Solicitor fee for removing 2nd charge. Help please?

londongirl

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone knows if this is a reasonable fee or not - it seems a lot more than I was expecting.

Currently have a shared equity flat with a scheme called Own Home which ran for about a year. I own 100% of the flat but have a 40% equity loan from housing association and they therefore have a 2nd charge on my property. I am luckily now in a position to pay off the loan in full - and require the second charge removed - they have advised i get a solicitor to do this. They said i can do it myself but most people get a solicitor. I looked into doing it myself with the land registry but i was worried i might get something wrong and have no comeback and for peace of mind it seems getting a solicitor is the best thing to do.

However, I had thought it might be about £200 tops. I spoke to a firm of solicitors my parents had used in the past who are local , they want £407 - which is £300 +VAT for their charge, plus £35 to transfer the money to HA (they seem to think this is necessary whereas my idea was just to send a cheque to the HA!) plus £12 for land registry confrimation it has been removed (fair enough).

Has anyone had something similar done by a solicitor? Or knows if this quote sounds reasonable?
I will try another solicitor later today but another one i had a quote from said about £200 + VAT but it could be more depending on what was actually involved - they dno't normally deal with shared equity things etc. This other one that wants £407 does. The cheaper one is also miles away and i think i have to go up there with documents to prove my ID for money laundering purposes. At least that is what the solicitor is saying - but i don't understand why i've already had to do this with the housing association for money laundering purposes .
I suppose i feel slightly like the solicitor is making more work then their should be to it - and therefore charging more but i could be wrong!

Any advice gratefully recieved. For price comparison i'm on the edge of NW london if that helps.

x

kingstreet

Ring around more solicitors in different areas and get a broader view. I suspect no-one will be able to tell you what is reasonable for this as it's such a specific job.

TBagpuss

The quote doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Non-standard transactions tend to be a bit more expensive that a bog standard sale or purchase as more of it will be done 'by hand', as it were, rather than being largely standardised.

You could ask the HA whether they would be happy with payment by cheque - it is more usual to pay these things off by bank transfer and you may find that there is not much of a saving if you don't, as sending the money by cheque would probably mean an extra letter sending it, so may not save as much as you think.

You mention that the cheaper quote is a firm not familiar with this type of work. Do you really want yours to be the transaction they learn on?

Of course it is always sensible to get a couple of different quotes for comparison, making sure that you are getting a like-for-like quote.

londongirl

Thanks for both of your replies.

The HA said some people do it themselves rather than getting a conveyancer but not many. They aren't very helpful with the process though.
I did phone the land registry and he seemed pretty sure it was an easy enough process to do myself.
The HA send me a DS1 form - proof the loan is paid off, it is sealed and i send it direct to the land registry with a DS2 form and ID1 - which i have to just get a solicitor to verify my identity and sign the ID1 - so there will be a charge but not £407.
It sounds simple enough - yet also quite scary! Perhaps you are right and the £400 for peace of mind is a better bet.

All it really is doing is removing the 2nd charge on my property. And getting my funds to the HA to pay off the loan.

Much as I like money saving perhaps the fact that the conveyancer will have prof indeminity insurance is worth £400 in case i mess something up! It's taken her a week to send me one letter just giving a quote though and even that hasn't arrived yet so she has emailed me the details today. Just not feeling keen on parting with £400 if she's going to be that slow as well!