Our team has many years of collective experience in providing high quality remortgaging* services. In this section, we set out details of the services that we provide, and the costs involved, relating to those services.

(Where any word(s) or term(s) are [underlined OR have an * next to them] they are defined in a glossary at the end of this page.)

Overview

This section includes the following:

(i) the key stages that are, or might be, involved in a remortgage* and which we can assist you with;
(ii) an indication of who will undertake the work and our legal fees;
(iii) an indication of the cost of any disbursements*; and
(iv) an indication of the likely timescale to complete the remortgage*.

Key stages

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete your remortgage*, including:

Taking your instructions and making contact with the current lender*
Receiving, reviewing and advising on title* documents
Obtaining, reviewing and reporting on searches*, if required by your new lender (the searches* we obtain will depend on your new lender* and the location of your property)
Checking title* to the property, and raising and dealing with queries to satisfy your new lender*
Reviewing the conditions of any mortgage* offer with you
Sending a mortgage deed* to you for signature
Preparing the file for completion
Obtaining a redemption figure from your current lender(s)*
Agreeing a completion date*
Arranging for all monies needed to be received from the lender*
Completing the remortgage* and paying off your current mortgage*
Dealing with post completion requirements, e.g. arranging a search indemnity policy*, if required, and making payment in respect of the registration of your ownership at Her Majesty’s Land Registry* (HMLR)

Who will undertake the work?

Most remortgages* will be carried out by one of our conveyancing executives. Whoever carries out the work, they will always be supervised by one of our managers. Further details about our team can be found here. We also employ a number of conveyancing administrators who support our conveyancing executives by opening files and helping with initial enquiries etc. Again, they will always be supervised by one of our managers.

Our fees

Generally, our legal fees are based on the valuation of the property that you are purchasing and whether it is freehold* or leasehold*. We set out in the tables below, indications of our legal fees (not including VAT) based on those factors.

Freehold:

Property value (£)	Up to 500,000	Over 501,000
Legal fees (£)	425	550

Leasehold:

Property value (£)	Up to 500,000	Over 501,000
Legal fees (£)	625	750

Disbursements*

There will always be costs payable to third parties as part of your remortgage*. The following disbursements* are difficult to confirm until we know more about your transaction:

HMLR* fees: these are the fees charged by the Government for registering your new mortgage. The fees charged by HMLR* to do that are based on the amount being borrowed from your new lender. You can assess the fee using the following link and checking fee scale 2: http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/fees-calculator.html
Search Fees: the fees will depend on which searches* are required by the lender*. Typically, an insurance policy can be arranged to meet any such requirement. If the lender* is happy for an insurance policy to be put in place, we can help you obtain that. The cost of a policy is normally in the region of £20. If the lender insists on searches* being carried out, the cost of carrying them out is approximately £200.

How long will my remortgage* take?

In our experience, a typical remortgage* takes four to six weeks to complete. This is dependent on how long it takes to receive a mortgage* offer from the new lender*.

Glossary

Term	Definition
Completion date	the day upon which your remortgage is completed
Disbursements	out of pocket expenses paid by us on the client’s behalf to third parties, such as HMLR charges and search fees, among others
Freehold	one of the two current tenures of land recognised by English law; freehold means that you own the property outright, as opposed to leasehold, where you own the property for a specified period of time; freehold property can still, however, be subject to restrictions and covenants, for example to maintain fences, not to be a nuisance etc.
HMLR	the official body responsible for recording the ownership of land. It is now compulsory to register all transactions to do with land at HMLR; although created in 1925, HMLR still does not have records of all the land in the UK, which is why some land is still unregistered
Leasehold	one of the two current tenures of land recognised by English law; leasehold means you own the property for a specified period of time
Lender	the entity, often a bank or building society, which provides financing for the purchase of real estate
Mortgage	a legal agreement by a which a bank or building society, etc. lends money to allow a purchaser to buy a property; the loan is secured against the value of the property
Mortgage Deed	a legal document (that is registered at HMLR) that secures the mortgage in favour of the lender against the property in respect of which they have provided a loan; if the borrower does not pay back the loan in accordance with their agreement with the lender, the lender can take possession of the property and sell it.
Redemption figure	the amount that it costs to pay back what it is owed on your current mortgage; it consists of the final figure for settling your mortgage with your current lender (including any charges and interest to a certain date)
Remortgage	the taking out of a new mortgage on a property by a person that already owns that property, either to replace their existing mortgage or to borrow against the property
Searches	the usual searches include: Local Search Drainage & Water Search Environmental Search Other searches which may be required include Coal Mining Search, Tin Mining Search and Underground Railways Search
Search indemnity policy	an insurance policy to protect the lender and you (although sometimes they only protect the lender) should something be found to negatively affect the value of the property that the lender has provided a loan for
Title	the owner’s right to a property

Fees for remortgaging