rip off legal fees

Kev09

rip off legal fees Hi

I had a re-mortgage fall through March last year for my property, basically I pulled the plug before the re-mortgage completed as I was told there were no redemption penalties then I found out there were loads. Today I received a court summons (posted through the door) from the solicitors for £339.01 for their costs in this failed remortgage! I never instructed anything they were instructed by the mortgage company and the thing never completed. Does anyone know if I am liable????

thanks

Doozergirl

If you started the process of remortgaging then the solicitor will have started work on the conveyancing just as they would if you were buying the house for the first time.

Apart from any time they'd spent on your case, they have disbursements like Local authority searches which they also have to pay for - these are usually 100 and can be as much as 250 depending on where you live.

In a remortgage the fees are often included in the arrangement (so you do pay them for the service) but as you pulled out you probably didn't get that far, therefore you still need to pay. Solicitors don't work for free.

It's exactly the same as if you'd pulled out of the purchase of a house midway - you are going to lose out financially.

Kev09

You have a point, they may be due something in fairness from myself, but surely £339.01 is a bit excessive, it was only 60k borrowed, the mortgage was agreed, but I pulled it way in advance and never signed any terms of business or instructed any solicitors myself, hadn't even heard of these guys?

Robert_Sterling_3

The solicitors fees may be the same for £80,000 mortgage as for a £160,000 mortgage.

The amount of work done is about the same.

poppysarah

Robert_Sterling wrote: »

The solicitors fees may be the same for £80,000 mortgage as for a £160,000 mortgage.

The amount of work done is about the same.

Nah theres all those extra digits to type in...

Doozergirl

You don't employ your own solicitor for a remortgage. The solicitor is acting essentially on behalf of the mortgage company only to ensure it's safe to lend on the property. The cost of that is always yours - when you buy a new house the solicitor you employ is also acting for your mortgage lender - you pay for it. The fact that they were employed by the mortgage lender is completely essential to the process.

If there is a bill for legal work then it will have been carried out. 339 is not necessarily over the top when the disbursements on a purchase usually come to 500 odd pounds - that's just stuff that the solicitor has to pay third parties for. They don't carry out the searches themselves, they have to pay for them and there is no refund. A conveyancing solicitor's time I think is worth about 75 an hour on average. They're not cheap and they don't offer discounts for wasted time.

Just pay it.

QTPie

Doozergirl wrote: »

If you started the process of remortgaging then the solicitor will have started work on the conveyancing just as they would if you were buying the house for the first time.

Apart from any time they'd spent on your case, they have disbursements like Local authority searches which they also have to pay for - these are usually 100 and can be as much as 250 depending on where you live.

In a remortgage the fees are often included in the arrangement (so you do pay them for the service) but as you pulled out you probably didn't get that far, therefore you still need to pay. Solicitors don't work for free.

It's exactly the same as if you'd pulled out of the purchase of a house midway - you are going to lose out financially.

Agreed... like us recently being gazundered: the buyers pulled out and we, the sellers, still have to pay our solicitor for their work done on the sale... (sort of adds insult to injury really! ).

Our property is still on the market: if it sells, the Solicitor said that the fees will be "absorbed" into the sale. If it doesn't sell, then we will just settled seperately for them.

My guess is that you signed SOMETHING, when you made the mortgage application, where you took acceptance for "the legal fees involved in remortgaging"... So, although you didn't specifically instruct that solicitor to undertake work for you, the mortgage lender appointed that solicitor on your behalf. You shouldhave a copy of the agreement somewhere - suggest you reread it.

That's life really - Solicitors have to make a living too...

QT

Richard_Webster

My guess is that you signed SOMETHING, when you made the mortgage application, where you took acceptance for "the legal fees involved in remortgaging"... So, although you didn't specifically instruct that solicitor to undertake work for you, the mortgage lender appointed that solicitor on your behalf. You shouldhave a copy of the agreement somewhere - suggest you reread it.

That's probably what happened. Before they sent you a summons they should have written asking for the money and that letter should have included an explanation of why the fees were due. What did it say?

You must also have wasted money on the new lender's application fees etc - moral - check terms of your existing mortgage about penalties etc.

sdooley

If you were advised advised (e.g. you went through a broker) that there would be no redemption penalties and then found out that there were penalties, then perhaps you should ask the broker to contribute to the legal fees, if you can get them to admit its their fault .

Kev09

Thanks for the advice, Im going to send for the copy of the mortgage application form and see if I have signed for them to instruct on my behalf, I have many BTL's and run my own business and its hard to keep track of what mortgage is what, I actually got phoned up by a broker I had used several times and said there is one that I think one of my mortgages that is nearing the end of Fixed term (but it was 5 years fixed not 3 years) and asked him to check he said no redemption penalties so I got him to push ahead, I just signed the forms and sent them back (lesson learned). Anyway my suspicion is they are milking this as they are hard up for cash, my job is to try and find this out?? thanks for the posts!!!!

Kev09

Found a bill dated Sept 08,
(This is a scottish remortgage)
says:
Outlays
Registers direct copy land cert £3.88
Online charge £12
Fee £275 (this is the part I want to dispute!)

VAT £48.13

Total £339.01

Does not mention no searches Doozer!!!!!