Funkii Munkii

I'm putting my partners name on the house, I have been quoted £250 + vat , is this a reasonable sum to pay. ??

Cheers

turboman786

Yup! Sounds pretty much the normal rate....about £120 ph...2 hours work....

OllyK

Ouch!!

richiewong

Reasonable to me, cost £150 solicitor fee and about another £200 to research the registery, land, plans etc

Pedro_79

They're charging me the same to take a name off the mortgage!!

SJ_Skyline

I'm in the wrong job!

Freak

dick turpin alive and well i see......

Funkii Munkii

Thanks guys, appreciated.

Ummm I'm looking for a career change, maybe this could be it, 2 hours work £250.00, put in one 10 hour day a week and play some golf

OllyK

All this comes under conveyancing IIRC, which you can do yourself. You can get a step by step book for about £8 from staples. Most of the searches (if you are worried about that as your name is already on the deed) can be done online now.

chris singleton

I think you'll find it's more than 2 hours work

I love it when people jump on the bandwagon regarding things they know very little about.

It really isn't just a case of writing to the Land Registry and saying please put my partner on the Title. You need proper advice which unfortunately comes at a cost although yes, you can do it yourself if it's straight forward

Are you just gifting away half the equity in your property? If you go your seperate ways she's then entitled to half the equity and you'd have to buy her out or be forced to sell. You should also enter into a Declaration of Trust to protect your respective interests (which would probably attract more costs ). If the Transfer is at a consideration you might have to pay Stamp Duty also. What exactly is the reason for transfering the property into joint names. Unless there's a specific reason why bother? Much safer to have everything in your own name and save yourself £250.00 which presumably is plus VAT.

If you're likely to be moving in the near future then buy in joint names then, although again, you should protect your interest with a Declaration of Trust.

Do you have a mortgage? If so, your partner will need to be party to the mortgage also.

Chris

chris singleton

Sorry, forgot to step off my high horse for a minute and answer the question

£250.00 is relatively cheap if there is no hidden extras although you will also have to pay a registration fee of approximately £40.00 depending on the value of the transaction (and possibly stamp duty as mentioned above).

Chris

gsm1

The price sounds reasonable but more important is the service.
You can pay a lot of money for crap service so price certainly isn't an indicator. Recommendation is your best bet.

scoobybitch

We are doing the same thing at the mo, got a few quotes average of about £260.00. As Chris said theres more than just changing the deeds - transfer of equity - Deeds of trust - amendment of Deeds. Then on top of the £260 about £220 for land register/mine check etc as richiewong said. Have the solicitors got 2 conveyers though - technically they should issue you with two solicitors - one to advise you on your best interests to the change and the other for your partner.

gsm1

Yes, but how many solicitors really look at the paperwork properly? IME many leave it to clerical staff to sort and just stick their signature to it.

chris singleton

Yes, that's what really happens

As above, costs are not good indicators as to good service, always go with recommendations. Check who friends and family have used is your best bet.

Chris

Gidney&Knowlesy

My friend owns his own firm & for a senior partner you pay a whopping £500 per hour....I now have to opt for the junior clerk at only £80 per hour.....

Funkii Munkii

Chris

The quote was from the Solicitor I used when buying the house he also did the legal work when my partner came onto the mortgage 3 years ago, so I am happy to use him, It was her indoors that said I should shop around LOL. I was happy to use him, just too bloody lazy to phone around.

You make some very valid points in general but obviously all circumstances and reasons for wanting to do this are different, I'm happy with my reasons for wanting to do it. No stamp duty only £80K left on the mortgage

Cheers all for the extra addvice everyone

chris singleton

If she's already on the mortgage then she will also be on the Title for the property You can't be party to a mortgage secured over a property unless you are registered proprietor of the property in question (unless you are standing as Guarantor which is a different kettle of fish entirely).

Even if you've only got £80K mortgage you might still pay Stamp Duty. This is calculated on half the mortgage debt which is being taken over by your partner (say £40K) plus any consideration being paid so if more than £20K you will be over the threshold for stamp duty and 1% will be payable. If the transfer is at nil consideration and you are gifting away half the equity then no duty (although transactions subject to a gift still have some implications).

No point shopping around if you're happy with the service. You might find someone to do it cheaper but the service will no doubt be pants

Hope this is of some help

Funkii Munkii

Re the stamp duty, apparently this only kicks in if you have over £120K remaining on the mortgage.
Thankfully

chris singleton

Not true I'm afraid as mentioned in my note above unless of course the transaction is at nil consideration i.e your partner is only assuming half the mortgage debt and is not paying you anything for the half share in the equity.