Solicitors fees - how much ?

Kopite73

Hi,
1st time poster but have been lurking on here for awhile now.

My wife and I have FINALLY found a buyer for our house. The sale has been agreed (£100k) and there's no chain involved on either sides - the buyer is a FTB and we are already living somewhere else (the property concerned is empty in other words).

Both parties are using solicitors provided to us by the estate agent (apparently we can't use the same solicitor but have been referred to one each). My question is this - seeing as there's no chain involved and (from our side of things) all we're doing is selling the property, how much would you expect a solicitor to charge us ?
The letter we've received today (haven't read it myself yet, only going by what my wife has told me over the phone) seems to suggest that we'll be billed £1000 just by the solicitors. Is this about right ???

Richard_Webster

Just for selling a freehold house for £100K and maybe paying off a mortgage, that's far too high - £500-£600 for the legal side would be more like it.

The figure doesn't include dealing with a purchase as well does it?

scw1

We are in the process of selling our house now for 98k and its costing 398 plus vat.

Kopite73

We're definitely just selling - will take a look at the letter myself when I get home.
Assuming that the figure of £1000 is correct - what can I do ? Is it too late to shop around for a different solicitor ? We haven't signed anything yet to say we want the EA's solicitor to deal on our behalf (just verbally agreed with the EA when we accepted the buyer's offer).

Richard_Webster

Is it too late to shop around for a different solicitor ?

Shouldn't be. Phone a few in your area and ask them what it will cost. Ask for as much info as you can, any extras, etc. Ask what the extras are. ( I get people saying things like: "I've had other quotes and they have mentioned a fee for the legal work in paying off the mortgage..." or "Do you charge professional indemnity fee?" Answer I give to both is "No"!)

Form a view as to whether you think you can trust the person you are speaking to advise you properly. That can be more important than pure price.

superfran_uk

That seems high. As long as you haven't signed anything, there is no harm in phoning around for a few quotes and then going back to your original solicitor and saying 'match it or we walk', then going with the lowest.

Kopite73

Here's the list of charges...
In connection with your sale - £715.00
In connection with redemption of your mortgage - £95.00
Carrying out money laundering check - £10.00
Bank transfer - £35.00
VAT - £128.25
Land registry documentation - £12.00
Land charge search - £1.00
Total - £996.25

One thing I have noticed is that the solicitors are quoting the sale price as £134k (the price we originally had it on the market at nearly 2 yrs ago... if only we were still selling it at this price !) instead of the agreed sale price of £100.00 - would this change the solicitors bill at all ?

babaganoosh

[QUOTE

One thing I have noticed is that the solicitors are quoting the sale price as £134k (the price we originally had it on the market at nearly 2 yrs ago... if only we were still selling it at this price !) instead of the agreed sale price of £100.00 - would this change the solicitors bill at all ?[/QUOTE]

instead of the agreed sale price of £100.00 - that's cheap LOL.
I would ring round other solicitors, if the estate agents has provided you with their solicitors then they may be making commission for recommending them.