When to pay solicitors fees

iloveturnip

Hi

I have read these forums for years but never joined...until now. I'm about to purchase my first house and have a about a million and one questions but i'll start with the most pressing. When i instruct a sol to act on my behalf, when do they expect to be paid? is it at the beginning for everything except disbursements or right at the end when they have a final total? Also, can anyone recommend a good solicitor in the norwich area?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

jizadine

They will ask for a deposit (£100ish) to cover some disbursements. Payment is then due on completion including stamp duty e.t.c..

J

iloveturnip

thanks for the info as a ball park figure what would you be looking to pay all in ?(no stamp duty as first time buyer).

SmlSave

Hi turnip, how much are you buying for? Also are you buying by yourself and getting a mortgage?

Most solicitors will ask for some money on account (normally £200) upon instructions to cover any searches they have to do.

Normally when you've exchanged contracts your solicitor will create a financial statement to show their fees, purchase price minus depsoit etc that you need to pay to complete

iloveturnip

Hi, we are purchasing @ 205k and its a freehold mortgage FTB. I have no idea where to start looking for a conveyancer/sol in the area but have heard about the online sols but these seem to get mixed reviews and it seems allot of hassle to do it online when with a local sols you can pop in and see them with documents etc. Im i right here or is the cost reduction worth it for an online firm.

iloveturnip

Just spoke to local firm who gave a quote of 1249 including vat and disbursements. Sounds good?

Lilium

iloveturnip wrote: »

Just spoke to local firm who gave a quote of 1249 including vat and disbursements. Sounds good?

This is the breakdown of what we paid when we bought our house a couple years ago...[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] Solicitors Fee £450.00
Searches £280.00
Transfer Fee £35.25
Stamp Duty £1,399.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax Form £40.00
Land registry fee £150.00
Land registry search £3.00
Land charges search £4.00
Chancel repair indemnity £100.88
Mortgage fee £117.50
[FONT=&quot]Total = £2579.63
Without Stamp Duty total = £1180.63

Out of that, they asked for £280 up front (for the searches) and the rest at completion.
[/FONT]

iloveturnip

Thanks for the response Whats the chancel repair indemnity? i dont think my quote included the mortgage fee either. Everything else looks familiar though.

castle96

yeah, what is that - did you buy a church ??

luckyfool

Assuming there are useable searches within the HIP you can get those fees down to around £830 to £850 including Vat and disbursements, but you might not get a local firm and personal service at that price.

If you are willing to deal over the phone if necessary and don't require your hand held throughout the process then its a not bad saving.

luckyfool

iloveturnip wrote: »

Thanks for the response Whats the chancel repair indemnity? i dont think my quote included the mortgage fee either. Everything else looks familiar though.

See here for explanation.

Basically about 40% of all land in England & Wales is Chancel Land. This means it potentially shares a liability to pay for repairs for the the local church!!! If the church enforces this it means you could be lumbered with a bill. This insurance policy effectively provides indemnity against any future claims.