What a conveyancing quote is actually made of
Two firms can quote very different totals for identical work, and the cheaper headline is not reliably the cheaper completion. The difference is usually in what each one folded into the figure.
The firm’s fee, and everything else
A conveyancing quote has two halves. The legal fee is what the firm charges for its own work: investigating the title, raising and answering enquiries, reporting to you and to the lender, and getting to completion. This is the part that varies between firms and the part a quote can sensibly be compared on.
Disbursements are money the firm pays out on your behalf and passes through. Land Registry fees, local authority searches, drainage and environmental searches, bankruptcy and priority searches at the Land Registry, and the cost of transferring funds. These are set by third parties. A firm is not making a margin on them, and two quotes showing different disbursements are usually describing different search packs rather than different pricing.
The questions that make a quote comparable
Are the two halves shown separately
A single combined number cannot be compared with anything. Ask for the legal fee and the disbursements as separate lines.
What would change it
A leasehold title, a gifted deposit, a new build, a help-to-buy repayment or an unregistered title each add work. Ask which of those carry a supplement, and how much, before you instruct.
Is it fixed, and fixed against what
Panel firms are designed to give a fixed-fee quote before instruction. Ask what the fee is fixed against, and what happens to it if the transaction falls through.
What happens if it does not complete
Some firms offer an arrangement capping what you pay if a chain collapses. Others charge for work done. Neither is wrong, and knowing which you have is the point.
What this site does and does not cost
Searching here carries no charge, and being listed here carries none for you either. Legal fees are agreed directly with the firm you instruct. Separately from anything a firm charges, a lender may apply its own administration charges on a mortgage, and those sit outside the legal fee entirely.
Written as general information for England and Wales, not as advice on an individual matter. Where a lender’s own requirement applies, it sits in Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook, which lenders amend without notice.