solicitors fees - are these competitive?

kevin0410

hi, i have been quoted the following, are these fairly competitive quotes?

fees based on a sale of £140,000 - £691

fees based on a purchase of £200,000 - £3019

thanks,
kevin

Bananamana

Can you give us the breakdown kevin?

kevin0410

breakdown of fees, as requested

Purchase Legal Fees
Quotation Ref Number : P49993
Fees based on a purchase price of £200000
FREEHOLD with one mortgage
Legal Fees : £450.00
VAT on fees : £78.75
SUB -TOTAL : £528.75

Additional Charges & related costs
Main searches (see notes) £ 0.00
Land Registry searches £ 8.00
Bankruptcy search (£2 per name) £ 4.00
Land Registry registration fee £ 200.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) £ 2,000.00
SDLT Return fee (SDLT) £ 116.32
Mortgage supplement (per mortgage) £ 116.32
Bank Transfer fee (TT) £ 45.82
TOTAL Other Charges £ 2,490.46
TOTAL fees, additional charges &
related costs (inc VAT) : £3,019.21

Sale Legal Fees


Sale Legal Fees
Quotation Ref Number : S49991
Fees based on price of £142000
FREEHOLD with one mortgage.
Legal Fees : £440.00
VAT on fees : £77.00
SUB-TOTAL : £517.00

Additional charges & related costs
Land Registry Office Copies £ 12.00
Bank Transfer fee (TT) £ 45.82
Mortgage Supplement £ 116.32
TOTAL Other Charges £ 174.14
TOTAL fees, additional charges and
related costs (including VAT ) £691.14

mynameisdave

I would say absolutely not, unless the £3k includes stamp duty. Even then it sounds pricey.

Edit: Just dug out my costs from 2009 and it seems similar to mine - £1,114 with no stamp duty - £100,000 purchase.

Bananamana

kevin0410 wrote: »

breakdown of fees, as requested

Purchase Legal Fees
Quotation Ref Number : P49993
Fees based on a purchase price of £200000
FREEHOLD with one mortgage
Legal Fees : £450.00

depends on area but reasonable for high street

VAT on fees : £78.75
SUB -TOTAL : £528.75

Additional Charges & related costs
Main searches (see notes) £ 0.00

Presume there is a HIP - but you may still need to update local.

Also made need environmental or coal mining

Land Registry searches £ 8.00
Bankruptcy search (£2 per name) £ 4.00
Land Registry registration fee £ 200.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) £ 2,000.00

all fixed

SDLT Return fee (SDLT) £ 116.32
Mortgage supplement (per mortgage) £ 116.32

whut? lol - waaaay to high - are you getting a second mortgage? also the SDLT fee for the form is ridiculous

Bank Transfer fee (TT) £ 45.82

pretty usual

TOTAL Other Charges £ 2,490.46
TOTAL fees, additional charges &
related costs (inc VAT) : £3,019.21

Sale Legal Fees


Sale Legal Fees
Quotation Ref Number : S49991
Fees based on price of £142000
FREEHOLD with one mortgage.
Legal Fees : £440.00
VAT on fees : £77.00
SUB-TOTAL : £517.00

pretty high for a freehold sale but depends on area

Additional charges & related costs
Land Registry Office Copies £ 12.00
Bank Transfer fee (TT) £ 45.82
Mortgage Supplement £ 116.32

this again?!? - i would have this broken down as seems way too much to redeem a mortgage
TOTAL Other Charges £ 174.14
TOTAL fees, additional charges and
related costs (including VAT ) £691.14

My view is its a little bit too high in places. Shop around this doesnt seem competative even other high street places could be cheaper.

G_M

SDLT Return fee (SDLT) £ 116.32

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

:T :T :T :T :T

Saw that and didn't bother to look through the rest. What a rip off!

Should be free. Some conveyancers boost their basic fee by charging £50 for the SDLT. Never seen that much though....

kevin0410

Bananamana wrote: »

SDLT Return fee (SDLT) £ 116.32
Mortgage supplement (per mortgage) £ 116.32

whut? lol - waaaay to high - are you getting a second mortgage? also the SDLT fee for the form is ridiculous

yeah we are porting our mortgage and also borrowing a bit extra

Bananamana

If they are having to do a deed of postponement (i.e. giving one charge priority over the other) then yes it's pretty normal.

The SDLT fee is ridiculous and with the basic fee already that high should be included

As i said worth shopping around

Doozergirl

I agree it's high.

That mortgage fee is a way of bumping up what looks like a pretty normal conveyancing price. My solicitor has never charged that.

... along with the hideously overpriced SDLT and inflated Land Registry Fee. And the bank transfer fee is higher than I've seen as well. Very cheeky.

Keep shopping. Think you could easily save a few hundred pounds.

Bananamana

Doozergirl wrote: »

I agree it's high.

That mortgage fee is a way of bumping up what looks like a pretty normal conveyancing price. My solicitor has never charged that.

... along with the hideously overpriced SDLT and inflated Land Registry Fee. And the bank transfer fee is higher than I've seen as well. Very cheeky.

Keep shopping. Think you could easily save a few hundred pounds.

Land Registry fees are fixed by the Land Registry by propery price I'm afraid

Doshwaster

Remember it's not all about price. A cheap but poor solicitor could cost you a lot of money in the long term and delay your move by weeks. It's silly to pay too much for legal advice but it's crazy to pay too little.

I visited a few solicitors face to face to get quotes. The one I went for wasn't the cheapest but I got a good vibe from her. She was excellent and made the whole process pass with almost no stress for me. She was happy to use email for communication and would reply quickly. Other solictors I got quotes from had hardly heard of faxes.