UPDATE - Due to the way in which the property market developed a pace, following the publication of this article, as a result of the Government's announcement regarding the Stamp Duty holiday, Holmes & Hills' No Sale, No Fee Promise will not be being applied to conveyancing services until further notice. Where a client was quoted with the No Sale, No Fee Promise applied and this is referenced in the terms of the quotation, this will be honoured.
No sale, no fee conveyancing gives you the reassurance that should your property transaction fall-through (go abortive) for any reason, you will not have to pay legal fees to your conveyancing solicitor.
Holmes & Hills Solicitors has this week launched its new No Sale, No Fee conveyancing promise. Recognising that not everyone will be familiar with the term, we thought we’d write a quick article to explain what it means, how it works and when it applies.
On average, 28% of property transactions fall-through (source: Which? Survey 2016). That’s more than you thought isn’t it?
There are a number of reasons why a transaction may not proceed and in most instances it is unlikely to be through any fault of your own. In our experience, by far the most common cause is a problem elsewhere in the chain of transactions, of which yours is just one. It goes without saying that the more properties and parties involved in a chain of transactions (buyers, sellers, estate agents, conveyancing solicitors, mortgage brokers), the more likely it is that something will go wrong.
Results from a recent Which? survey undertaken in February 2016 attributed 61% of failed property transactions to the seller withdrawing from the transaction. One in five were caused by buyers being unable to complete the sale of their own home.
There are a wide-range of reasons why transactions go abortive, the most common we list below:
If your conveyancing does not come with a No Sale, No Fee Promise such as the one offered by Holmes & Hills Solicitors, your conveyancing solicitor is likely to charge you for all or some of the legal fee you were quoted when you instructed them to undertake your conveyancing. In our experience most transactions become abortive immediately prior to exchange of contracts, at which point approximately 80% of the Solicitor’s work has already been carried out. This means you may have to pay your conveyancing solicitor 80% of their legal fee, despite the fact you have nothing to show for it.
A worked example shows how much you could potentially end up paying in additional abortive costs on top of the eventual legal fee for the completed transaction.
Solicitors fees = £600 +VAT (total £720)
Abortive costs at exchange of contracts = £480 + VAT (total £576)
New transaction = £600 +VAT (total £720) for the work on your sale
TOTAL = £1080 +VAT (total £1,296)
Clearly, you can find yourself substantially out of pocket due to conveyancing fees, mortgage costs, and surveys and the average amount lost according to the Which? survey is £2,899 with 5% of people losing over £5000.
With Holmes & Hills’ No Sale, No Fee Promise, you would not pay the £576 on the abortive transaction in the example outlined above*. Under our promise, your transaction can fall-through for any number of reasons, as mentioned, and you will not have to pay our legal fee. All we will charge you is the disbursements we have paid out to third parties on your behalf. For example, in a sale this would commonly include the cost of the Official Copies we download from the Land Registry, or any searches we may carry out on a purchase.
Select what type of conveyancing quote you require below:
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Purchase only Conveyancing Quote
Sale only Conveyancing Quote
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There isn’t one. Our No Sale, No Fee conveyancing promise is included in our conveyancing service as standard, there is no additional charge.
Our No Sale, No Fee conveyancing promise is also not an insurance policy, so there is no need to worry about making a claim and filing for any reimbursement. We simply don’t charge you. In fact, if you have paid money on account for third-party disbursements (such as Official Copies, searches, etc.) and these costs have not yet been incurred in relation to your transaction, you’ll get this money back.
Also, our No Sale, No Fee conveyancing promise is not contingent on you instructing Holmes & Hills Solicitors on another transaction within a given time frame. We understand these things take time and though we hope not, it could be a while before you find another property or buyer. So when you are ready to get going again, just let us know and we can begin work again on your new transaction.
Whilst Which? estimate the national average for abortive matters to be 28%, the average for property transactions where Holmes & Hills Solicitors are providing the conveyancing services is half this. So, with no sale, no fee conveyancing services from Holmes & Hills Solicitors, not only do you not pay any legal fees if your transaction falls-through, but there is a significantly reduced chance of this happening.
If we are not saving you money, then we are saving you stress. A worry-free home move, now imagine that…
Select what type of conveyancing quote you require below:
Select quote type...
Purchase only Conveyancing Quote
Sale only Conveyancing Quote
Sale & Purchase Conveyancing Quote
Re-mortgage Quote
Click the button to get a free quote with our No Sale, No Fee Promise included as standard. Alternatively, call 01376 320456 (Essex) or 01787 275275 (Suffolk) to speak to one of our team.
*Holmes & Hills’ No Sale, No Fee Promise covers a maximum of one abortive transaction or two related abortive transactions in any given 6 month period, per client. No sale, no fee does not apply to auction sales or purchases; new build transactions where a discounted fee has been agreed with the developer; third party disbursements already paid (e.g. searches); additional work agreed (e.g. Declaration of Trust). Holmes & Hills reserves the right to refuse to offer the No Sale, No Fee Promise at the point of receiving an instruction.
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