Transparency in Price and Service
This page sets out details of our costs in two areas of our practice (residential conveyancing for members of the public and debt recovery for businesses, up to £100,000) but, if you would like details of our fees in any of our other areas of practice, please contact the head of the relevant department.
Residential Conveyancing for Members of the Public
Our fee for dealing with the sale or purchase of a residential property is 0.5% of the price subject to a minimum fee of £5,000 per property. For a re-mortgage, our fee is 0.5% of the amount advanced subject to a minimum fee of £5,000.
Value Added Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Land Registry fees, local search and other fees and other out-of-pocket expenses which we incur on your behalf will be payable in addition. Once we know the price of the property, we can provide you with an estimate of the out-of-pocket expenses.
If the transaction does not proceed, we will charge a partial fee based on the value of the work that has been undertaken for you.
If you would like to appoint Hamlins LLP, we will ask you to lodge £2,000 with us on account of the out-of-pocket expenses. Our fee must be paid simultaneously with completion of the transaction and may be deducted from the money we are holding on your behalf.
The Property Team is headed by Mark Hurst who has over 20 years’ experience and includes over ten solicitors of varying degrees of qualification but all are experienced and qualified to deal with residential conveyancing. We will discuss with you who will be assigned to your case and provide details of that person’s supervisor.
The fee estimate includes all the work normally undertaken by a solicitor in a routine residential conveyancing transaction. It does not include dealing with any disputes, the consequences of any delayed completion (whoever is the cause of the delay), re-negotiating the commercial terms or resolving any defects in title which are identified in the transaction.
We would normally expect it to take between four to eight weeks to exchange contracts for the transaction and for a further four weeks to complete the transaction. These estimates will change if there are unforeseen circumstances or if there is a chain of buyers and sellers.
Debt Recovery for Businesses up to £100,000
We can provide you with a detailed fee estimate once we have further details of the claim but we anticipate that our fee for any debt recovery matter will be in the range of £10,000 to £100,000 depending on whether the claim is disputed, the issues raised, the complexity of the case, whether Counsel is required to advise, whether the service of a statutory demand is appropriate, the number of witnesses, whether experts are required, whether a court hearing is required and whether, subsequently, the judgment is required to be enforced and by what means.
Value Added Tax, the fees of a barrister, the fees of a bailiff and out-of-pocket expenses we incur on your behalf will be payable in addition.
If you would like to appoint Hamlins LLP, we will ask you to lodge £5,000 with us on account of our fees. Our fee may be deducted from any money we are holding on your behalf.
The Debt Recovery Team is headed by Kate Andrews who has over ten years’ experience and includes over 12 qualified and unqualified staff but all are experienced in debt collecting matters. We will discuss with you who will be assigned to deal with your case and provide details of that person’s supervisor. Some debt collecting matters are dealt with through our case management system.
The fee estimate includes all the work normally undertaken by a solicitor in a routine debt recovery matter. It does not include dealing with any counterclaim or defence based on undue influence or other unenforceability of the debt.
We would normally expect an undisputed debt recovery matter to take in the region of three months but we would keep you updated on timescales as the matter develops.