Guide
Conveyancing fees: what is the firm's, and what is not
Updated
The reason two conveyancing quotes are so hard to compare is that they mix three different kinds of money together, and only one of them is negotiable. Once they are separated, the comparison takes about five minutes.
The three kinds
The legal fee, which is the firm's charge for doing the work, plus VAT on it. This is the only part set by the firm and the only part that is genuinely different between quotes.
Disbursements, which are payments the firm makes on your behalf: searches, the Land Registry fee, bank transfer charges, and on leasehold, the freeholder's or managing agent's fees.
Tax, meaning stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland, Land Transaction Tax in Wales and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland. Nobody has any discretion over it.
What the firm has to tell you
For SRA-regulated firms this is not a matter of courtesy. Rule 1.5 of the SRA Transparency Rules requires publication of the total cost of the service or, where not practicable, the average cost or range of costs; the basis for the charges including any hourly rates or fixed fees; the qualifications and experience of the staff carrying out the work; a description of the disbursements and their costs; whether any fees or disbursements attract VAT and if so how much; and what services are included in the price, including the key stages and likely timescales for each.
Rule 1.3(a) applies that requirement to residential conveyancing specifically: freehold or leasehold sales or purchases, and mortgages or remortgages. So the information exists, published, on the firm's own site, before you ask anyone for a quote.
The Land Registry fee, which is the same everywhere and not the same amount
HM Land Registry publishes a Scale 1 fee by value band. On a transfer of whole between £200,001 and £500,000 it is £330 by post and £150 if the firm applies through the portal or Business Gateway.
That is an £180 difference on identical work, decided entirely by how the firm files. It is worth one question, because a quote that passes on the postal fee is telling you something about the firm's systems as well as about the charge.
Comparing two quotes properly
Strip out the tax entirely: it is the same in both. Strip out the Land Registry fee, and check both quotes used the same band and the same filing method.
Then compare the legal fee including VAT, and read what each includes. A cheaper fee that excludes the leasehold work, the mortgage work or the bank transfer fee is not cheaper. The SRA rules require the inclusions to be published, which is exactly what makes this checkable rather than a matter of trust.