Solicitor charge for arranging own insurance

HardSpend

Hi I'm about to buy a new house and my solicitor wants £97 if I arrange my building insurance myself instead of getting the lender to do it. They say it's because Santander or any other lender will make sure the solicitor verifies the insurance whereas if it was through the lender they wouldn't have to do this.

Does this sound right? I want to just go to gocompare or similar and get the cheapest quote and not arrange via the lender like the solicitor is telling me I have to or I'll get charged more.

This is what the t&c says
'If you are arranging your own buildings insurance independent of your mortgagee then we will make a charge of £97 to cover the extra administration costs.'

Quentin

You either accept the agreement and pay his charges or reject his terms and go elsewhere. (He is telling the truth about having to check your policy complies with the lender's requirements)


(Though you may find that you save more than £97 by buying insurance using the MSE guide)

jonesMUFCforever

Not dificult to do is it - check they are members of ABI - buildings cover - unlimited - contents (if included) unlimited - one letter to insurance company (which will be a standard letter nothing complicated) and they want to charge you £97.
I would walk away.

dacouch

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Not dificult to do is it - check they are members of ABI - buildings cover - unlimited - contents (if included) unlimited - one letter to insurance company (which will be a standard letter nothing complicated) and they want to charge you £97.
I would walk away.

It's a bit more complicated than that

jonesMUFCforever

dacouch wrote: »

It's a bit more complicated than that

In what way?
They need only advise the insurance company not to cancel policy until the authority of the lender is given and IMO most lenders no longer have this outdated policy.

HardSpend

do you think it is a much of a problem getting the estate agenct to contact a different solicitor?

my estate agent put me on to this solicitor in first place but now I want to change, my estate agent has already wrote to the solicitors (the one the seller is using and the one they recommended to me which I said I was planning on using once I read the terms)

HardSpend

for what it's worth London and Country told me only Skipton currently insist that insurance is taken through them

Quentin

Assuming you haven't signed up to this solicitor then there's no problem binning him.

But instead of accepting the estate agents referral why not get a recommendation from friends and choose your own?

eddddy

HardSpend wrote: »

...
my estate agent put me on to this solicitor in first place
...

Just to clarify what this means... the solicitor will be paying the estate agent a referral fee. This is typically £400 to £500.

i.e. £400 to £500 of the fee you pay to the solicitor goes straight into the Estate Agents pocket (in return for doing no work at at all). The solicitor gets what's left of the fee - perhaps £200.


That's why the solicitor is trying to add as many charges as possible, and it's why you will get a 'low budget service'.

dacouch

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

In what way?
They need only advise the insurance company not to cancel policy until the authority of the lender is given and IMO most lenders no longer have this outdated policy.

Many lenders will want them to check and confirm the policy covers a certain list of perils, is index linked, the sum insured is adequate (With extra requirements for individual flats in blocks, that the excess is below a certain amount

xHannahx

The admin fee Santander charge is £25 from memory if you arrange your own insurance. Check with Santander for their current fees tariff though. Sounds like the solicitors profiting from it.