Help! Solicitor charging us more after set conveyancing price agreed!

bee101

Help. We are exchanging on the house we are buying today. Completion is in 2 weeks time. We had a set price agreed for all the conveyancing when we started the process almost 4 months ago (which I think is a long time for buying a house). Initially we were told that it would be about 8 weeks from start to finish. The solicitors have been so slow, the lack of communication with us has been dreadful and if we hadn't have chased them, I really don't think we would be completing by the end of August. There have been a lot of issues with the vendors and the property they have been buying and have really messed us around over the last couple of months (initially we were told we were going to exchange start of July but then the excuses started). Answers from our solicitors have been very slow coming. We have been getting completely different stories from different people, and have actually got more information about what is going on from the estate agents than our solicitor. Anyway today the solicitor turns round and says that because of all the extra leg work and chasing up on our behalf they have had to do, they require £200 more from us before we will be able to complete!!

I really don't think this is fair at all. What do others think and what if we say no to the extra payment..will they halt completion?

Thanks

NittyGritty

if your agreed in writing/contract the set price then thats the price you should pay,

NittyGritty

do they say what the extra charges are for? they should show u a breakdown in costs,

bee101

Basically the vendors had an issue with finding a benchmark certificate for the boiler to certify that it had been installed correctly. Solicitors stated that we couldn't exchange without it. Vendors couldn't find it in the end so we had to have another solution which turned out to be an indemnity policy. So the solicitor is saying that all the extra leg work is concerning this (which was sorted in less than a week and was not such a big deal) and are also saying that the vendors solicitors were slow to respond to questions so they apparently had to chase them a lot. So these two things apparently contributes to the extra payment they require. But I have no idea how the vendors solicitors being slow has anything to do with us and is certainly something we shouldn't be paying for. If anything the issues stated above are the vendors fault so maybe they should pay the extra bill.

JingleJangle

£200? Seems reasonable for an indemnity policy. Not a huge sum is it? My conveyancing fees were over £4,000.

TrickyDicky101

The £200 isn't for the indemnity policy (which I assume the vendors paid for OP?). Do you have it in writing that the costs are fixed? If the £200 does cover the indemnity policy, then I think you should expect to meet this element yourself.

G_M

who is paying for the indemnity insurance?

If the fee was fixed, slow solicitors the other side should not change this.

1) check the contract/terms and conditions you signed with the solicitor. Does it have a clause relating 'extra work' or additional fees. Some do!

2) if not, then write back denying responsibility for the actions of the other side's solicitors, pointing out the indemnity insurance was paid forby the vendors (if it was!), and enclosing a photocopy of their fixed fee quote. Ask them to send you a copy of their complaints procedure.

Of course, none of this will endear you to them, and may impact Completion.

You would then have an even bigger argument since you would incur considerable costs if you did not Complete, and would have to dispute responsibility for these costs with the solicitor too.

Richard_Webster

You have to read the small print when you instruct a solicitor. Did they reserve the right to charge more if they had to do extra work? Did they give examples of the sorts of things that might entail extra charges?

Personally I wouldn't charge more for something like the issue you mentioned as it is a quite typical minor hassle of the kind that we are meeting all the time.

bee101

We're not paying for the indemnity policy..that is being covered by the vendors since it is they who have lost the benchmark certificate. There is no mention in the small print of the solicitors reserving the right to charge more if they had to do extra work and considering it really isn't that much extra work in my eyes (since I do not consider chasing up the vendors solicitors for answers as extra work..I consider it part of it). The fee was fixed and it has been a combination of our solicitors and the vendors solicitors that have slowed everything down. I honestly believe that If I hadn't have been chasing our solicitors we definitely would not be completing by the end of August. Things have just been a shambles all the way through.

westv

Why has the solictor left it to the very last minute to advise the OP what their fees are? Surely that should be done a few days beforehand in case of query.

bee101

p.s Jingle Jangle..do you think £200 is reasonable for an indemnity policy? We have seen a copy of the indemnity policy the vendors are purchasing on our behalf and the premium is £21. And was your £4000 conveyancing fee due to having stamp duty on top?