PARLIAMENT is set to approve a string of higher fees for Land Registry services, although officials have been quick to play down fears this will punch a hole in people’s pockets.
The House Interior Affairs Committee is currently drafting a bill that would revise fees for a range of services, from land transfers to mere requests for information. Reports yesterday said the government has urged parliament to expedite work on the bill, after the Land Registry Department pleaded it was incurring major losses with the present rates.
The department claims that many of its fees were fixed 25 years ago, while others go further back. Consequently, the new rates will simply reduce the cost margin but will not altogether eliminate the deficit.
Moreover, according to the department’s director, the rises would have a negligible impact on people’s wallets, since the fees represent only a fraction of expenses involved in purchases or transfers of immovable property. Also, where fees are calculated as a percentage of property value, 1980 prices will apply.
Some examples: for transfers from parents to siblings, or between spouses, the charge will be 0.5 per cent for property worth up to £50,000; 0.6 per cent from £100,000 to £300,000; 0.8 per cent from £300,000 to £500,000; and 1 per cent for property worth over £500,000.
However, for transfers between first-degree and third-degree relatives (but not between spouses or parent to sibling) the above rates are doubled. To illustrate, a grandfather handing a £50,000 land plot to his granddaughter will pay a fee 1 percent of its value.
Splitting property into allotments will set you back £20, unless it concerns a land plot or a house, which will cost £50 per allotment.
Other revised fees are: £10 for issuance of property registration certificate and schematics; for mortgages, 1 per cent for values up to £100,000 and 1.5 per cent for values over £100,000; £20 per application for information about another person’s immovable property; £10 for issuance of title deeds; £5 for a mortgage certificate; minimum £2 charge for photocopies of schematics and maps; for copies of other documents (up to 5 pages) a £5 charge, plus 50 cents for every page over and above that.
