Costs

 

RESIDENTIAL CONVEYANCING

Our professional fees in a residential transaction would vary on a case-by-case basis as they will reflect the requirements of your sale or purchase. In order to give you a detailed quote and to discuss your specific conveyancing requirements please contact us on 020 8493 0917 or at info@josephmynah.com We can then give you a written quote tailored to your transaction based upon the information available at the time. Our residential conveyancing team have many years of experience ranging from Paralegals to Solicitors. Our Ms Phyllis Egole has the overall supervision of the Conveyancing team. For details on each of our Solicitors and their experience or qualifications, please go to our team section of our website.

Most property transactions involve the following stages:
• Pre Exchange Enquiries and Searches
• Exchange of Contracts
• Pre Completion
• Completion
• Registration and Post Completion matters

Pre Exchange Enquiries and Searches
If buying, this involves conducting the most appropriate searches, we will peruse the contract and supporting documents, raise enquiries and report to the client on the results.

If selling, we will require the client to complete the relevant forms such as; property information, fixtures and fittings and a leasehold information form (if the property is a leasehold). Once we are in receipt of the said forms, we will forward to the buyer’s solicitors who would now raise enquiries which we would assist the client in dealing with. Once both parties are satisfied on the enquiries and terms of the contract, there will be an agreement on the exchange of contract.

Exchange of Contract
At this stage the buyer will have to make available 10% deposit of the purchase price. On exchange of contract, the seller’s solicitors will receive the 10% deposit from the buyer’s solicitors.

Pre-completion
• The Transfer Deed and Mortgage Deed will be prepared for you to sign.
• We will carry out the final searches.
• We will prepare a Certificate of Title for your lender and ask them to transfer the mortgage money in time for completion.
• We will prepare the financial statement and ask you for the balance of the money required to complete including Stamp Duty Land Tax and legal fees.
• You will have to make arrangements to insure the structure of the property, at the date of completion, is to your satisfaction and that of the lender’s, if not dealt with at the exchange stage.
• You should make arrangements for the utility meters to be read.

Completion
Completion is when the balance of the purchase money is paid by the buyer’s solicitor to the seller’s solicitor. Furthermore, the title documents are sent to the buyer’s solicitor and the keys released to the buyer. We deal with the legal formalities on your behalf however, you should normally inspect the property before completing even if you are not moving in.

In any event, you will have to make arrangements to collect the keys from the sellers/agents.

On completion we deal with the repayment of your existing mortgage (if any) from the sale proceeds.

Registration and Post Completion Matters
When the transaction is completed, we will deal with the payment of any Stamp Duty Land Tax payable and will deal with the registration procedures. Once the registration at the Land Registry has been completed we will let you (and your mortgagees) have a copy of the title to the property.

Our Fees and Other Expenses
Our fees range from a minimum of £850 to £3500 depending on the complexity of the transaction(s), the urgency with which the matter is dealt and the total time that the matter takes.

The above fees are exclusive of VAT and Disbursements.

Disbursements
The disbursements on a purchase are standard and are as follows (not including VAT):

Local Authority and other usual searches estimated ……………….£350.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax (this depends on the purchase)………………TBC
Land Registry Priority Searches/Bankruptcy (as required)………….TBC
Land Registration Fee ((this depends on the purchase price)……….TBC
Bank Transfer Fees ………………………………………………………£25.00

We recommend that you contact us in order to give you a more specific figure on our fees and disbursements as these vary depending on the particular transaction.

IMMIGRATION

We provide competitive fees for immigration services and our fees range from £750 – £2,000 for each person without VAT payable. If there is any dependant to be included in the application process, we may charge you for this separately. Our costs are based on a combination of competitive market pricing as well as an approximate hourly rate based on the amount of work involved. On a complex matter which needs a tailored quote, fees would be calculated at a rate of £250 per hour for a qualified solicitor and £150 per hour for a paralegal dealing with your application.

Costs & Disbursements

Most applications will only incur Home Office fees and some application will also incur an NHS Surcharge. Both Home Office fees and NHS surcharges are not subject to VAT. Any appeals to the Immigration Tribunal, the Court or an administrative review would be subject to an application fee depending on the type of application, please contact us for further details.

However, if we instruct Counsel/a Barrister to represent you in any hearings, the Barrister’s fees may be subject to VAT. The costs of a Counsel/Barrister will of course depend on the level of experience of the Counsel/Barrister. Please contact our Ms Phyllis Egole who has the overall supervision of our Immigration department for further details on such costs.

The fees quoted above do not include interpreting services. If you require an interpreter then you can ask a friend or another community figure to come and help interpret at your own cost.

Timescales

The time scale from inception of the file to completion for each immigration application will mainly depend on the processing times by the UK Border Agency or Home Office. We aim to process your file and application and prepare it for submission within 1-6 weeks depending on the complexity of your case. Although the UK Border Agency and Home Office provide guidelines on the waiting times or processing times, there are many cases where an application takes much longer for them to process or make a decision. Therefore, it is difficult to give a precise timescale. However, we recommend that you refer to the UK Border Agency and Home Office websites for their estimated turnaround time.

EMPLOYMENT

OUR FEES

We charge for the provision of Employment legal services on an hourly basis. Our employment team supervised by our Ms Phyllis Egole will deal with your employment matters. The team will ensure that the work is done on a cost-efficient basis and clients will be regularly kept informed with the time and cost incurred on their matter.

Our fees are estimates, not capped or fixed and the circumstances may result in an estimate being higher or lower depending on circumstances that emerge during the course of the matter. We will always advise you if particular complications arise which may make it likely that we may exceed our estimated fee.
Our fees will be based on the hourly rate of £300.00 (excluding VAT) of the partner; our Ms Phyllis Egole who deals with most of our Employment Tribunal matters.

