Solicitor has slapped an extra £141 on bill, Will I have to pay it?

noodlebutty

Me and hubby have just bought our council house. The completion date was Friday gone. Our solicitor originally gave us a quote of £463.63 for his services and said that that should be the full amount. OH specifically asked if that fee included all searches and was told yes. We received an invoice this morning for £604.63 with the extra £141 being for a Local Authority Search Fee.

In some of the bumf we've had from them they state that they, "will not charge more for a transaction than our original estimate unless we have supplied you with a revised estimate of costs." They also say, "you will be notified of any need to amend our costs estimate in good time and an estimate of the additional charge with details as to why the original amount has had to be altered". We had no idea we would be asked for the extra money until this morning.

Before we resign ourselves to paying, anyone know if there's any chance of us getting any kind of redress/compensation for this, or whether it would be worth complaining? and who to? and how? All advice gratefully received.

[Deleted User]

A mistake has been made.

Go-on, be part of the compensation culture

pinkshoes

"will not charge more for a transaction than our original estimate unless we have supplied you with a revised estimate of costs." They also say, "you will be notified of any need to amend our costs estimate in good time and an estimate of the additional charge with details as to why the original amount has had to be altered".

So THEIR costs are £463.63, but the £141 is the local authority search fee, which going by the name is charged by the local authority, and not them. They just pay it for you them you reimburse them. Their bumf is cleverly worded, not surprising really given that they're solicitors, so i'm sure they'll just tell you the same.

lynzpower

noodlebutty wrote: »

Me and hubby have just bought our council house. The completion date was Friday gone. Our solicitor originally gave us a quote of £463.63 for his services and said that that should be the full amount. OH specifically asked if that fee included all searches and was told yes. We received an invoice this morning for £604.63 with the extra £141 being for a Local Authority Search Fee.

In some of the bumf we've had from them they state that they, "will not charge more for a transaction than our original estimate unless we have supplied you with a revised estimate of costs." They also say, "you will be notified of any need to amend our costs estimate in good time and an estimate of the additional charge with details as to why the original amount has had to be altered". We had no idea we would be asked for the extra money until this morning.

Before we resign ourselves to paying, anyone know if there's any chance of us getting any kind of redress/compensation for this, or whether it would be worth complaining? and who to? and how? All advice gratefully received.

my understanding is that you shouldnt have tp pay the LA fees, when you are buying your council property under RTB

hopefully someone should let you know whether im right or not, but my feeling is that it could be that the sols have been billed in error for this, and that they shouldnt pay it and nor should you.

Certainly worth investigating with your right to buy officer.

Maisie

Phone and ask why they've charged more and not informed you as their agreement.

I think it's the Law Society you complain to if you can't come to an agreement.

Optimist

You use both the terms quotation and estimate which was it you got ? If an estimate then that is exactly what it says and can be amended. If it was a fixed quote then I would suggest firstly going through the solicitors own complaint process.

silvercar

noodlebutty wrote: »

Me and hubby have just bought our council house. The completion date was Friday gone. Our solicitor originally gave us a quote of £463.63 for his services and said that that should be the full amount. OH specifically asked if that fee included all searches and was told yes. We received an invoice this morning for £604.63 with the extra £141 being for a Local Authority Search Fee.

In some of the bumf we've had from them they state that they, "will not charge more for a transaction than our original estimate unless we have supplied you with a revised estimate of costs." They also say, "you will be notified of any need to amend our costs estimate in good time and an estimate of the additional charge with details as to why the original amount has had to be altered". We had no idea we would be asked for the extra money until this morning.

Before we resign ourselves to paying, anyone know if there's any chance of us getting any kind of redress/compensation for this, or whether it would be worth complaining? and who to? and how? All advice gratefully received.

Seems they made an error, either when they told you the LA search was included or when they billed you for it. Either way its their error and they should put it right.

Your first port of call is the solicitor who prepared your bill, the second is the solicitor in the practice in charge of their complaints procedure (all firms have this) and your third port of call is the Law Society.

Follow the correct procedure; no point going in guns blazing for a simple mistake that can be put right. Going straight to the Law Society is futile, they will ask if you followed internal procedures first.

noodlebutty

Pixie points to Pinkshoes for getting it right, that's exactly what solicitor said when I rang. No choice but to pay, but a lesson learned for next time. They quoted less than other solicitors in the area, but now I know why. Sly b**gers.

wecanhelpu

Never mind.

You can take it out of the 10k+ you saved buying the house using RTB

pinkshoes

yay for the pixie points!

Richard_Webster

noodlebutty wrote: »

Pixie points to Pinkshoes for getting it right, that's exactly what solicitor said when I rang. No choice but to pay, but a lesson learned for next time. They quoted less than other solicitors in the area, but now I know why. Sly b**gers.

As a conveyancing solicitor I think it is quite awful taking advantage of people.

Lawyers should know what questions people usually ask and what points can cause confusion. and should be careful not to do anything that would confuse.

I feel I keep having to add these warnings that conveyancing quotes aren't always what they seem and people should read all the small print (or website related pages - Terms and Conditions etc) quite thoroughly.

Having said that the truth is that things like local search fees can vary from area to area and therefore it is usually difficult to have a guaranteed all in figure for everything because there can be variations in payments to other people.

So we need to make it clear that the costs will be so much and there will also be disbursements* and these should then be listed, with some explanation of the extent to which these are fixed. In OP's case there would be Land Registry Fee somewhere - (included in the £463.63?) - this relates to the price of the property and therefore should be fixed. Land Registry Searches are usually £6 per title (or £3 online) but occasionally a property may include more than one registered title and so the amount is doubled - but this is hardly likely to break anyone's bank - but it illustrates the point that quite genuinely some items can only ever be estimated.

If the search fees were mentioned in this way then you can hardly complain - but if they were lost in some small print or on another page of a website then you might have a complaint.

*disbursements - even this is a technical term solicitors understand and others might not - so I use "Sums payable to others, principally government departments..."

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients.