Conveyancing in Northern Ireland: what to expect

Familiar, with local differences

In Northern Ireland, your legal work is carried out by a solicitor. As in England, you agree a price, your solicitor checks the title (the legal ownership) and the searches, and the sale becomes legally binding when contracts are exchanged. Completion follows, when the money is paid and you get the keys.

The differences are in the detail: who keeps the land registers, which searches are used, the standard documents solicitors work with and how your home is taxed each year. A freehold purchase, where you own the property outright, often takes 10 to 16 weeks from instruction to completion.

Stamp Duty Land Tax applies

Northern Ireland has no separate tax on buying property. It uses Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), at the same rates as England:

• 0% on the first £125,000.
• 2% from £125,001 to £250,000.
• 5% from £250,001 to £925,000.
• 10% from £925,001 to £1.5 million.
• 12% above £1.5 million.

First-time buyers pay nothing on the first £300,000 and 5% from £300,001 to £500,000, with no relief if the price is over £500,000. Buyers of additional homes pay 5 percentage points more on every band, and non-UK residents pay a further 2%. The return and payment are due within 14 days of completion.

For example, a £200,000 home costs £1,500 at the normal rates and nothing for a first-time buyer. Use our stamp duty calculator for your own figures.

Land and Property Services

In Northern Ireland, land is registered with Land and Property Services (LPS), part of the Department of Finance, rather than HM Land Registry. LPS keeps three registers:

• The Land Registry, a map-based register in which each property has its own folio, a numbered record of its owner and any mortgages. Title registered there is backed by the government.
• The Registry of Deeds, which records deeds for land that is not yet in the Land Registry.
• The Statutory Charges Register, which shows certain government restrictions on a property, such as preservation orders.

After completion, your solicitor applies to LPS to register you as the owner and to record your mortgage. You can read more about the registers on nidirect.

Unregistered land and the Registry of Deeds

Some land in Northern Ireland has never been registered in the Land Registry. For unregistered land, ownership is shown by the deeds themselves, and summaries of them, called memorials, are lodged in the Registry of Deeds. The Registry records that a deed exists and when it was lodged, but it does not confirm that the deed is valid.

When unregistered land is sold, the title must now be registered in the Land Registry kept by LPS, which is called compulsory first registration. Your solicitor examines the old deeds, which can go back many years, and makes the application. This adds work, so tell us if you know the property is unregistered.

Property certificates and searches

Instead of the local searches used in England, Northern Ireland uses property certificates. A regional property certificate brings together the planning history, whether the road and sewers are publicly maintained and whether a public water main serves the home. A council property certificate covers building regulations, environmental health and postal numbering.

Your solicitor also searches the LPS registers and other records for anything affecting the property or the seller. In Northern Ireland, the seller's solicitor commonly applies for the certificates and searches once a sale is agreed, and the buyer's solicitor then checks them.

The Home Charter Scheme

Solicitors in Northern Ireland who act on the sale or purchase of a home must follow the Law Society of Northern Ireland's Home Charter Scheme. It is a code of practice with standard forms, setting out how solicitors should handle home sales and purchases.

Under the scheme, your solicitor should use the Law Society's standard documents where practicable, such as its General Conditions of Sale, the standard terms of the contract. They should also give you terms of business with an estimate of costs and outlay (third-party costs), reply promptly when you ask for information and keep you informed as the matter progresses.

Rates instead of council tax

Northern Ireland does not have council tax. Instead, households pay domestic rates, a property tax based on the home's assessed value, billed each year by Land and Property Services.

When you buy or move into a home, tell LPS straight away to avoid a backdated bill. Include rates in your budget alongside your mortgage and utilities; our moving costs page explains the other costs of moving.

How your Northern Ireland quote works

Your quote shows the solicitor's fee, VAT and identity checks, lists the property certificates, searches and LPS registration fee, which your solicitor confirms, and estimates the SDLT.

Registration fees, and any extra work for unregistered land, are confirmed by the firm in writing, with its fee, before you instruct it. Get your quote to see the costs for your move.