Peter Otto and Co Solicitors, Fee Structure
Fee Structure
Immigration services and fees.
- Normal applications – £1,500 + VAT
- Appeal cases – £1,500 + VAT
- Judicial Review to lodge application – £2,500 + VAT
- Renewal of application – £1,500 + VAT
- Naturalisation – £500 + VAT
- Registration of Children – £500 + VAT
- Entry clearance application – £1,000 + VAT
- Student Extension of leave – £500 + VAT
Types of Applications we cover:
The day-to-day immigration work is done by Mr. Kunle Hassan Oladele an experienced immigration caseworker and supervised by Mr. Peter Otto the principal with over 20 years of immigration law and practice.
1) Initial Application as a Parent of a Child Who Has Lived in The UK Continuously for Seven Years
2) Family Members of British Citizens And Settled Persons including Fiancée and Spouse UK, Proposed Civil Partner and Unmarried, Same-Sex Partner visa applications.
3) Indefinite leave to Remain as a victim of Domestic Violence or Bereaved Partner
4) Parent of a British Child or Children of a parent with limited leave to remain.
5) EU Law applications.
6) long Residency applications.
7) British Citizenship applications.
8) UK Visitor visas
Hourly rate: £200.00 per hour plus VAT, however, most applications are quoted on a fixed fee basis.
On average, the above type of work takes between 8–10 hours to complete. This means that on average costs are between £1,000 and £1,500 plus VAT. All figures include VAT unless specifically stated.
The exact number of hours depends on the circumstances of each case. Relevant factors are:
• The amount of supporting evidence involved.
• Whether an interpreter is required.
• Whether there are other dependents.
If you can provide sufficient evidence at our first meeting and clearly meet the applicable Immigration Rules, the cost is likely to be at the lower end of this range or slightly lower between £1,000 – £2,200.
What services are included:
The work will involve:
• discussing your circumstances in detail and confirming whether this is the most appropriate application for you to make and what other options may be available to you.
• giving you advice about the requirements of the Immigration Rules and whether you meet the criteria.
• If you do not fulfil certain criteria, whether this can be overcome and how, which on average takes 2 hours.
• considering the supporting evidence, you have provided, which we anticipate will take 2 to 3 hours.
• where necessary, helping you obtain further evidence (such as medical records and bank statements), including taking statements from any witnesses.
• preparing your application and submitting it on your behalf, which we anticipate will take 2 hours.
• Attendance at a Home Office interview: if the Home Office asks you to attend an interview, we will give you clear advice (and discuss the possibility of us attending with you) at the appropriate time. This could be between 2 and 3 hours of work.
• giving you advice about the outcome of the application and any further steps you need to take.
*The number of hours depends on the number of documents, whether they need to be translated, whether anything is missing and how long it will take to obtain the missing documents Disbursements (not included in costs set out above):
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees.
• Interpreters’ fees will be advised. This kind of application will normally require between 3–4 hours with an interpreter, depending on the complexity of your case.
• Independent expert reports, e.g., medical experts. These are not required in many cases: we will let you know as soon as possible if we consider an expert report necessary.
• If there is an interview, and we do attend with you, there will be additional disbursements in respect of our mileage/travel expenses.
The costs of our fees quoted here do not include:
• Any disbursements Home Office fees for making the application and the Immigration Health Surcharge if applicable, Tribunal and Court fees, barristers’ fees, expert report fees, interpreter/translation costs, our travel costs (if we have to travel outside our office on your behalf, for example to a Tribunal hearing or to the Home Office) and courier costs. You will pay these directly as part of the application process.
• Where the Home Office refuses your application, advice, and assistance relating to any appeal.
VAT
Value added tax (VAT) must be added to our fees and all disbursements. This applies if your usual place of residence is the UK, including if you had leave to remain in the UK but overstayed. If you are not resident in the UK, or you entered the country without permission or as an asylum seeker and do not yet have leave to remain, you are not normally liable to pay VAT.
