim interest on those costs from the other party. To the extent that you have already paid K4 Law’s charges, K4 Law will account to you for such interest but will retain the interest on those costs which you have not paid on account during the course of the matter.

(C) Costs if you lose and Court proceedings have been issued (and the claim does not fall within the Small Claims Court procedure)

  1. If you are unsuccessful in the proceedings (whether you are bringing the proceedings or defending the proceedings) it is likely that you will be ordered to pay your opponents costs.
  2. Your opponents legal costs may be calculated in a different way to the way in which this firm’s fees are calculated and may well be higher than this firm’s fees. We do not know how your opponents Solicitors will calculate their costs.
  3. In the event that you are ordered to pay your opponents costs we will be given the opportunity to see your opponents legal bill and to challenge it if it is felt that it is unreasonable.

(D) Enforcement of a Judgment

  1. It may be that you are bringing a financial claim against your opponent. It may be that you will be successful and obtain a judgment against your opponent. lf this does happen it may be that your opponent will refuse to voluntarily settle the Judgment debt. If that does happen you may have to incur further costs to enforce the Judgment. It is unlikely that you will be able to recover more than a nominal contribution towards enforcement costs. The different methods of enforcing a Judgment and the cost of each method will be discussed with you at the appropriate time should it be necessary to do so.

(E) Premature discontinuation of Court proceedings

  1. If you are bringing proceedings against your opponent and you decide before the proceedings have been concluded to withdraw the proceedings your opponent may insist that you pay all of your opponent’s costs of defending the proceedings.
  2. If you are defending proceedings and you decide to withdraw your Defence before the proceedings have been completed it is likely that you will be required to pay your opponents costs of the proceedings.
  3. lf your opponent decides to discontinue proceedings that your opponent has brought against you it may be possible to require your opponent to pay your legal costs of the proceedings. This will however depend upon the reasons for the proceedings being discontinued.
  4. lf your opponent decides to withdraw a Defence to your claim you may be entitled to recover your costs of the proceedings from your opponent. This will however depend upon the reasons for your opponent withdrawing the Defence.

(F) Insurance cover

  1. In the event that you decide to commence Court proceedings against your opponent you may wish to consider the possibility of purchasing an After the Event Insurance Policy so that if you lose the proceedings and are ordered to pay your opponents costs, the Insurance Policy would pay those costs on your behalf. We cannot guarantee that an Insurance Company would be prepared to offer After the Event Insurance for your opponents costs in this matter but if you would like us to make appropriate enquiries, please let us know.

(G) Legal Aid

  1. If your opponent is in receipt of Legal Aid and you are unsuccessful in the proceedings it is likely that you will be ordered to pay your opponents legal costs subject to what has been said above.
  2. If your Opponent is in receipt of Legal Aid and you are successful in the proceedings it is likely, subject to what has been said above that the Court will order your legally aided opponent to pay your costs of the proceedings. However in the vast majority of cases the Court will not allow you to take any steps to physically recover the costs that you have incurred from your opponent unless it is possible to show that your opponent has the funds to meet your costs and should be ordered to physically pay those costs.
  3. You should therefore appreciate that if your opponent is in receipt of Legal Aid it is unlikely that you will be able to recover your costs of the proceedings from your opponent even if you are successful.

(H) Part 36 Offers

  1. In Civil Proceedings it is common for parties to make proposals to settle. Such offers are often called “Part 36” offers. Such offers have a very important part to play in litigation If your opponent makes an offer to settle the case in such a way but you refuse to accept that offer and proceed to Trial and fail to either obtain a better Order than the Part 36 offer or fail to obtain a Judgment that is more advantageous than that offer, then the Court will Order you to pay the other side’s costs from a date 21 days after the offer was made.

If any of these circumstances should apply to your case then they will be discussed if and when the situation arises.

FUNDING YOUR LEGAL COSTS

  1. The vast majority of K4 Law’s clients pay K4 Law’s costs personally. Sometimes they are paid with assistance from family and friends.
  2. K4 Law appreciate that legal costs in connection with a dispute can be substantial. To enable clients to keep an eye on the amount of costs that are being incurred and to help spread the cost bills are issued on a regular basis.

LEGAL AID

  1. You may be eligible for Legal Aid to be represented in connection with some or all of the matters that you need legal advice upon. K4 Law does not undertake Legal Aid work. In the event that K4 Law believes that you may be eligible for Legal Aid you will be advised of your right to apply for Legal Aid. If you decide that you do not wish to apply for Legal Aid and that you wish to pay K4 Law to undertake work for you, K4 Law will of course be more than pleased to do so.

LEGAL EXPENSES INSURANCE

  1. You may have Legal Expenses Insurance cover. You are strongly advised to check any insurance Cover that you may have such as buildings and contents insurance, motor insurance and any other insurance policies that you have to ascertain whether or not you may be able to claim for your legal costs in connection with this matter under a Legal Expenses Insurance Policy if you have one.
  2. If we intend to seek costs from your opponent in this matter, please forward to us your Insurance Policies as soon as possible so that we can fulfill our obligations to confirm the position regarding insurance cover and to advise you as appropriate.

NO WIN NO FEE

  1. We do not offer No Win, No Fee arrangements in this type of case.

PLEASE NOTE THESE NOTES ARE FOR GENERAL GUIDANCE ONLY. SPECIFIC ADVICE ON COSTS MAY BE GIVEN TO YOU ON VARIOUS ISSUES DURING THE COURSE OF THE MATTER.