Are you thinking about buying or selling a house or apartment?
Are you wondering about the costs involved?
I hope to put your mind at ease, and answer your questions in this piece.
Ready?
Buying a House or Apartment
the costs and outlays will fall into the following categories:
- the legal fee for your solicitor
- Property Registration Authority fees
- Stamp duty to the Revenue Commissioners
- Miscellaneous outlays.
Legal Fee
The professional legal fee for your solicitor will generally range from €950 plus vat to €3,000 plus vat, depending on the property and the purchase price.
The vast majority of solicitors will do a perfectly satisfactory job in ensuring that you get good title to the property and you are properly registered as the owner.
However, consider two further things in choosing your solicitor:
- how responsive your solicitor is to your questions and communications. There is nothing worse than a feeling of being kept in the dark and being ignored during the process. So, you will probably want to ensure that your solicitor responds promptly to your questions and concerns, and is readily accessible and reachable either by phone or email
- how easy you find it, on a personal level, to work and engage with your solicitor. You don’t want to feel ill at ease or uncomfortable in your interactions with him/her.
Property Registration Authority Fees
You will incur a fee in having your ownership of the house registered in your name. The fee will depend on the purchase price of the house.
The scale to apply is as follows:
- Up to €50,000 €400
- €50,001 – €200,000 €600
- €200,001 – 400,000 €700
- Greater than €400,000 €800
If you are borrowing to finance your purchase then the mortgage will have to be registered as a charge on the property. The fee for this registration is €175.
Stamp Duty to Revenue Commissioners
Stamp duty payable is 1% of the purchase price.
Miscellaneous Outlays
Other outlay which will arise include
- commissioner for oaths fees (approximately 10 to 30 euros)
- legal searches (approx. 100-300 euros)
- architect/engineer structural survey report (approx. 300 euros)
- house valuation for the lender (100-300 euros).
Selling Your House
Selling will be a little cheaper and the main cost will be the solicitor’s professional fee, which should be close to the fee above for purchasing.
You may also incur a fee to your lending institution to take up the title deeds, and a fee to the local authority for a letter confirming whether the roads and services are in charge, or not.
And if your house/apartment is in an estate with an owners management company looking after common areas you will incur a cost to the managing agent for certain documents and replies to standard pre contract questions.
Conclusion
The costs, fees, and outlays above will cover the vast majority of purchases and sales of residential property. However, from time to time you may encounter an exceptional, one off situation which may lead to a higher cost.
Shop around, in any event, and…good luck.