Solicitors Fees - Different that what i was told on phone

experience

I had an offer accepted last Friday and the estate agent got 2 solicitors to call me with quotes - MoveWithUs rang me up and i was told on the phone no sale no fee and the total price was £2500 and something, - however the paperwork has arrived from a solicitor called QCAS and adding all the figures up it comes to £2952.93 - from what i can see i'm paying an additional finders fee - is this right?

Our Fees
£569.88 + disbursements and fees
Our fees to be payable on completion. Please note that we do require receipt by way of cleared funds for all fees and disbursements prior to our completing the matter on your behalf.

Estimate of Costs and Expenses:
Additional Service (where appropriate)
Telegraphic Transfer £30 + VAT
Leasehold Supplement £125 + VAT - We're buying a freehold house do we have to pay this?
New Mortgage Fee £115 + VAT
SDLT Fee £75 + VAT

Searches and Expenses
SDLT £1565.00
Land Registry & Bankruptcy Search Fee (estimate) £5.00
OS Map Use £5.88
Local Search £83.91
Environmental Search £47.97
Drainage Enquiries £49.49
Chancel £20.43
HMLR Registration Fee £200

Referrals of Business
We have a financial arrangement with MoveWishUs (the introducer) for the introduction of business to us

We make a payment of £440.62 to the introducer on completion of the transaction.
Please note that this payment is made by us to the introducer and you are not responsible for this payment in anyway.

They also want me to fill in a payment request form with my credit card details, my signature and no amount. It states in the contract from time to time we may need to ask you for money on account of costs, VAT and disbursements in order to progress matters on your behalf. Surely if the sale falls through they could claim to have carried out all the searches and charge me for everything if they have this signed form with a blank amount?

The only thing is that this a repossessed house and need to complete quickly so should we cough up the extra £500 so we dont jeopardise the house? Or could we appoint a local solicitor without annoying the estate agent. If we did would we have to pay any fees - we havnt signed or sent any paperwork back yet (we've already paid MoveWithUs £100 on the phone)

Dan_1976

Estimated costs are estimated, the document or solicitors may not know what your buying at this point. You could say its a free hold house but could be leasehold without you knowing. Unlikely but possible.

Finders? If you mean the introducer fee read it again (We make a payment of £440.62 to the introducer on completion of the transaction.
Please note that this payment is made by us to the introducer and you are not responsible for this payment in anyway.)

Looks ok to me and all standard.

You can use any solicitor you like as long as the lender is happy with them. Dont worry about upsetting the agent.

experience

Just wondering why i was told just over £2500 on the phone and adding this up comes to over £2900?

Dan_1976

Remember the estimates section may not apply.

experience

Oh right - how will i know what fees will apply to me? Do i just wait for the bill to come in or should they be able to tell me if i call them?

VIGILANT22

experience wrote: »

Oh right - how will i know what fees will apply to me? Do i just wait for the bill to come in or should they be able to tell me if i call them?

Hmmm.....I think only "they" can answer that!

Xbigman

Estimate of Costs and Expenses:
Additional Service (where appropriate)

************

The bit I've highlighted is probably what you are looking for. You only pay the fee's in this section if they apply. As you have already noted, you are freehold so won't pay the leasehold supplement.
If you do need to pay anything from this section it will be in addition to the £2500 they quoted. Thats how my solicitor did it.
Regards



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