Solicitor holding me to ransom - help!

Sarahsaver

The judge decided they would sign the transfer documents, transferring the property to my sole name, after 2 years of the ex refusing to do so.
Solicitor now has said signed documents ready to send back to the land registry. The land reg fees are about £50 or thereabouts.
Phoned her today to find out whats happening and she said she wont send the documents until i have paid the conveyancing bill in full (£1600 aprox :eek:) for the almost non existent conveyancing when myself and new hubby applied for a mortgage last year. Didnt get the mortgage. She failed to tellus we didnt stand a chance of getting a mortgage until the transfer had taken place, until we had racked up a large bill...
Furthermore if it doesn't get transferred before the 1st may the Legal services commission are going to whack a charge on the property because the ex didnt pay his Legal aid bill.
Why can I not just pay the land reg fees for now? Then pay the rest of the fees for the 'work' they did later? Can the solicitor do this? I feel like she may as well break into my house and take what the hell she likes.

silvercar

could you use a different solicitor? you have the judgement presumably so could you get a different solicitor to handle things?

If you are convinced you are in the right, try the solicitor's complaints procedure or if time is short go straight to the Law Society?

plane_boy2000

Ask your solictor to provide a complete break down of their charges and how they arived at that amount. It may be that they have done more work than you remember / are aware of, and will help you decide if the charges are fair or not.

Me_Myself_2

I don't quite understand your issue with the solicitor. If you asked them to do some work and they did it why should you not pay their bill?

Why was it their responsibility to check whether you were able to get a mortgage?

Sorry if I'm being slow.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

Me_Myself wrote: »

I don't quite understand your issue with the solicitor. If you asked them to do some work and they did it why should you not pay their bill?

Why was it their responsibility to check whether you were able to get a mortgage?

Sorry if I'm being slow.

Me_Myself wrote: »

I don't quite understand your issue with the solicitor. If you asked them to do some work and they did it why should you not pay their bill?


Once had a firm XXX that did some work for me 1992, The bill they sent was for £3000 (three thousand pounds) When I objected and and asked for a
statment, they said O K but, there would be a charge of £50 to which I agreed. I then took that statement to another solicitor, who was very reluctant to challenge them, but did, he suggested having the bill taxed (audited ) It took months for XXX to respond, when they did, I received new bill for £330 (three hundred and thirty pounds )


Below is a list of the work they were charging £3000 for =


1 Meeting with client. time 25mins
2 Take instructions from client, by phone, send one letter.
3 copy previous letter and send nine times, total of ten.

pooranddesperate

i would ask the solicitor to justify her charges - £1,600 sounds alot for the conveyancing alone (but presumably she has also done some work in relation to the split with your ex?)

I would explain your predicament to the solicitor, saying that you can't afford to pay off the £1,600 in one go, and see if they would accept installments instead.

Sarahsaver

No, they are refusing to send the transfer back to the land reg unless I settle the bill in full, the 'work' she has done relates to a failed mortgage application last year, despite her knowing that my ex husbands name was still on the deeds she went all through a mortgage application and associated conveyancing failing to tell us we didnt stand a cat in hells chance of getting a mortgage. Hubby and I were told by the mortgage co. that we were able to get a mortgage but it was only at the final stage the solicitor said 'oh by the way ...' Bye bye ten year fixed rate at under 5%
I am going to pay the bill of course but not ALL the work is relating to the transfer. Surely if I stand to loose out if she will not send the transfer deeds to the land reg. that is not right. She even told me to 'just pay it with a credit card' She has only done the conveyancing not the divorce, she's not a family lawyer (thank goodness) I will have to offer to pay in instalments.