Solicitor charging admin fee for stamp duty refund. Fair?

ELToro

TO be expected from solicitors I am yet to find one that is competent or remembers that I am paying for their service.....

G_M

Richard_Webster wrote: »

• it could well take up more then £35 worth of time explaining to/arguing with the client about it.

Yes but...

if half of clients just pay up without complaint, and half the the rest get fobbed off by an underpaid admin clerk, then the economics might well stack up for the firm.

It's only persistant clients demanding to speak to managers/solicitors or make an official complaint that will knock up hefty costs to the firm.

Mrs_Optimist

I mentioned this to our Senior Conveyancing Solicitor today. Once he got over the bare faced cheek of any kind of "admin fee" he suggested you request a cheque for the refund, alongside an amended Completion Statement, and argue that you did not agree to any additional admin fees from the outset and you are not willing to pay one now.


Solicitors Accounts rules stipulate that they cannot withhold YOUR money and a cheque typically costs 30p to produce (even though there is more work involved for them than sending via BACS).


You say it is a bigger firm - no doubt tied into ether the Estate Agent or Mortgage Company, both of whom get paid back handers (or in other words are on their approved panel of Solicitors for a fee) for your conveyancing - irrespective of the shoddy service you also end up receiving.


I understand that people like to save money, but personally, having worked in law for 20+ years I have seen both sides of the coin and would much rather employ a small, local firm of Solicitors, even if they are more expensive, any day, over a large factory firm who are target driven and not remotely interested in customer satisfaction.


The same applies with Wills, it amazes me how people cut corners to try and save a few quid and it ends up costing far more money in legal disputes in the long run.