Some disbursements attract VAT and others do not. Whether a disbursement attracts VAT depends on whether the organisation you have to pay is charging VAT, and we will inform you if that is the case. The rate of VAT is subject to change by the government, and the figure quoted is that which is currently applicable at 20%.
How long will my application take?
We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application.
We will normally be able to submit this type of application within 4 weeks of you instructing us, but we will let you know at the earliest opportunity if it is likely to take longer than this.
Please note, the anticipated number of hours and fees are an estimate based on the facts above. All applications are likely to vary and, of course, we can give you a more accurate estimate once we have further information about your specific case.
Fee Structure
Conveyancing services and fees
Commercial Leases
- New Lease – Between £2,000 to £2,500 + VAT
- Assignment of Lease – £1,200 + VAT
- Other preparation of Deeds – £500 + VAT
Residential conveyance
- Transactions below £500,000 – £1,700 + VAT
- Transactions £500,000 to £700,000 – £2,000 + VAT
- Transactions £800,000 to £900,000 – £3,000 + VAT
- Transactions £1 million and above – 1% of sale or purchase price
- Lease extension – £1,200 + VAT
Our Conveyancing services and fees
Residential and commercial conveyance instructions are handled by Mr. Asif Malik, a Solicitor who specialises only in Conveyancing, with over 30 years’ experience and Mr. Peter Otto with 20 years’ experience.
Additional charges may be applicable for work required for work required over and above the standard legal procedures in a conveyancing transaction, and we have outlined below some instances where it may be necessary for us to charge an additional fee. Please note that this is a non-exhaustive list.
If we are aware of any additional work that will be required from the outset, we will include this in our quote. However, sometimes this only becomes apparent during the transaction. If and when an additional charge may apply, we will provide you with further information and seek your consent before carrying out any additional work.
| Additional Work | Our charge excluding VAT |
|---|---|
| Administration fee for arranging a telegraphic transfer to redeem your mortgage | £35.00 + VAT |
| Bankruptcy or land charge entry | £100.00 + VAT |
| If the property is a Buy to let | £250.00 + VAT |
| Acting for a company client | £350.00 + VAT |
| Discharge of 2nd or subsequent charges | £200.00 + VAT |
| Dual representation (separate solicitors acting for lender) | £450.00 + VAT |
| Gifted deposit | £250.00 + VAT |
| Carrying out ID check | £50.00 per Person + VAT |
| Carrying out company ID check | £50.00 per Person + VAT |
| Key Undertaking | £100.00 + VAT |
| Carrying out a lawyer check | £30.00 + VAT |
| Leasehold Fee - Purchase (in compliance with Restriction) Leasehold Fee - Sale | £150.00 + VAT |
| Restriction/Entry on Title | £100.00 + VAT |
| SDLT Fee | £100.00 + VAT |
| Statutory Declaration | £200.00 + VAT |
| Anti-Money Laundering Search Fee | £25.00 + VAT |
| Bank Account Verification Fee | £20.00 + VAT |
| SDLT Telegraphic Transfer {STT) Fee | £30.00 + VAT |
| Completion Telegraphic Transfer (CTT) Fee | £30.00 + VAT |
| Local Authority Search Fee | Residential - £97.00 Commercial - £169.00 |
| (May vary according to different local authorities). | |
| Drainage Search Fee | £30.00 - £60.00 (may vary depending on particular local authority) |
| Environmental Search Fee | £50.00 - £60.00 |
Debt Recovery services and fees
All debt recovery cases are handled by Mr. Peter Otto the principal of the firm who is a qualified solicitor and a banker with over 20 years’ experience.
If you have an unpaid invoice and would like to take action against your debtor, the following costs apply where your claim is in relation to the unpaid invoice which is not disputed, and enforcement action is not needed.
If the other party disputes your claim at any point, then we will discuss any further work required and provide you with revised advice about costs, if necessary, which could be on a fixed fee basis (for example if a one-off letter is required) or an hourly rate if more extensive work is needed.
An Indication of typical hourly rates involved in the case of a defended debt are as follows.
