Solicitor fees..is this extortionate?

zxspeccy

HapPea wrote: »

It depends what it includes.

Stamp Duty = £1400
Seaches, Transfer Fees etc ~£500
Fee for work for Sale ~ £500
Fee for work for Buying ~ £500

Total ~ £2900

not that far off £3K. Also might be worth asking if it is a fixed fee and if it is on a no sale no fee basis.

A very good point, do get a breakdown of these charges.
I moved about seven years ago (buying and sellling) and the actual solicitor's fees came in at under £1K. However I couldn't believe the amount of extra fees that were piled on top (five different types of searches, indemnity fees, land registry fees, document and certification fees, etc). And then of course the Stamp Duty weighing in a £11K....:eek:.

Either way it is always worth shopping round, and it is not usually a good idea to go with a solicitor recommended by the Estate Agent or Mortgage Company, as they usually get some sort of "introducer fee" for referring you.

poolboy

I just paid 595 gbp plus vat to buy a flat at 220k, with stamp duty & other fees (searches etc) it came to 3400 gbp.

The actual solicitor fee is not worth worrying about - the search fees I assume are the same for everyone.

KatsMeow1980

We are in Kent, not too far from your MIL and the sols we went with quoted us ~£1500 for sale and purchase (not including stamp duty). That was the cheapest quote (not the only reason we went with them though), some others came back at closer to 2K. So I'd say if it includes the stamp duty it is a fair quote for the area if it doesn't she needs to shop around.

andy.m_2

fees, disbursements and SDLT will see even the most modest purchase into £2.5k plus.

Remember that the govt. want their £1400 and that will be within the quote.

Everyone quoting they paid x or y needs to ensure that apples and being compared to apples otherwise it's no more use than a chocolate fireguard

G_M

It is pointless making assessments of a 'quote' like this.

With knowing what is included/excluded in this quote one cannot judge.

Is it leasehold? This adds cost.
Is there a mortgage? this adds cost.
What stamp duty is there? Is it ncluded?
blah blah blah.

Get a complete breakdown of the quote, post it here, then people can make meaningful comments.

Richard_Webster

It is pointless making assessments of a 'quote' like this.

With knowing what is included/excluded in this quote one cannot judge.

Is it leasehold? This adds cost.
Is there a mortgage? this adds cost.
What stamp duty is there? Is it ncluded?
blah blah blah.

Get a complete breakdown of the quote, post it here, then people can make meaningful comments.

Just to reinforce the last post.

Locality can alter things - local search fees vary from £50 to over £260 depending on the district involved. In Cornwall China Clay and Tin Mining searches can increase the costs.

fannyanna

We've just sold our property (leasehold flat sold for £108,000) and will have spent in the region of £1,350 on the legal side of things alone.

Solicitor 1 - paid £40 disbursements (sale fell through and we were on "no sale, no fee" so didn't pay anything else).

Solicitor 2 - waiting for the bill but expect it to be about £630. We also bought an indemnity for just shy of £40 in case the new sale fell through.

Deed of Variation - we had to alter our lease to sell the property and that ended up costing us £550.

Freeholders - we had to pay them £90 to answer our solicitors questions.

Add estate agent fees and selling our property has been quite costly for us.

G_M

fannyanna wrote: »

We've just sold our property (leasehold flat sold for £108,000) and will have spent in the region of £1,350 on the legal side of things alone.

Solicitor 1 - paid £40 disbursements (sale fell through and we were on "no sale, no fee" so didn't pay anything else).

Solicitor 2 - waiting for the bill but expect it to be about £630. We also bought an indemnity for just shy of £40 in case the new sale fell through.

Deed of Variation - we had to alter our lease to sell the property and that ended up costing us £550.

Freeholders - we had to pay them £90 to answer our solicitors questions.

Add estate agent fees and selling our property has been quite costly for us.

None of which helps the OP in the slightest as we still don't know what their circumstances are.