Conveyancing bill

topaz1_2

Sale of my property and my intended purchase fell through due to my bungling Estate Agents. I was close to exchange on my flat but had not commenced any searches or anything on the house I intended to purchase. The solicitor has slapped me with a bill for £1730, saying she had done in fact carried out £2600 worth of work. Needless to say, I am reeling from the shock from the high bill. I cannot understand the invoices, which seems to be made up of pages and pages of an itemised bill showing that she charged me 20 quid every time she posted a letter. I have only got a one bed flat and using limited funds towards move. This is going to spoil it all for me. Someone please help me know my rights!

vivatifosi

Hi topaz1,

Sorry, but you've posted on the wrong board. You may get a few answers here, but you're better off trying one board higher, on the House Buying, Renting and Selling board. This one is for debating house prices and the economy and has a lower readership. Good luck.

topaz1_2

Sale of my property and my intended purchase fell through due to my bungling Estate Agents. I was close to exchange on my flat but had not commenced any searches or anything on the house I intended to purchase. The solicitor has slapped me with a bill for £1730, saying she had done in fact carried out £2600 worth of work. Needless to say, I am reeling from the shock from the high bill. I cannot understand the invoices, which seems to be made up of pages and pages of an itemised bill showing that she charged me 20 quid every time she posted a letter. I have only got a one bed flat and using limited funds towards move. This is going to spoil it all for me. Someone please help me know my rights!

borkid

That sounds an awful lot. Do you live in an expensive part of the country?
Last year I sold a 4 bed house and bought a 5 bed house. The total for both sale and purchase was less than you are being asked for.

G_M

1) what was the contract you signed with the conveyancer? A fixed quote price or an hourly rate or.....?

2) how much work had they done? How much of the chearges are for their work/time, and how much is 'disbursement' (money they paid out to others eg for searches)?

3) what instructions did you give them? Did you tell them to 'go ahead', or to wait and if so till when? ie should they have done searches etc or waited till your sale reached a certain point or you told them to start?

Without knowing all the above, AND seeing what you've been charged for, no one can tell you if it is fair or not.

Fire_Fox

Why is the estate agent so heavily involved in the purchase after offer? Did you get a quote or estimate from the conveyancer before they started work? How does the quote/ estimate/ contract measure up against the final bill - don't you have a summary?

Essex22011

topaz1 wrote: »

Sale of my property and my intended purchase fell through due to my bungling Estate Agents. I was close to exchange on my flat but had not commenced any searches or anything on the house I intended to purchase. The solicitor has slapped me with a bill for £1730, saying she had done in fact carried out £2600 worth of work. Needless to say, I am reeling from the shock from the high bill. I cannot understand the invoices, which seems to be made up of pages and pages of an itemised bill showing that she charged me 20 quid every time she posted a letter. I have only got a one bed flat and using limited funds towards move. This is going to spoil it all for me. Someone please help me know my rights!

Our seller pulled our a week before exchange. The solicitor had started the searches so we lost £140 but weren't charged anything else I did make it clear we would be using them for our next purchase.

topaz1_2

I did get a quote which listed everything and seemed very reasonable in comparance to other solicitors. I was not prepared for the costs towards calls made to me or letters sent on my behalf. What I was quoted does not measure up to the initial quote at all. As for the house purchase, my solicitor's advice was to hold off searches till I knew more on the progress of the sale of my flat. Whilst I got paperwork from the seller, I did not do anything on it. Why she wants to charge me £775 on this aspect, I cannot understand as other than drafting a contract and forwarding their papers, there was little else done. I appreciate there was work done for the flat. I expected to pay a fee but not to this extent!

topaz1_2

borkid wrote: »

That sounds an awful lot. Do you live in an expensive part of the country?
Last year I sold a 4 bed house and bought a 5 bed house. The total for both sale and purchase was less than you are being asked for.

I do live in the suburbs of London. Still, it's only a one bed flat!

topaz1_2

Essex22011 wrote: »

Our seller pulled our a week before exchange. The solicitor had started the searches so we lost £140 but weren't charged anything else I did make it clear we would be using them for our next purchase.

Please let me know the details of your solicitor!

G_M

topaz1 wrote: »

I did get a quote which listed everything and seemed very reasonable in comparance to other solicitors. I was not prepared for the costs towards calls made to me or letters sent on my behalf. What I was quoted does not measure up to the initial quote at all. As for the house purchase, my solicitor's advice was to hold off searches till I knew more on the progress of the sale of my flat. Whilst I got paperwork from the seller, I did not do anything on it. Why she wants to charge me £775 on this aspect, I cannot understand as other than drafting a contract and forwarding their papers, there was little else done. I appreciate there was work done for the flat. I expected to pay a fee but not to this extent!

1) what was the contract you signed with the conveyancer? A fixed quote price or an hourly rate or.....?

2) how much work had they done? How much of the chearges are for their work/time, and how much is 'disbursement' (money they paid out to others eg for searches)?

3) what instructions did you give them? Did you tell them to 'go ahead', or to wait and if so till when? ie should they have done searches etc or waited till your sale reached a certain point or you told them to start?

Without knowing all the above, AND seeing what you've been charged for, no one can tell you if it is fair or not.