Costs & Compliance
Directors and Professional Staff
Directors:-
Simon B Coupe – Managing Director & Senior Solicitor, Head of Family Department.
Raymond Cowburn, Director, Chartered Legal Executive.
Solicitors:-
Simon Coupe, Senior Solicitor.
Barry Scott, Senior Solicitor.
Lucy Shackleton, Solicitor
Executives:-
Raymond Cowburn – Chartered Legal Executive.
Joyce Schofield, Conveyancing Executive.
Consultants:-
Colin McGlue – Consultant & Senior Solicitor, Corporate & Commercial Department.
Practice Manager:-
Irene Hallas – Practice Manager.
Quality Control & Complaints
We always aim to offer a professional service, including client care, which is of the highest quality. Please let us know if we fall short of your expectations and we will immediately take corrective action.
In the unlikely event that this does not satisfy you, you should contact our practice manager Irene Hallas who will ensure that your complaint is dealt with in accordance with our firm’s complaints procedure. Irene’s contact details are:
Address: Coupe Bradbury,
48 Poulton Street,
Kirkham,
Lancashire,
PR4 2AH,
Telephone: 01772 683000
E-mail: Irene.hallas@coupe-bradbury.com
Irene will immediately refer your complaint to a senior lawyer at Coupe Bradbury who has had no previous involvement with your matter. He or she (the Complaints Officer) will be the person who will be responding to your complaint.
What will happen next?
1. The Complaints Officer will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out (if you have not already done so). You can expect to receive our letter within five working days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. We will do this within three days working days of receiving your complaint.
3. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:
Your complaint will be investigated fully by the Complaints Officer.
The Complaints Officer will ask the member of the practice who acted for you to make detailed comment and provide a response to your complaint.
The Complaints Officer will then examine the reply received and all the relevant information in your file.
The Complaints Officer will then contact to you. It may be necessary for the Complaints Officer to speak with you to clarify issues. Once all the issues are fully identified and clarified the Officer will make detailed comments on your complaint. This commentary may include suggestions for resolving the complaint. Hopefully this will enable the complaint to be resolved to your full satisfaction.
We aim to respond formally to you within 28 days. However if the complaint is of a more complex nature, we may require more time but we will let you know when you will receive the full response. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) allows up to 8 weeks to investigate.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• No more than one year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint;
and
• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint.
For more information contact the Legal Ombudsman.
Contact details:
Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call 0300 555 0333 between 10am to 4pm.
Relay UK: 18001 0300 555 0333
Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO BOX 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Conveyancing Fees
Our fees are calculated based upon a number of factors and for an accurate and tailored estimate we recommend you use our Conveyancing Quote calculator.
Our charges are made up of:
a) our fees for the legal work;
b) ‘disbursements’ – costs related to your matter that are payable to other people, such as search fees;
c) for property purchases, Stamp Duty Land Tax (see below).
Below is an indication of how we calculate our fees and detail of other associated costs which may be incurred.
| PROPERTY VALUE | SALE | PURCHASE |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £250,000 | £700 | £750 |
| £250,001 - £500,000 | £800 - £1050 | £850 - £1050 |
| £500,001 - £1,000,000 | £1100 - £1500 | £1150 - £1550 |
Additional Fees
| SALE | FEE |
|---|---|
| Arrangement of Telegraphic Transfer fee (Forward funds to Lender, other side etc) | £35 |
| AML Administration Fee (per person) | £15 |
| Only if leasehold flat / management company / unregistered | |
| Deducing leasehold title & replying to enquiries | £100 |
| Unregistered Title | £200 |
| Prepare a submission for SDLT | £75 |
| PURCHASE | FEE |
|---|---|
| Arrangement of Telegraphic Transfer fee (Forward funds to Vendor's solicitors) | £35 |
| AML Administration Fee (per person) | £15 |
| If leasehold flat / management company | £200 |
| Unregistered Title/New Build | £200 |
| Deducing leasehold title & replying to enquiries | £100 |
| Prepare a submission for SDLT | £75 |
| Help to Buy | £150 |
All fees are subject to VAT – the current rate is 20%
The examples of our fees assume that no unusual or unforeseen circumstances arise as the transaction progresses. We will need to charge additional fees for the following:
- Help to buy (including Help to Buy ISA’s)
- Gifted deposits
- Complex leasehold arrangements
- Declarations of trust
- Shared ownership
- Staircasing
• Purchasing/remortgaging in the name of a company
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as search fees. This list is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply depending on the specifics of your transaction.
| SALE DISBURSEMENTS | FEE |
|---|---|
| Official copy entries & filed plan from HMLR | £8.40 |
| Estate agents Fees | As Agreed |
| PURCHASE DISBURSEMENTS | FEE | PROPERTY VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| Search Fees (local, water & drainage, enviro & chancel ins) | £320 | |
| Bankruptcy Search | £3.20 | |
| HMLR Priority search | £4.20 | |
| HMLR Registration (scale 1 via portal - not for first reg) | £20 | £0 - £80,000 |
| £40 | £80,001 - £100,000 | |
| £100 | £100,001 - £200,000 | |
| £150 | £200,001 - £500,000 | |
| £295 | £500,001 - £1,000,000 | |
| £500 | £1,000,001 + | |
| Notice of Transfer fee payable to Management Company | (as per man co.) |
| SDLT | % RATE | PROPERTY VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) - as per HMRC calculator* | 0% | £0 - £125,000 |
| *note if second property 3% sur charge, first time buyer relief, company rates etc. | 2% | £125,001 - £250,000 |
| 5% | £250,001 - £925,000 | |
| 10% | £925,001 - £1,500,000 |
Disbursements are inclusive of VAT at the current rate of 20% where applicable.
Stamp Duty or Land Tax (on purchase)
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website.
The total cost for a typical transaction is x. We recommend you use our Conveyancing Quote calculator for a more accurate estimate of your fees.
Our Private Client Department is headed by James Patterson who has been a solicitor since 2009 and a full member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners since 2014
Latest Testimonial
We would like to thank the Corporate & Commercial Department for completing our company sale and dealing with all of the complexities that arose. It was reassuring to have such a professional team representing us.Mr & Mrs R
