Worried about escalating soliciters fees

hampshirehippo

I am a FTB getting worried about solicitor fees getting out of hand. We got a series of quotes, the most competitive of which was one suggested by the EA. However, it seems that the full written quote does not look too good and and it exludes a £295 for searches whioch appears in the small print. There is also a question which asks whether we want searches carried out (mentioning £295)-- I presume this is the same thing. Anyway the the total costs will be approaching £1500 for the purchase of a £125K house. Does this seem steep? It seems a lot higher that the usual sorts of quotes.

Doozergirl

Yes, I'd say that £1500 is certainly on the high side. The essential costs usually come to around £500, then over that is the solicitor's actual fee. I used to budget £1100 for a purchase.

PasturesNew

There are tgenerally two types of solicitors and there are a few types of fees.

1) Fixed fee solicitor, one fixed fee - some will only charge you if the transaction completes, so no sale/no bill
2) Charge by the hour solicitor.

Do you know which you have?

On top of this are fees. Fees are things you have to buy/pay for, but the solicitor pays them for you to speed up the process. Typical fees which are your responsibility, but the solicitor just pays for you as and when they are required would be:

- searches
- land registry fees
- stamp duty (not relevant in your sale)

They will also charge other fees, such as a telegraphic transfer fee, which is the charge for the actual money to be whizzed about immediately on the right day.

There will also be VAT on top of the solicitor's fees.

The bill you end up getting from the solicitor will be for:
- his actual bill for his work
- necessary fees you incur when buying a house
- transfer fees for whizzing the money about
- VAT

It all adds up.

G_M

£1500 is crazy. See here or here.