What are disbursements?
Disbursements are the expenses which are incurred in relation to the transaction and do not form part of our legal fees. Disbursements are those expenses payable to other outside agencies, eg for Local Authority searches, stamp duty land tax and Land Registry searches. We will provide you with details of the anticipated disbursements at the outset of your transaction. Generally disbursements should cost all law firms the same.
Disbursements are monies expended by the Vendor s solicitor or the Purchaser s solicitor for and on behalf of their respective clients. For Vendor s, this is usually a nominal amount and includes the cost of registration of a Discharge of any Charge/Mortgage (i.e. $50.00), etc. The Purchasers, however, incur more than a nominal amount in disbursement expenses, which is additional to the Purchaser s solicitor s fee. Disbursement expenses are incurred in searching title to the property and obtaining copies of the various registers and plans. Numerous government agencies charge fees for access to the information contained in their files (i.e. Building Controls, Zoning, Flood Mapping, etc.). The utility companies similarly charge fees for having the utility meters read and the accounts transferred into the name of the Purchasers. Title insurance, if applicable, would be a disbursement, as would the cost of a new survey to the property, if one is required. On closing, the Purchasers will be
Disbursements are usually associated with some type of investment – most commonly stock held in a public company. When you invest money in a company, they use that money as capital, to further grow their business. If their business does indeed grow, and become profitable, they will reward their investors in the form if disbursements – a percentage of their profit earned applied to shareholder’s investments. A good percentage is five percent. In effect – You invest $100.00 in a company, and hold one share of common stock; They make a dividend payment of 5% per share, and you would get a disbursement of five Dollars. This return can be paid in the form of cash, or added to your share holdings (meaning you could let the money “ride” and then be invested at $105.
Disbursements are fees that has to be paid to relative authorities such as for Search of Certificate of Title, Rates Certiicates in order to ascertain the current rates on the property, company search if purchasing from a vendor company to verify if any Charges are registered over the company, photocopies, faxes, postage.
