Solicitor's Fees - Setup of chancel insurance

Debt_Free_Chick

All the T&Cs I've seen for solicitors state that any commission received on arranging insurance policies is offset against their fee. However, in practice, I think insurance is arrange net of commission, resulting in a lower premium.

Re fixed fee. If the fixed fee did not anticipate the arrangement of chancel insurance when agreed, then it's not unreasonable for an additional fee to be charged. The fixed fee covers work that could be foreseen - not extra additional work.

timmyt

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

All the T&Cs I've seen for solicitors state that any commission received on arranging insurance policies is offset against their fee. However, in practice, I think insurance is arrange net of commission, resulting in a lower premium.

Re fixed fee. If the fixed fee did not anticipate the arrangement of chancel insurance when agreed, then it's not unreasonable for an additional fee to be charged. The fixed fee covers work that could be foreseen - not extra additional work.

there is no commission for chancel insurance (it only costs £60!!)

chancel insurance policys are so common place it is a con to charge to arrange...but if in the T&Cs that you signed, tough on you I am afraid.

Richard_Webster

This is an interesting thread, having only just learned about Chancel Repair Liability myself. In my solicitors' terms of business I was offered two different options for approaching Chancel Repair Liability. The cheapest option to suit my lender's requirements would be to simply purchase indemnity insurance for about £10.

The other option was to do a specific search against the property to determine chancel risk (£11.75 for the search) and if the search discloses this risk exists then insurance cover would be needed at £59.88

Needless to say, I chose option number one!

I take the view that dealing with this is not optional if there is a mortgage but can arrange insurance for £10 for 25 years or £15 in perpetuity so I don't give my clients any other options - why would they want them? And I don't charge for setting the policies up.

No, sorry, unless you are my client or my client's buyer you can't use these cheap options - find a solicitor to do your conveyancing that has this kind of block policy facility!

g_attrill

When I got quotes it was something like £10-15 for a policy, so £120 does seem rather steep!

g_attrill

sidebar wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. I understand the chancel insurance itself is somewhat controversial, but I don't really mind purchasing it for peace of mind. The bit I'm less happy with is being charged an extra fee for the set up of the insurance; if I'd known they'd be charging £58.88 for that, I would have set it up myself! Still, I guess it's too late now.

This post implies that you can buy cover direct if you ask:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=23951151&postcount=16

Doc_N

g_attrill wrote: »

This post implies that you can buy cover direct if you ask:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=23951151&postcount=16

You can indeed:

http://www.clsl.co.uk/ContentManagement/Page.aspx

You'll see a yellow 'Consumer Sales' button at the top right of the screen. Extremely expensive cover, though.

timmyt

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

To be honest, I don't think it's unreasonable to charge - and the amount is not excessive. The solicitor has done work in order to arrange the insurance and deal with the chancel issue. They've just charged for their time in the normal way.

gibberish, their fee should cover this. con con con...did i also mention its a ...con!

timmyt

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

All the T&Cs I've seen for solicitors state that any commission received on arranging insurance policies is offset against their fee. However, in practice, I think insurance is arrange net of commission, resulting in a lower premium.

Re fixed fee. If the fixed fee did not anticipate the arrangement of chancel insurance when agreed, then it's not unreasonable for an additional fee to be charged. The fixed fee covers work that could be foreseen - not extra additional work.

it takes 5 mins to arrange. good grief some lawyers put the better ones to shame.

timmyt

i do not yet trust the new company in the market offering cheap insurance. not sure they will pay out, remain solvent.