Mortgage – Pricing

We work with you and keep in touch throughout the process – from initial instructions through to reporting to you once the mortgage of the property has been registered and notifying your mortgage lender that registration has occurred.

Click below to view, print or download a PDF of the stages of a mortgage and the services provided by Carter Bells:

What does our service not include?

Whilst we will assist with the legal aspects of the mortgage of your property, there are some matters that either we cannot assist you with or there would be an additional charge for these services. We therefore set out below some of those matters:-

• Tax advice - we do not advise on any tax consequences of your mortgage. If you require this advice, you should seek the advice of a qualified accountant before you proceed to completion of the mortgage.
• Unregistered land - if the property is not registered at the Land Registry, we will have to check all the title deeds produced by you to check you are the legal owner of the property and check any covenants imposed within all of these deeds. We would provide this service but an additional charge would apply.
• A defect in title arises - this could be for example if there is a restriction placed on your ability to mortgage the property or if covenants affecting the property have been breached or if the lease of the property is defective in some way (if your property is leasehold). We would deal with necessary work to ensure the mortgage can proceed but an additional charge may be made in those circumstances.
• Equity release mortgage work - this is a specialist type of mortgage. This type of mortgage product is different to other mortgage products and there are particular requirements. You should confirm directly with us what our charge would be for your particular equity release mortgage.
• Further mortgage of your property if your initial mortgage falls through - we charge for each mortgage that you instruct us to deal with. If your initial mortgage unfortunately falls through, we would make a charge for the work carried out at that time on that mortgage. We would then charge for any new mortgage based on our charge for dealing with the mortgage of the property from afresh because your new mortgage lender may impose different conditions on their mortgage offer.
• Dealing with unforeseen matters - if for example it transpires that the property is registered in just your name but the mortgage is in the names of you and another party then a transfer will be required. An additional charge would apply in these circumstances.
• Bridging loans - this type of mortgage generally requires the mortgage to be registered against an existing property you own but also over a property you are buying. You should confirm directly with us what our charges would be in those circumstances as an additional charge and further disbursements would apply.
• Lease extension work - our service will not include checking, amendment or completion of any deed extending the lease term. If this work is required, an additional charge would apply in these circumstances.

How long will my mortgage take?

This is one of the most common questions we are asked as property solicitors. The short answer is that it depends on the circumstances of your mortgage. If the title to your property is not defective and the search results do not reveal any major issues and you deal with any enquiries promptly, we generally expect completion on your mortgage to occur about 5-7 weeks after your initial instructions to us. However, we set out below a number of factors that can slow down the progress of your mortgage based on our experience but this by no means is the full set of factors that have arisen during a mortgage. The factors are:-

• any survey results of your mortgage lender- the survey may reveal defects the lender requires are rectified before the lender will proceed with the mortgage.
• search results- we sometimes experience difficulties with a local authority getting search results in the first place at busy times of year or if there have been cut backs at the local authority in staffing. There may then be an issue with the search results themselves such as in respect of an environmental search if the search reveals the property is built on contaminated land or for example the local authority search reveals an outstanding enforcement notice against the property.
• delays in obtaining information from any landlord and/or management company-these parties generally have no incentive in how quickly your mortgage proceeds. Some organisations may be short staffed or receive high volumes of demands for information which can mean it takes several weeks for information to be produced. This will generally only be an issue with leasehold properties.

Legal fees and expenses

Click below to view, print or download our guide to mortgage legal fees and third party expenses (disbursements).