Solicitor Fees

confuse_2 · 30 November 2009 at 7:11PM

Hi,

I am a 1st time buyer and have got a mortgage sorted and an offer accepted on a house for £100k with a 90% mortgage and 10% deposit. We are now looking at companies for Home Buyers Reports and Solicitors.

Firstly I have found a Full Inspection for about £295 - does this sound about right?

Secondly the solicitors fees I have researched are between £450 and £550 including standard disbursements- does this sound about right? And are there any other disbursements I should add on?

Thirdly, I have been warned by a friend that the fees mentioned above will only include labour and the cost in the end could be into the £1000's. Again, is this true?

Thanks for any help!

clutton_2 · 30 November 2009 at 8:35PM

""£450 and £550 including standard disbursements""

to my mind, this is a blatant lie - solicitors can charge £450-£700 for their basic fee. This is always plus disbursments (costs they pay to other bodies for fees on your behalf, like fees to a local authoirity for Search FEes) - they cannot tell you in advange what disbursements they will need to incur - as they wont know till they get documents through whether it is in a flood plain, mining area, development area, freehold, leasehold house, flat, etc etc - all these factors make a difference as to what information they will need to acquire along the way.

i would phone a couple of local sols and ask them for a written quote for a purchase of a property at x addresss.

matttr6 · 30 November 2009 at 8:43PM

We're just going through this now - exchange contracts on Wednesday!!. As has been said, that £450 and £550 will just be the labour rate. You need to factor in search costs etc.

All in, our sols bill will come to £950. Thats on a £149k house. (ftb, 10%dep)

confuse_2 · 30 November 2009 at 9:41PM

These fees are based on about 10 online quotes i have received and the basic fee has ranged from £130 to £300.

Fire_Fox · 30 November 2009 at 9:55PM

Are they estimates or itemised quotes? Why ask us and then not believe the answer, why don't you ring the solicitors to confirm?

g_attrill · 1 December 2009 at 12:31AM

My recent purchase using an "online company" was about £350+LR fee+disbursements, total around £600. If the property has a HIP and you aren't bothered about mining/environmental etc. then the extra costs are no more than £50 for a reputable firm. Most of the online quotes will tell you precisely what you get for your money - if they don't then move on to the next one!