We estimate our overall legal cost in Employment Tribunal matters to be as follows:

Simple application: £12,000 to £15,000 based on hourly £300 excluding VAT @ 20%.

Medium complexity: £18,000 to £20,000 based on hourly rate of £300.00 excluding VAT @ 20%.

High complexity: £24,000 to £30,000 (based on hourly rate of £300.00) excluding VAT @ 20%.

We tailor our service to our client’s needs, from an “advice only” approach to a bespoke personal service. Our “advice only” approach anticipates that we are provided with all necessary documentation and information in order to advice on the matter. Our bespoke personal service is far more hands-on and can include, for example, having meetings at our offices on unsocial hours such as weekends and late in the evenings. Our level of involvement will significantly affect the level of fees we charge.

No Employment Tribunal Claims are exactly the same and our fees will reflect the claimant’s/clients particular circumstances. These variable requirements make it difficult to provide a meaningful estimate before we know the particular circumstances. A claim such as unfair dismissal brought by the claimant/client may seem simple however, in the process of the Tribunal claim other issues may arise making the claim more complicated than anticipated which may result to amendments being made or more hearings required than usual.

These explanations are not exhaustive as it would all depend on the particular circumstances of the matter. At all times the claimant/client is kept abreast as to the costs incurred in their matter.

It is also pertinent to note that where a claimant/client has other funding options available, such as cover under an insurance policy, we will endeavour to check with the claimant/client at their first appointment of the possibility of such insurance policy covering their legal costs for the Employment Tribunal claim. The hourly rate of £300 set out above will be applicable.

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

Taking initial instructions, reviewing documents and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change);
Entering into the mandatory pre-claim conciliation to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
Preparing the claim or response;
Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party;
Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process;
Preparing or considering a schedule of loss;
Preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing;
Exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing to a bundle of documents;
Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing on their content with witnesses;
Preparing the bundle of documents;
Reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list; and
Preparation and attendance at the Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel.

The stages set out above are an indication. If some of the stages above are not required, the fee will not be charged.

DISBURSEMENTS

Disbursements are costs related to the claimant’s/client’s matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on the client’s behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Counsel’s fee for Opinion which involves advice and merit of the client’s claim is estimated to be between £1500 and £2000 (and VAT @ 20%). Counsel’s fees are estimated to be between £1600 to £2000 per day (and VAT @ 20%) (depending on the experience of the Counsel) for attending a Tribunal Hearing (including preparation).

How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes from taking the client’s initial instructions to the final resolution of the matter depends largely on the stage at which the client’s case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, the case is likely to take about 12 months. If the claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, the case is likely to take 24 months. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give the claimant/client a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

PROBATE & ADMINISTRATIVE OF ESTATE:

We charge for our legal services on an hourly basis as it is difficult to provide an estimated cost of dealing with matter in this area. This depends on a number of issues which may arise such as the complexity and value of the estate etc. Our Probate team supervised by our Ms Phyllis Egole will be responsible for dealing with your matter. The team will ensure that the work is done on a cost-efficient basis and clients will be regularly kept informed with the time and cost incurred on their matter.

Our fees are estimates, not capped or fixed and the circumstances may result in an estimate being higher or lower depending on circumstances that emerge during the course of the matter. We will always advise you if particular complications arise which may make it likely that we may exceed our estimated fee.

Our fees will be based on the hourly rate of £300.00 to £350 (excluding VAT) depending on the complexity of the case. A partner in our firm or £200 to £250 per hour for a Legal assistant. Our Ms Phyllis Egole deals with most of our probate matters and her hourly rate is £300 to £350.

More complex estates may require more hours and therefore are subject to greater costs. These may range from:

£12,000 ex VAT to £25,000 ex VAT for straight and medium complex cases.
£25,000 ex VAT + for complex cases.

Our services will include being fully responsible for obtaining the Grant of probate and dealing with the Legal, Tax (excluding VAT), Property and Estate Administration affairs on your behalf.

Other additional Costs in estate administration

There may be a number of additional costs which are commonly referred to as disbursements. The probate hourly rate does not include disbursements in its calculations. VAT is charged on most disbursements, but not on court fees.

Common disbursements would be:

Probate Court fees – £155, with a cost of 50p for any additional copies of the grant;
£5 per personal representative/£7 per proving executor on swearing of the oath (we can advise what this means);
Bankruptcy searches (against deceased and beneficiaries) – £2 per individual
Notices in the London Gazette and local newspaper to where the deceased died to protect the executors/personal representatives – we can advise on this, and the costs associated.

Estimated time to deal with the matter

Our estimate is on the assumption that the deceased’s death has been registered with the Registrar, the death certificate is obtained and funeral is arranged. If help is needed with this we can advise, and where appropriate arrange, but there may be additional costs associated with this.

The various stages and time frames would be in the region of the following:-

Registration of death and obtaining valuations of the assets of the deceased, together with completion of the relevant Inheritance Tax return and drafting of specific oaths for the personal representative/executor to swear – 3 to 5 months;
Payment of Inheritance Tax (if applicable) and return of receipt of payment of the Inheritance Tax from HMRC – 2 months;
Applying for and obtaining the Grant of Probate – 2 to 3 weeks;
Upon receipt of the Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration, encashing the assets – 1 to 6 months (if for example a house needed to be sold); and
Once all monies are received, distribution of the assets with full estate accounts provided – 2 to 6 weeks.

 

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