Buying a property is an expensive business and it’s fair to say that everybody wants their cut. This includes the band of solicitors who deal with the legal and administrative side of your house move and is known as conveyancing. The fact however is that far from being a cost that you can do without, conveyancers play a vitally important role in your house move. Aside from carrying out legal checks on the property in question a conveyancing solicitor also makes sure that all the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted, thus making sure that (from a legal and administrative side at least) your move goes as smoothly as possible.
Quotes VS Estimates[/b]
So now we know just how important a conveyancer is, it’s time to talk about fees. The trouble is that they can often appear a little confusing, especially when it comes to quotes versus estimates.
When a solicitor or conveyancing company gives a customer an estimate, it’s exactly that. In other words it’s a rough guide price of how much they believe the cost to be. In truth, not every house move runs smoothly and as the process unveils the conveyancer might have to do some extra research. It might be because of an uncovered dispute over boundaries or alternatively there may be some extra reports to write up or further searches to carry out. Whatever the situation, a client can sometimes end up paying two or three times the estimated price.
A quote on the other hand is generally a fixed fee or price. But when a company gives you a fixed price quote, is this really all you have to pay?
When a conveyancer like Quick Move Conveyancing offers you a fixed price fee, more often than not it’s only for their labour charges. These are classed as controllable expenses. However, expenses beyond their control (eg, payments that might have to be made to third parties such as local authorities) are known as disbursements and come at an extra cost. The trouble is that there is just no way of knowing how much disbursement costs will be prior to taking on the case as each instance may vary. This is why you’ll often see dual pricing of a fixed price quote on controllables and an estimated guide price on any disbursement costs.
So How can you Obtain a Realistic Quote? [/b]
The only real way to obtain a realistic quote is to discuss the nuances of your property move with an experienced conveyancer first. This way, they should be able to advise you of what specific searches you need and can advise you of the cost of payments to third parties that you’re likely to accrue. At the very least, you should be able to roughly budget for your conveyancing fees without getting hit with an unexpected bill.