When Do You Pay Solicitor Fees? A Clear Timeline

Almost every solicitor and licensed conveyancer works to the same two-stage payment structure, even though the exact figures vary between firms. Understanding this pattern removes much of the anxiety around when money actually leaves your account, because you know in advance which costs fall due early and which are held back until completion day.

The first stage is called payment on account. This is a small deposit, typically between £200 and £500, that you pay when you formally instruct your solicitor. It covers the administrative costs of opening your file: identity verification, anti-money-laundering checks, and sometimes the earliest search fees. Firms ask for this upfront because they need funds in place before they can start work, and because the checks required by law cannot begin until they hold your money. Client money is held in a separate, regulated client account under the Solicitors Regulation Authority's accounts rules, so there is a clear paper trail from the moment you pay your deposit to the day funds are released on completion.

The second stage is the balance, due on completion day. This covers the remainder of your conveyancing fees, any outstanding disbursements, and, for buyers, stamp duty and Land Registry fees. For a typical purchase this balance runs from £1,000 to £2,500 depending on property value and the complexity of the transaction.

• Payment on account: £200 to £500, paid at instruction, covers ID checks and initial admin.
• Balance on completion: £1,000 to £2,500+, covers remaining legal fees, disbursements, stamp duty and Land Registry fees.
• Common mistake: assuming the upfront deposit is the only cost and being caught out by the much larger completion day bill.

If you are buying a property, your solicitor's fees are paid in stages that mirror the wider conveyancing process, rather than as one lump sum. Knowing what is due and when helps you plan your cash flow across what can be a two- to four-month transaction.

Most buyers follow a predictable four-stage payment pattern from instruction through to completion day, though timing can shift if your chain is complex or a survey throws up issues that need renegotiating.

1. Instruction (week 1): You pay £200 to £500 on account when you sign your solicitor's terms of engagement. This unlocks identity checks and lets your file open officially.
2. Searches ordered (weeks 2 to 4): Local authority, environmental and water searches are ordered once you have paid, and search fees are often invoiced separately from your legal fee, typically £250 to £400 depending on the local authority and property type.
3. Pre-exchange: Your mortgage offer is confirmed and your deposit, usually 5% to 10% of the purchase price, is transferred to your solicitor ready for exchange of contracts.
4. Completion day: Your solicitor settles their own invoice from the funds they are holding, which include your mortgage advance and any remaining cash contribution. This payment covers the balance of legal fees, stamp duty land tax, and Land Registry fees, all in one transaction.

The single biggest mistake buyers make is underestimating the completion day total. Because legal fees, stamp duty and Land Registry fees all land at once, the figure due on completion can be several thousand pounds higher than anything you have paid so far, even though you saw it itemised in your quote weeks earlier.

Selling a property involves a simpler payment pattern than buying, mainly because sellers do not have stamp duty or Land Registry fees to cover. Even so, understanding exactly when your solicitor takes their money, and from where, matters because it affects how much lands in your bank account after completion.

1. Instruction (week 1): Many firms ask sellers for the same £200 to £500 payment on account as buyers, though some solicitors waive this for straightforward sales and simply add it to the final bill.
2. During the process: Sellers typically face no further payment requests. Your solicitor handles title checks, responds to buyer enquiries, and prepares the contract pack without needing more money from you.
3. Completion day: Once the buyer's funds arrive, your solicitor deducts everything owed before sending you the balance. This includes your outstanding mortgage redemption, their own legal fees, any disbursements, and, where applicable, the estate agent's commission if it is being paid through the transaction.

Your completion statement sets all of this out clearly: sale price, minus mortgage redemption, minus solicitor fees, minus disbursements, minus estate agent fees, equals your net proceeds. Check this statement carefully against your original quote before exchange and completion, because any discrepancy is far easier to query before the money moves than after.

Some conveyancing firms will let you defer all payment until completion day, with no deposit required at instruction. This arrangement suits buyers and sellers who want to protect their cash flow during a transaction that can take months and where several other costs, removals, surveys, mortgage fees, are already competing for the same funds.

