solicitors fees £1428.23!!!!!!!!!!!!

TTMCMschine

ginandtonic1988 wrote: »

online id check £19.55 each not sure what the average is

I just had this done, and it was roughly the same price.

poppysarah

Recent quote I got was 850 ish and he broke it down into how much was their costs, and how much was for each bit of the other stuff -
with small charge for each extra piece of work they may have to do.

lil'H

Where did you find the solicitor?

I'm in the process of buying., been quoted £670 incluing all fees and searches, worried now that it could end up more!

poppysarah

lil'H wrote: »

Where did you find the solicitor?

I'm in the process of buying., been quoted £670 incluing all fees and searches, worried now that it could end up more!

If the quote breaks it all down and gives you a figure for extra work (ours quoted 30 quid plus vat for each piece) and you're aware of any extra work then it should be just that.

downs523

countrywide solicitors i used

brummybloke

i went to 4, each with a different price, i went into local estate agents who normally have fixed price deals with a local conveyancer and was told £499 plus vat & land register fees (£150).

the most expensive was £1465!!!

i ended up going to someone who sounded pleasant on the phone, i went in to see what they would do, they told me £680 plus land registry, i told them i can get it for £499 plus vat and they said they would do it for £480 plus vat.

haggling may seem tight or cheeky but at the moment with less houses being sold you may find the smaller places will budge on their prices, if they dont, you go else where.

Wickedkitten

We had ours done in 2006 for £450 inc, and if our house purchase fell through they would do our next one for free.

BlackButterfly737

That price seems very high. I have a charge of £750 for purchase and £750 for sale from my London based solicitor.

little_sarah_2

downs523 wrote: »

conveyance £660 Does this include VAT? If so it is a reasonable "professional fee"
lenders fees £172.50 This would appear to be part of countrywide's professional fees as well!
chancel repair liability £5.25 This seems a little low, the Chancel search is £17.25 and an indemnity policy is about £50 at the moment.
block indemnity £19.55 I have no idea what this is, however it might be dressed up as a contribution towards countrywide's own insurance, in which case it should be included in their fees!
land transaction return stamp duty £97.75 These forms are now submitted electronically and as one poster noted takes about 5 minutes to complete. We get charged about £7 to submit each one and some firms pass this onto clients. The Law Society recommends that no more than £50 be charged for completing the SDLT form however a lot of firms include this in their professional fees as it is something that has to be done when dealing with a purchase!
electronic by chaps £46 each Banks often charge around £15 to the solicitors but it is common for these to be charged to the clients at £30+VAT per transfer.
local authority £150 This is an average price for the search
national online property search hub £20.70 This is paid if the local search is done online. A lot of smallr firms don't believe that the benefit is worth the extra charge and submit the search by post to the local authority (for which no additional charge is payable)
hm land registry charges £150 Correct
maintain and archive docs £28.75 Countrywide have to keep your file, therefore they should incorporate it into their conveyancing fees! Charging you extra is just cheeky.
online id check £19.55 each Seems a bit high, but in transactions where the client is not met in person is now necessary.
bacs 9.78 What did they send by BACS? Also, BACS transfers are generally free so again this money will be going into the solicitors pocket.

Overall countrywide appear to be getting over 850 + VAT for their professional fees. You could pay at least £250 less than that with a local high street firm.

i havent read paperwork as im away from home but why are they charging chaps transfer fees and bacs?!? strange

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

The solicitor's fee is only £660.

Those other costs are not charged by the solicitor - they're charged by third parties, with your solicitor passing the bill on to you. The BACS/CHAPS fee is charged by the bank.

It's like having your car serviced ...... solicitors fees = labour and other fees = parts.

The other fees are usually described as disbursements on the bill.

Unfortunately, Debt Free Chick you are not quite right in this case, Countrywide are being rather cheeky and charging a "base conveyancing cost" and then a load of add ons.

Working in a High St conveyancing practice where we charge an "all in professional fee" (apart from CHAPS payments) this frustrates me! See my notes above.

Disclaimer:- This is from my professional experience working in a conveyancing practice - I am not an expert in the charging rules which affect Countrywide as they may be members of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers rather than the Law Society and the rules do differ.

Voyager2002

ginandtonic1988 wrote: »

land transaction return stamp duty £97.75 :eek: it takes me 5 mins max to fill this form out!
.

It took me more like half an hour.

Back in 2004, when I bought, this extra form had just been introduced and so the job of filling it in had not been included in the lump sum that my solicitor quoted for conveyancing. They wanted to charge an extra 25 pounds (plus VAT), but I chose to save the money and fill it in myself. So a fee of almost a hundred pounds is absolutely over the top. Did you agree to this? Did they give you the option of filling it in yourself?