From instant quote to completion, step by step

Start with an instant quote, no account needed

Choose what you are doing: buying, selling, both at once, remortgaging, a transfer of equity (adding or removing an owner) or a commercial purchase or sale. Then answer a few questions about the property, such as the price, the postcode, the tenure (freehold or leasehold) and anything that changes the work, like a mortgage. It takes a few minutes, with no account or password. We ask for your name and email address so we can save your quote and send it to you, and your phone number so our team, and the law firm if you go ahead, can call you about it.

Some work, such as a lease extension or a commercial lease, cannot be priced from a form. You describe what you need and our team prepares a tailored quote, usually within one working day. It comes with its own private link, and from then on the journey is the same.

What your quote shows

Your quote sets out each cost on its own line:

• the legal fee, plus any admin fees, such as for a leasehold, and the fee for acting for your mortgage lender
• disbursements: third-party costs the law firm pays to others for you, such as searches and HM Land Registry fees. They are not legal fees, and some, such as searches, are estimates, marked so on your quote and charged at what they actually cost
• VAT, shown against each item
• an estimate of property tax: Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, or Land Transaction Tax in Wales

Anything not yet known, such as a landlord's leasehold fees, is marked to be confirmed. Each quote shows the date it is valid until. It is an estimate based on your answers, and the law firm confirms its fees in writing before you instruct it. Every law firm on our panel, other than a firm you choose instead, which confirms its own fees before you instruct it, works to your quote: it charges no more than its total unless the facts it was based on change, you ask for more work or a fee set by law changes, with anything marked as an estimate charged at the amount actually paid. Selling and buying gives you two quotes, one per property, and our guide on how to read a conveyancing quote explains every line.

No completion, no fee

Every law firm on our panel, other than a firm you choose instead (your quote page says whether it does too), has agreed with Keyfolio to work on a no completion, no fee basis: if your transaction does not complete, whatever the reason, you pay no legal fee.

• You pay only for disbursements the firm has already paid out for you, such as searches and identity checks. It can keep these from any money you paid on account, and it refunds the rest.
• If you are selling and your buyer pulls out, the firm carries on with your next buyer on the same quote.
• Only if that second buyer pulls out too can the firm charge for the work it has done, and it tells you in writing before it does.

Your quote page says so too, and the firm confirms it in its terms of engagement before you instruct it.

Your private quote page

Your quote lives on a private page with its own link, which we also email to you. Keep the link private: anyone who has it can see your quote. From the page you can:

• download a PDF of each quote
• choose to have your device remember the quote
• message us with questions and read our replies
• ask to go ahead when you are ready

Lost the link? Find your quote with the email address and phone number you gave with it, and its reference if you have it. If your details change, we can issue an updated quote, and earlier versions stay listed so you can compare.

Asking to go ahead

When you are ready, choose your law firm on your quote page and press the button to go ahead. We then email you a link to confirm your email address: press it, then Confirm and go ahead on the page it opens. This is a request, not a commitment.

We then introduce you to the law firm you chose. Every firm on our panel is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers or CILEx Regulation, or, in Northern Ireland, by the Law Society of Northern Ireland. At the moment the law firms on our panel act for property in England and Wales, so for property in Northern Ireland we tell you whether a firm can act for you before we pass your details to anyone. The firms you can choose from are those that can act for you. Each must:

• handle your type of transaction
• cover the part of the UK where the property is
• be on your mortgage lender's or finance provider's panel, the list of firms it allows to act for it
• have capacity to take your matter on now

The firm has a set time to accept. If it cannot act, we offer your matter to another suitable firm; if none fits, our team looks at it personally and talks you through the options.

Meeting your law firm

Once a firm accepts, we tell you its name, its regulator and how to contact it, together with exactly what it pays Keyfolio for introducing you, if anything.

The firm then contacts you directly and sends its terms of engagement, often called a client care letter. These confirm its fees, what is included, who will handle your matter and how to complain.

Before work starts, the firm checks your identity and where your money comes from, as anti-money laundering law requires. From then on, it carries out all of the legal work and advises you directly.

After the introduction

From then on, your law firm keeps you informed through to completion, and you contact it directly about anything to do with your matter. Your private page keeps your quote, the firm's name and contact details, what it pays us and a fraud warning. Neither Keyfolio nor your law firm will ever change bank details by email, phone or message. Before you send money, call your law firm on a number you already trust to check the account details.

What it costs to use Keyfolio

You do not pay Keyfolio anything directly. There is no charge from us for your quote or the introduction.

Law firms on our panel pay us for introductions and panel membership out of the fees they charge, so it is not an extra item on your bill. Your quote explains this before you go ahead, and before you instruct a firm we tell you its name and what it pays us for your matter. Under our agreements, a firm's referral fee is paid only when your matter completes, not when you are referred.

If a partner such as an estate agent introduced you, we may pay them a fee too, out of what we receive; your quote says so. Keyfolio never holds money for your transaction. Our referral disclosure has the details.

Your choices

You stay in control throughout:

• A quote is free and you are under no obligation to go ahead.
• You can take your time while your quote is valid.
• You are free to choose any conveyancer, including one you find yourself.
• You commit only when you sign the law firm's terms of engagement, which explain any right to cancel.
• We may send up to three short follow-ups about your quote, and one request for a review when your matter ends. Once you have your quote, its page lets you stop them, and each email has a link to stop them all.

Still have questions? See our frequently asked questions or contact us.