The main advantage is straightforward: nothing leaves your account until the deal actually completes, which reduces the risk of paying out and then having the transaction collapse anyway. The trade-off is that firms offering completion-only payment sometimes restrict which cases they will take on this basis, and it can narrow your choice of solicitor, particularly for complex leasehold or new build purchases where more work happens before exchange.

This is closely related to no sale no fee conveyancing, where you pay nothing at all if your purchase or sale falls through before completion. No-sale-no-fee deals typically build a small risk premium into the headline legal fee to cover the firm's exposure on failed transactions, so it is worth comparing the total cost, not just the payment timing, before choosing this route.

Generally, no. Solicitor fees are a separate legal cost from your mortgage and lenders do not allow you to borrow against them or add them to your loan amount. Your solicitor's bill has to be settled from your own funds on completion day, alongside your deposit and any other cash contribution.

This surprises many first-time buyers because mortgage arrangement fees work differently. Many lenders let you add the arrangement fee, sometimes £500 to £2,000, to the loan itself rather than paying it upfront, which spreads the cost over your mortgage term with interest. Solicitor fees do not get the same treatment because they are paid to a separate firm, not the lender, and mortgage funds are released specifically to complete the property purchase rather than to cover legal costs.

• Mortgage arrangement fee: can often be added to the loan, increasing your monthly payments slightly.
• Solicitor fees: must be paid separately from your own funds, not from mortgage borrowing.
• Cash flow tip: if funds are tight, ask about staged payment terms or a completion-only arrangement rather than assuming you can defer costs into the mortgage.

Property transactions collapse more often than most buyers expect, sometimes because of a broken chain, a failed survey, or a change of mind. What happens to money you have already paid your solicitor depends on exactly what stage the transaction reached and what your original fee agreement said.

Your upfront payment on account is usually non-refundable, because it covers work already carried out: identity checks, anti-money-laundering compliance, and opening your file. Similarly, any disbursements your solicitor has already paid out on your behalf, such as search fees, are gone regardless of whether the sale completes, since that money has left the firm's account and gone to a third party like the local authority.

Legal fees are where your fee agreement matters most. Under a standard fee arrangement, you will typically be billed for work completed up to the point the transaction fell through, calculated either as a proportion of the full fee or on an hourly basis. Under a no-sale-no-fee arrangement, you pay nothing for legal work if the deal does not complete, though disbursements already spent are sometimes still chargeable depending on the firm's terms.

• Buyer pulls out: you lose your payment on account and any disbursements spent; legal fees depend on your agreement.
• Seller pulls out: the buyer's solicitor may claim costs from the buyer, and the seller's own solicitor bills for work done.
• Chain collapses: everyone in the chain faces the same partial billing, regardless of who caused the collapse.

If you are unsure who is liable for costs when a sale collapses, our guide to who pays fees when a sale falls through breaks down each scenario in more detail.

Disbursements are the third-party costs your solicitor pays out on your behalf, and unlike your legal fee, they are not all due at the same point in the transaction. Some are paid upfront so your solicitor can order them straight away, while others sit on your bill until completion day. Understanding which is which stops you being surprised by an invoice partway through your purchase.

Search fees are usually the first disbursement you will meet, often requested upfront or invoiced separately in the early weeks so your solicitor can instruct the local authority, environmental and water searches without delay. Land Registry fees, by contrast, are calculated on your property's purchase price and are not due until completion, because the registration itself only happens once you legally own the property. Stamp duty land tax is also settled on completion day, paid directly to HMRC through your solicitor within 14 days of the transaction.

• Search fees: £250-£400, paid upfront or invoiced early to allow searches to be ordered.
• Land Registry fee: £20-£910 depending on price band, paid on completion.
• Bank transfer fee: £20-£50, paid on completion, covers the electronic transfer of your funds.
• Stamp duty land tax: varies by price and buyer status, paid on completion and settled with HMRC within 14 days.

For a full breakdown of every cost involved, see our guide to conveyancing disbursements, which explains what each fee actually pays for.