Legal Fees

Solicitors' Bills can be divided into two parts:-

A. Professional Fees This is the fee payable to the Solicitor for the service rendered and are set by law. They work out at approximately 1% plus £100.00. This is liable to V.A.T. at 21%. However, in the current competitive climate, they can be open to negotiation.

B. Outlays These are items of expense incurred by the Solicitor on your behalf. Generally, if the property involves a dwelling house, there is a Mortgage payable to a Lending Institution. There is usually a fee for obtaining the Title Deeds from the Lending Institution of approximately £50.00. The Lending Institution will also charge for releasing the Mortgage from the title of the property when the sale is complete and this also costs in the region of £50.00. Obtaining and up to date map and Folio and up to date planning documents will cost in the region of £50.00. Therefore, the outlays will generally not exceed £150.00 to £200.00.

The fees referred above to do not cover a Clearance Certificate for Capital Gains Tax, which is required in all sales in excess of £300,00 and in all sales by non-residents. This is a separate item and is either obtained by the seller's Accountant or by the Solicitor, for which a separate fee is payable.

Purchaser

The costs incurred by a purchaser can be divided in two:-

A. Professional Fees This is prescribed by law but is generally 1% plus £100 (if no Mortgage is involved) or 1½% if the purchase is tied with a Mortgage. This is liable to V.A.T. at 21%.

B. Outlays The most important consideration in any purchase of a property is whether or not Stamp Duty applies. The Revenue Commissioners have in the past four years gone from a single regime of Stamp Duty to four separate regimes, the most recent being on or after the 15th June, 2000. The regime applicable to a particular transaction will especially dominate the outlays incurred by any purchaser in transaction as stamp duty is often the single largest item of outlay in a purchase. The categories are as follows:-

1. First Time Buyers of a property which will be used for residential purposes as the purchasers' residence.

Who is a First Time Buyer ? A first time buyer is a person, (or where there is more than one buyer each of such persons):

who has not on any previous occasion, either individually or jointly, purchased or built on his/her own behalf a house or apartment; in Ireland or abroad. where the property purchased is occupied by the purchaser, or a person on his behalf, as his/her only or principal place of residence; and where no rent is derived from the property for five years after completion of the current purchase.