Conveyancing Fees Calculator United Kingdom

The legal costs of buying or selling a home are easy to underestimate. The conveyancing bill has two parts: the fee your solicitor or licensed conveyancer charges for their work, and the disbursements they pay to third parties for you. This calculator adds both, so you can see the full total, compare quotes and budget for completion day.

What conveyancing covers

On a purchase, your solicitor checks the legal title to confirm the seller is entitled to sell, orders searches with the local authority and other bodies, reviews the contract and any leasehold terms, handles the transfer of funds and registers you as the new owner at HM Land Registry. On a sale, they prepare the contract pack, answer enquiries from the buyer’s solicitor and pay off any existing mortgage. The legal fee pays for that professional time.

The legal fee versus disbursements

The legal fee is the firm’s own charge. Disbursements are costs the firm passes on: money paid to someone else. Keeping them separate matters because headline quotes can mislead. One firm might advertise a low legal fee and recover the difference through high disbursements, while another quotes a higher fee with lower extras. Entering each figure separately lets you compare like with like and see which quote is cheaper overall.

The disbursements explained

Four disbursements cover most transactions, and you set each one from your own quote:

• Local authority searches reveal planning history, road schemes and other matters affecting the property. The cost depends on the council and the searches your solicitor orders.
• The Land Registry fee registers the change of ownership. It is banded by property value and is cheaper for online applications than paper ones.
• The bank transfer fee, often a CHAPS charge, covers the same-day electronic transfer of the purchase money on completion.
• ID and anti-money-laundering checks are a legal requirement: the firm must verify who you are before acting.

Each of these varies by property, lender and firm, so the calculator does not assume a figure for any of them. Enter the numbers from your written quote.

A worked example

Your solicitor quotes a legal fee of £1,000, plus local authority searches at £300, a Land Registry fee of £150, a bank transfer fee of £30 and ID checks at £20. The four disbursements come to £500, and with the legal fee the total conveyancing cost is £1,500. Enter a second firm’s figures to see which is cheaper once the extras are included.

What the calculator does not include

The tool excludes Stamp Duty Land Tax, which is a tax on the purchase price rather than a legal cost, so work that out separately and add it on. It also leaves out mortgage arrangement and valuation fees, surveys, removals and estate agent commission on a sale. Leasehold purchases can carry extra disbursements, such as notice fees and a landlord’s information pack; if you are buying a flat, ask your solicitor to list them and add them to the searches figure or a spare field.

Assumptions and limitations

The calculator adds up the disbursements you enter and your legal fee. It holds no rates or thresholds of its own, because every figure in a real conveyancing quote depends on the transaction, so the result is only as good as your inputs. VAT on the legal fee, referral fees and charges for a transaction that falls through are not modelled, so check whether each quote includes VAT. Ask each firm for a full written breakdown, enter the numbers here and compare the totals before you instruct.

About This Conveyancing Fees Calculator

Use this conveyancing fees calculator to get an instant estimate based on the figures you enter. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.