Many of our clients re-mortgage their house to get the best deal possible on fixed interest rates. Others decide the wish to take some the equity that is locked up in their house. Irrespective of your reason for re-mortgaging your house, we are happy to help.
The re-mortgage process involves some aspects of a house purchase and other aspects of a house sale.
Our fee for the re-mortgage work we carry out for clients starts at £400 (exclusive of VAT). That means the cost to you is £480 (including VAT).
This fee covers all the legal work we will do for you.
As with any sale or purchase or property, there are additional costs we collect and pay to third parties on your behalf which we explain below.
The costs of re-mortgaging a house
There are a range of additional costs that a re-mortgage of a house attracts and these can vary depending on the location of the property and the extent of the reports required. Here is an example of the costs involved when you re-mortgage a house:
| Cost of re-mortgaging a house | |
| Legal Fee | £400.00 |
| VAT on the Fee | £80.00 |
| Multi Search (Property Enquiry Certificate, Legal Report and Coal Report)* | £180.00 |
| Registration Dues of Discharge | £80.00 |
| Registration Dues of Standard Security | £80.00 |
| Cost of Advance Notice | £20.00 |
| Estimated Total | £840.00 |
How do these additional costs vary?
* This is a combined cost of a local authority search, title search and Coal Report instructed through independent Searchers. This provides a number of the reports we need to send to the purchaser’s solicitors as part of the conveyancing process. If we need to order additional search or plans reports, these will attract additional charges.
What’s involved in the re-mortgage of a house?
To allow your new Lender to release your new loan to you, we need to remove the existing charge (Standard Security) over your house in favour of your current Lender and replace it with a new charge (Standard Security) over your new house in favour of your new Lender. We take the following steps when you re-mortgage your house:
- Taking your instructions, answering questions and providing advice
- Dealing with anti-money laundering checks in compliance with regulations
- Obtaining and reviewing the title to your house
- Ordering search reports and checking their contents
- Preparing the charge (Standard Security) over your house in favour of your new Lender
- Outlining the purpose and extend of the Standard Security to you and having you sign it
- Preparing a discharge of the existing charge (Standard Security) over your house
- Reporting on title to your new Lender and requisitioning loan funds.
- Redeeming your mortgage with your existing Lender
- Submitting the new Standard Security for registration to the Registers of Scotland
- Submitting the Discharge for registration in the Registers of Scotland
- Finalising the accounts, confirming completion and sending re-mortgage proceeds to you.
What circumstances might cause the fee to increase?
There are sometimes circumstances which will cause an increase in the fee. Whilst we expect to do all of the necessary work we’ve specified above for the fixed fee we will confirm to you, sometimes there are circumstances where this simply is not possible. When we need to carry out additional work to successfully complete your re-mortgage, we will advise you of this as soon as we become aware of it. Examples of the types of issues we can face when carrying out a re-mortgage transaction are as follows:
- Issues of title we need to address and resolve
- Other standard securities held over the property needing to be discharged
- Transfer of title from joint parties to sole parties or vice versa where the loan instructions dictate this
- Issues relating to unauthorised alterations carried out to your house
- Problems relating to boundaries
- Issues in relation to access or rights of discharge of, say, a septic tank
- Dealing with adverse search entries
These are just some of the possible issues that may cause an increase of the level of fee charged. This list is not exhaustive.
When we discover a problem, we will alert you to it, advise on the proposed resolution and the possible additional time and cost involved in that resolution. Any additional work will be carried out on a time based calculation and depend on the level of staff member involved in its resolution. Our hourly costs for carrying out such work are as follows:
| Position | Fee (exclusive of VAT) | VAT | Cost (including VAT) |
| Partner | £295 | £59 | £354 |
| Associate | £255 | £51 | £306 |
| Solicitor | £230 | £46 | £276 |
| Trainee/Paralegal | £200 | £40 | £240 |
Please contact us for a detailed cost estimate if you are considering re-mortgaging your house.