What are disbursements for buying or selling a house?
(Last Updated: 26/09/2023)
15/02/2023
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5 min read
Disbursements are payments made to third parties during the conveyancing process. They differ depending on whether you are buying or selling a house and there are additional disbursements when buying a leasehold.
You pay your solicitor for disbursements and they then pay the third party on your behalf. You don't always pay for the disbursement up front, which means you pay either before completion, or if it fails to complete, on your abortive invoice.
We explain below what are disbursements for buying or selling a house, when do you pay them during the conveyancing process and what are the costs for the disbursements.
Section 67 of the Solicitors Act 1974 states disbursements as follows: “A solicitor's bill of costs may include costs payable in discharge of a liability properly incurred by him on behalf of the party to be charged with the bill (including counsel's fees) notwithstanding that those costs have not been paid before the delivery of the bill to that party”.
Source: Solicitors Act 1974
What are disbursements when buying a house?
Disbursement | When do you pay? | Cost |
Online ID Fee This is a per person cost paid to verify your ID. All solicitors need to verify who their client is and there are many ways of doing this. Read more here - What ID does your solicitor need? | Normally on completion. | £8 to £50 per buyer and for anyone gifting money. |
Local Authority Search Local Authority Search is obtained from your local council. It contains information about planning applications and Building Control data on your property, rights of way, local controls, and restrictions. This is a mandatory search if you are getting a mortgage, as a mortgage lender won’t agree to lend without it, or (if applicable) without appropriate indemnity insurance. Read more here - What is a Local Authority Search? | After receipt of draft contracts - normally 2 weeks into the transaction | £60 to £300 |
Water and Drainage Search Water and Drainage search is obtained from your local water board. It contains information about where the water comes into the property, where your waste goes and if you’re connected to a main line sewer. This is mandatory for some more lenders, although in practice all solicitors will obtain this search if you are buying with a mortgage. Read more here - What is a Water and Drainage Search? | After receipt of draft contracts - normally 2 weeks into the transaction | £40 to £100 |
Environmental Search Environmental search is obtained from a search provider with information from various sources. It contains flood risk, ground stability, radon, contaminated land data and other environmental influencing factors. Read more here - What is an Environmental Search? | After receipt of draft contracts - normally 2 weeks into the transaction | £40 to £80 |
Chancel Check Chancel search identifies potential risks that your property has a liability to pay for the upkeep of the local church (there was a case in 2003 which cost a homeowner almost a £100,000 ). Read more here - What is a Chancel Search? | After receipt of draft contracts - normally 2 weeks into the transaction | £20 to £39 |
Land Registry Fee This is paid to the Land Registry, by your solicitor, to register your property in your name. | On completion | Based on your property's value. Check - Land Registry Fees |
Land Registry Priority (OS1) This disbursement is paid prior to exchange to protect the title from any changes being made. | On completion | £3 |
Land Registry Bankruptcy Search This disbursement is paid prior to exchange, to ensure the buyers haven't had a bankruptcy application made against them. | On completion | £2 per buyer |
Lawyer Check This disbursement is paid to validate the bank account details for the seller's solicitor to avoid fraud. Read more here - What is Lawyer Checker? | On completion | £15 |
Stamp Duty Land Tax This disbursement is the tax charged by the Government if you buy a property over a certain price in England. Find out how much you will pay here - SDLT Calculator | On completion | Normally a % of the purchase price, depending on the SDLT threshold |
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What are disbursements when selling a house?
Disbursement | When do you pay? | Cost |
Online ID Fee This is a per person cost paid to verify your ID. All solicitors need to verify who their client is and there are many ways of doing this. Read more here - What ID does your solicitor need? | Normally on completion. | £8 to £50 per buyer and for anyone gifting money. |
Estate Agents Fees This is paid to your estate agent out of the proceeds of your sale. | On completion | Normally a % of the sale price or an agreed fixed fee. |
Office Copy of The Register This disbursement is paid on instruction to be provided with the contract pack to the buyer. | On Instruction | £3 |
Title Plan This disbursement is paid on instruction to be provided with the contract pack to the buyer. | On Instruction | £3 |
This is an important article to read to understand why - How much does a solicitor charge to sell a house?
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Written by:
Andrew Boast
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Reviewed by:
Caragh Bailey
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
