Cheque from solicitors

continualdiamond

Should i be concerned that 6mths after we purchased our property we received a cheque for £176 from our solicitors? We got a letter saying they were archiving our file and noticed a sum of £176 remaining on the ledger.

Im just curious about it and wonder why it takes this long for them to realise, of course we had no idea we were owed this money.

Melissa177

This is possibly additional money from the mortgage company - some of them refund your valuation, some refund some legal fees, and it gets sent to the solicitor with the mortgage transfer.

A bit sloppy from the solicitor, but I suppose no harm done if they sent it to you in the end and you didn't realise.

Addiscomber

Did they not send you a statement of account after completion? Every solicitor I have used has done that.

continualdiamond

Yes they did send a statement of account and it was correct. Well i say correct as in the sums of money = what we'd paid up front.

Just strange its take 6 mths for them to realise but also not include what the cheque was for, ie what had we over paid on. I would of liked to have know.

mchu6am4

Take money, keep letter and stop worrying!

supermumno1

I'd ask them exactly what is was for/from and check that they have been ensuring that the money includes any interest owed on it whilst they have been holding it. They have a duty to ensure your interests are looked after and that includes having your money held in an interest providing account.

plane_boy2000

Did you sell a house to buy another? If so its very difficult to get the figures spot on as the amount you owe on your old mortgage changes from day to day, so I guess you just borrowed the amount you needed to the nearest few hundred and its likely that this is just the left overs.

When you mover you should have been given a completion statement though which not only shows the charges but also brakes down where the money went i.e. how much was used to repay old mortgage, all the charges, new mortgage and how it was applied etc. After all this there would be a final figure showing either you owe or are owed some money - as I said its highly unlikely that the guy got it right down to the last 1p

kathyb1230

Just be thankful you've got the money! In September '06 I had to pay outstanding balance on the service charge left by my vendor - which I already knew about and a retention had been made. It's now almost 8 months on, and his solicitors still haven't sent me a cheque, but they've released the balance of the retention to their client!!
My sol just says "I'll send them another email to remind them" - but nothing's happening!

i1189

I think they legally have to reconcile their accounts or something every so often. My OH used a solicitor for some stuff, and about 3 months later got a letter through the post with a 10p taped to it. They said he'd overpaid his account by this much, and even though it sounded ridiculous and cost them 30p to post, they legally had to send it back to him.

hazeyj

You could of course be legally entitled to interest on it if you could be bothered. The Law Society will know the rate and after what length of time.

Every sale and purchase ive done ive had money back from sols after 5 months or so.

Alfie_E

This isn’t unusual. Solicitors are solicitors, not accountants.

You’re only entitled to interest if the interest amounts to more than, I believe currently, £20. Without this, solicitors would end up having to administer themselves like banks, having to account for every penny.