Legal Extras on Buying

When buying a property there are various payments which have to be paid on your behalf in addition to the Solicitors fee:

Value Added Tax

VAT is a tax on the purchase of goods and services and is currently 17.5%. This will be charged on Solicitors fees and will be included in some other expenditure.

stamp duty Land Tax

stamp duty, which is a government tax on the purchase price of a property is as follows:

  • nil on properties of £175,000 or under
  • 1% on properties from £175,001 to £250,000
  • 3% on properties from £250,001 to £500,000
  • 4% on properties over £500,001

Land Registers Fees

registry of deeds - under this system of registration your Solicitor prepares a synopsis of both your purchase document and your mortgage document and lodges those copies into the registry with a registration fee paid to the government on your behalf of £13.00 per document. About 60% of all transactions in Northern Ireland are under this system and all of Northern Ireland is now bound under compulsory First Regulation Rules. This means that a double registration process must take place. Once the title is returned from the registry of deeds your solicitor will immediately prepare an application and have the title lodged with the land registry. This costs an additional £85 which is payable to the land registry. Your title then becomes a registered title.

Land registry - under this system of registration fees are charged on a purchase in accordance with the following scale (mortgages are usually an extra £70.00 on top):

Value Fee

20,000 or less £50.00

20,001 to 80,000 £100.00

80,001 to 100,000 £150.00

100,001 to 150,000 £200.00

150,000 to 200,000 £300.00

200,001 to 250,000 £350.00

250,001 or more £450.00

Various searches

Bankruptcy and Court Judgement searches against the buyer for the lender will cost between £45.00 to £80.00 depending on whether there is one or two buyers.

searches in the registry of deeds after registration on completion are necessary to bring searches up to date usually cost between £15.00 and £30.00.

Legal content supplied by Wilson Nesbitt Solicitors.