Some frequently asked questions by conveyancing clients:
You will need to do a lot but the main thing is to accept that the closing date can be aspirational at times, and for various reasons often can get pushed back through no fault of anyone. This means you should be careful about making commitments to delivery companies, landlords or cousins in America until we are almost sure the closing will happen on the appointed day, and even then it happens that issues can crop up.
You will need to organise an engineer to look at the property, sort out the financials, insurance policies, and all the other practical things. We will help you with the rest.
Email works best for most people. How often depends on the manner in which the transaction proceeds. We aim to respond to all client queries on a same day basis, and achieve this in practically every case.
Impossible to say as it depends on when a person actually wants to hand over the house. A rule of thumb would be 6-8 weeks. However we have found times have increased over the past few years as there is more involved now that there was with LPT charges, water charges, septic tank registrations and so forth to be dealt with in the context of the transaction.
Strictly speaking we check the title and ensure you are getting what you expect. Practically we co-ordinate the transaction, liaise with the banks, vendors solicitor, auctioneers, engineers and all other stakeholders.
Email us with precise details of the property you are considering or use the online form and we will get back to you ASAP.
Of Course!
Sometimes. It depends on how far down the road we go. If the sale dies early before we have had to review title then we don’t charge. If the sale falls through at the point we have expended considerable effort we charge €300 to €500 + VAT. We don’t look for any deposits, and generally we work something out with the client on the next property.
It might be better to ask what can’t go wrong! The most common issues that arise on the purchase of a property would be:
- The engineer having a problem with the structure of the property
- Title issues (anything from an unknown person having a right of residence to lost deeds)
- Planning problems, particularly in “one off” houses in the countryside.
- The vendor just deciding not to sell
- Negative equity meaning the vendor does not have sufficient means to clear their old mortgage without negotiating with the bank.
- Management companies struck off (for apartments mainly)
It could change for a variety of reasons, but very rarely, if ever, does. If the questions is whether we engage in “bait and switch” style pricing, then the answer is absolutely not. We price according to what we view as fair and sustainable. Some firms quote remarkably low fees to begin, but the end result will be much higher. Few, if any, transactions go off without a hiccup and our fee allows us to worry about solving your problem rather than, well… our fees!
We don’t have a policy of adding on indiscriminate sums to your bill. Sometimes there may be a need for a courier or registered post, and we have included this already in the indicative quote. We use email wherever possible to keep costs down.
The professional fee includes our time for dealing with the purchase of your house from beginning to end. We will also do a will on a complimentary basis. The outlays get paid to various people.
Outlays are unavoidable expenses which are incurred in the course of buying or selling a property. We don’t get to keep the money! Taking for example a property worth approximately €250,000 the outlays might be as follows:
- Stamp Duty @1%, i.e. €2,500 on the above example property
- Land Registry Fees to register the title, €700
- Land Registry Fees to register a mortgage, €175
- Searches. €70
- Courier/Registered post for title deeds: €30
- Commissioners Fees, €30
It is hard to quantify standard as no conveyance is “standard” Once we know exactly what you are buying, if you are getting a mortgage, the value of what you are buying, or whether the property is a new build or a secondhand house we can give a precise quote. This is a fee very much set by the market, and while there are may solicitors will quote less (and plenty more) we try to price our service competitively, but without cutting corners. Please contact us for a detailed estimate and we will be more than happy to oblige.
If we have not addressed a query, please ask.