How much does conveyancing cost?
The short answer
Legal fees for buying a freehold home typically run £900 to £1,800, plus £350 to £700 in disbursements - searches, Land Registry and transfer fees. Selling costs a little less; leasehold adds £150 to £500; and stamp duty, where it applies, sits on top of everything. Always compare itemised, fixed-fee quotes - the cheap headline usually hides the disbursements.
Buying, legal fee
£900 - £1,800
freehold, typical home
Disbursements
£350 - £700
passed through at cost
Leasehold extra
+£150 - £500
more legal work, genuinely
The two halves of every quote
Mixing these up is how buyers get misled, so keep them separate the way an honest quote does:
The legal fee pays the firm for its work: contracts, enquiries, reporting to you, exchange, completion, registration. Most firms band it by property price.
Disbursements are third-party costs passed through at face value: local authority and environmental searches, Land Registry registration (price-banded), bank transfer fees, ID checks. No firm controls these - which is why a quote much cheaper than its rivals has usually just left them out of the headline.
| Property price | Typical legal fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £250,000 | £850 - £1,300 |
| £250,000 - £500,000 | £950 - £1,600 |
| £500,000 - £1m | £1,100 - £1,850 |
| Over £1m | £1,400 - £2,600 |
Buying and selling together usually prices a little under the two jobs separately - one firm, one chain, one point of control. Model your own combination in the conveyancing fees calculator.
Buying or selling?
Verified conveyancers quote for your exact situation - itemised and fixed-fee, so you can compare like for like. Free, no obligation.
Compare conveyancing quotesWhat "no move, no fee" really means
Many firms offer it: if the purchase collapses, the legal fee is waived and you pay only disbursements already spent. Given roughly a quarter of transactions fall through, it's genuine value - but read the boundary conditions. Some versions apply once per instruction, exclude searches, or carry a slightly higher base fee as the premium. Reasonable trade-offs, as long as you knew.
Common questions
When do I pay?
Searches and some disbursements are paid up front shortly after instruction; the legal fee settles at completion out of the money moving anyway. A firm demanding its whole fee before doing anything is unusual.
Is the cheapest quote a false economy?
Not automatically - but pair the price with responsiveness. Conveyancing collapses on silence more than on cost, and our guide to why conveyancing takes so long shows where a slow firm costs you far more than the £150 you saved.
Do I pay stamp duty through the conveyancer?
Yes - they calculate it, collect it before completion and file the return. It's tax, not a fee, and it depends on your price and circumstances; any quote 'including stamp duty' is just showing you your own money.
Why does leasehold genuinely cost more?
Lease review, management pack chasing (the freeholder's agent charges for it - another disbursement), notices after completion. Flats are leasehold work almost by definition, so budget for the supplement from the start.
Sources and further reading