Solicitor quote, is this fair? advice needed

Cavan28

I am in the process of moving out of my jointly owned home (i brought with a friend) and moving in with my GF. My friend and co-owner is still going to be living in the house but i am going to rent out my room.

I have found a lodger (another friend) who is happy to rent the room and to commit for 12 months. I just called a solicitor (the same one who did my conveyancing) and asked him to quote on preparing a tennancy contract for both of us to sign to cover the 12 month period.

He quoted me £200 + vat!! I wasnt expecting anywhere near that. Afterall i will be drafting it and giving it to him as a framework he just needs to 'make it' legal.

Is he trying to pull my pants down over this price or is it the norm??

All comments, advice and help welcome!

liam8282

You could try calling a few solicitors and asking there fees?

Doesn't seem all that bad considering a solicitor will probably have a basic charge out rate of probably £100 plus per hour.

As with most things you would probably get it cheaper if you shopped around though.

nimbo

Cavan28 wrote: »

I am in the process of moving out of my jointly owned home (i brought with a friend) and moving in with my GF. My friend and co-owner is still going to be living in the house but i am going to rent out my room.

I have found a lodger (another friend) who is happy to rent the room and to commit for 12 months. I just called a solicitor (the same one who did my conveyancing) and asked him to quote on preparing a tennancy contract for both of us to sign to cover the 12 month period.

He quoted me £200 + vat!! I wasnt expecting anywhere near that. Afterall i will be drafting it and giving it to him as a framework he just needs to 'make it' legal.

Is he trying to pull my pants down over this price or is it the norm??

All comments, advice and help welcome!

they sell them in WH smiths for £2.99 i was under the inpression that would do the trick... which if you are renting to a mate surely that would be enough???

jamief

A solicitor will charge anywhere from £100 - £200 per hour for something like this. And it may generally take upto an hour to do.

Cavan28

when i say a mate maybe thats a bit too strong, aquaintence would be a better term perhaps.

I basically want something substantial on paper in case he goes wandering an two months time leaving me with all the bills and the mortgage.

Richard_Webster

If he becomes a tenant of the room he gets exclusive possession of it and you can't enter without his consent unless the terms of entry are written in the agreement.

Does he get a right to use the kitchen and bathroom? All that needs looking at. Chances are he won't be a tenant but a licensee so a different kind of agreement would be needed.....

Cavan28

Richard - thanks for the reply. Here is the deal .... He would have use of the whole house except the co-owners bedroom. So yes he would have use of the kitchen, bathroom, front / dining room etc. I intend on charging him a set figure each month and that will cover his 'rent' and all bills except food. Does this deem him a licensee then rather than a tenant? if so whats the difference?

I appreciate its a bit of a strange situation and differs from the norm. I just want to make sure i get everything sorted before i let him move in.

Richard_Webster

He's basically a lodger or a licensee in legal terms. Frankly most people seem to just do it and don't have anything in writing. That's not ideal, but what must happen in lots of cases - so if a solicitor has to do an agreement it maybe a bit of a one-off.

Also, the main reason for having a written agreement is so there's
a) something clear in what each of you can and can't do and
b) something you can enforce if it all goes pear shaped.

If it does go pear shaped it will be disproportionately expensive to argue about the terms of the agreement in court. So you have to decide whether it is worth it to go to all the trouble of having a detailed agreement in the first place. Probably better to do so than not, but it isn't an all purpose panacea that will provide instant solution to any problems that might arise.

poppysarah

A basic lodger agreement with a deposit would do?