Charged £628 'Abortive fee' even though house sale completes tomorrow?

shelleyheath

My husband and I are completing/exchanging contracts and collecting our keys tomorrow.

However we have our final bill from the solicitors

1. They have charged us a £628 charge for 'abortive purchase' in addition to the £360 charge for 'purchase'.

My husband did say at one point 'We are thinking of pulling out' as they were dragging their feet and being a nightmare. But no more than that.

2. They are asking this to be paid tomorrow, in 'cleared funds' is this normal?

I can't find anyone else that has had this problem, can someone provide a little insight?

Thanks in advance everyone!

shop-to-drop

Phone them first thing tomorrow and ask them to explain what each part of the bill refers to.

Thrugelmir

Was a huge amount of additional time incurred by the solicitors?

shelleyheath

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Was a huge amount of additional time incurred by the solicitors?

No, literally my husband just mentioned it, and the solicitor said he'd chase up the other solicitors up.

However what we later found was that they were the solicitors for the vendor that owned the house our people were buying.

We found this out when we got in touch with our vendors.

He came back with 'These searches will be done by the 29th' they knew this because THEY WERE THE SOLICITORS doing the searches.

He sent one letter to us.

Thanks!

Thrugelmir

Perhaps they've got your bill wrong! Ring them first thing in the morning.

prowla

Last time I moved house, the solicitors couldn't add up properly, and i had to do their sums for them.

TBagpuss

They may have made a mistake -an abortive purchase would be if you'd had a sale fall through.
Ask they to clarify.
It is usual to ask for cleared funds - normally legal costs and estate agents would be paid out of your sale proceeds (if you're selling) but if not, or if there isn't enough money, then you need to provide the money. (once you've clarified the figures)