Peter Otto hourly rate – £250.00 plus VAT per hour
Paralegal hourly rate – £150.00 plus VAT per hour
Peter Otto qualified as a Solicitor in March 2003, his initial experience being in Civil Litigation, and he has extensive experience in disputed debt collection work. His experience gives the practice the unique ability to use his Dispute Resolution skills to reduce possible disputes that may arise.
Peter Otto is assisted by Paralegals who have legal academic qualifications and work under Mr. Otto’s supervision and receive training within the firm.
In relation to undefended debts, before court proceedings are issued, a letter before action under the debt protocol needs to be sent to the debtor. This letter sets out the facts of the unpaid invoice and attaches documentation in support, and encloses a reply form and financial statement to be completed by the debtor.
If the debtor does not respond within the time permitted for response, which is normally 30 days from the date of the letter, then we can move onto the next stage, which is the issue of a claim in court by claim form.
Once the claim form is issued, a court fee becomes payable and if there is no response or defence filed, then Judgment can be entered against the creditor. A separate quote will be provided for enforcement action and if a defence is filed to the claim, whereby the debt then becomes disputed.
For business-to-business debt that is undisputed, the approximate legal fees and disbursements will be as follows.
The likely fees in connection with preparing an initial letter before action under the debt protocol and preparing a claim form will be as follows.
Debt Up to £10,000
The likely fees in connection with preparation of the debt protocol letter is in the range of £150 -£250 plus VAT where the claim is up to £10,000, while the likely range of fees in connection with a preparation of the claim form up to £10,000 is likely to be in the range of £250-£300 plus VAT.
Debt between £10,000 and £50,000
Where the debt is between £10,000 and £50,000, the likely legal fees in connection with preparation of the debt protocol letter is in the range of £250 to £500 plus VAT, while the likely range of fees in connection with preparation of the claim form for a claim between £10,000-£50,000 is likely to be in the range of £300-£500 plus VAT.
In addition to your likely fees, there are also disbursements payable, which are monies paid to the court fee service for issuing the claim.
The factors that can change within the range will include the complexity of the debt claimed and the amount of documentation in support of the debt.
This is the likely range of fees where the debt is not complex and no further detailed particulars of the claim need to be provided in support of the debt claim. In cases of debts of greater complexity, we will provide you with further details upon request.
The approximate court fees per range of value of your claim are as follows, where not using the money claim online system.
If money claim online is used, then the Court fees will be slightly lower and details of this can be provided upon application.
| Value of Claim | Court Fee £ |
|---|---|
| Up to £300 | 35.00 |
| £300.01 to £500 | 50.00 |
| £500.01 to £1000 | 70.00 |
| £1000.01 to £1500 | 80.00 |
| £1500.01 to £3000 | 115.00 |
| £3000.01 to £5000 | 205.00 |
| £5000.01 to 10,000 | 455.00 |
| £10000.01 to £200,000 | 5% of value of claim |
| More than £200,000 | 10,000.00 |
Anyone wishing to proceed with the claim should note that:
1. The VAT element of our fee cannot be reclaimed from your debtor.
2. Interest in compensation may take the debt into a higher banding with a higher cost.
3. The costs quoted above are not for matters where enforcement action such as the bailiff is needed to collect your debt.
Our fee includes taking your instructions and reviewing your documentation, sending a letter before action and where appropriate undertaking appropriate searches, receiving a payment in sending this on to you with the debt is not paid drafting and issuing a claim, when no acknowledgement of service or defence is received applying to the court to enter Judgment in default.
Please note that enforcement action is not included within the range of fee set out above for which a separate quote will be given and if payment is not received there will be extra costs with advice on next steps and likely costs.
Matters usually take between 1 and 2 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, depending on whether or not it is necessary to issue a claim.
If a claim is required to be issued, then the likely timescale from issuing a claim to Judgment is 6 to 8 weeks. Payment from the other side may follow entry of Judgment. If enforcement action is required, the matter will take longer to resolve.
