Solicitor Cost Sky-Rocketed

pink_pirlie

I was recently quoted £300 by a solicitor to under take a transfer of equity for my property after I split up with my boyfriend. The paper work said there may be some additional disembursements, so I called the company and asked what these may be and how much it was likely to cost in reality.

The lady I spoke with listed out a number of items that the cost included and this came to around the £300 mark as per my quote, but she said she still couldn't guarantee the actual final amount.

Another solicitor offered to do it £400 all in but I decided in the end that I would risk the £100 extra as thought it couldn't possibly cost that much more than the £300 quote, and I was happy to risk paying up to (or even slightly more than) the £400.

I have now received a full quote following completion of all the forms and it has actually nearly doubled the initial quote of £300 to £595.50.

I feel I have been totally decieved into taking on the company that quoted £300. It's almost as if they quote low initially to tie you in and then add on a million other things to the costs that I think they could well included in the original quote.

Do I have a leg to stand on backing out or am I tied in to paying the c.£600 fees??

Thanks in advance for any advice.

opinions4u

It sounds like you were quoted £300 plus disbursements. By the time you add on disbursements and VAT ..... well, you get the picture.

You're probably going to be banging your head against a brick wall to be honest, but it's not unreasonable to ask the solicitor to explain why the bill was so much more than originally quoted.

If you're still not happy complain to the firm and ask them to reduce the bill. If they refuse ask them how to pursue your complaint elsewhere. I assume the Law Society have a complaints process.

dimbo61

£600 spent to get the EX off the mortgage
money well spent if it helps you sleep easy in your own bed in YOUR OWN HOUSE!
He could ask for half in 10 years time after you have been paying the mortgage for years.
As someone who is about to spend 4/5 times that amount on legals soon thats cheap

dunstonh

The solicitor would have put the charges in writing. There would be a cover in there stating its an estimate but it would show the typical charge. What does it say on yours?

Evilm

What were the extra costs? I get £352.50 for the solicitors fees including VAT, probably £50-£70 for the land registry.

Were they freeholder approval fees or mortgage company approval fees? It honestly depends on what they were - they may not have been able to know until after they started the work as to what they would have to pay.