Reasonable solicitor charges?

Livemore

We have just received a bill from our solicitors for the sale of my father-in-law's house:

Attendance - 2 units at £17.70/unit
Letters received - 20 units at £8.85/unit
Letters written - 30 units at £17.70/unit
Preparation - 4 units at £17.70/unit
Telephone calls - 8 units at £17.70/unit

Total = £1,146.96 including VAT

I haven't sold a house for over 30 years so do these charges seem reasonable? Doesn't 30 letters written seem a little OTT?

Thanks in advance!

G_M

The number of letters is quite possible and I doubt they would lie!

It's probably an expensive bill overall, but that is because you chose to pay on an hourly basis rather than getting a fixed fee price.

Nowadays, most people get a fixed price quote at the start which is irrispective of how much work/time is actually taken.

ellie27

Seems a lot but our local solicitor is a fixed £700 incl VAT for a sale.

Livemore

The house was in a trust. The solicitors who administer the trust used a different branch of themselves to administer the sale and then send the bill to the trust.

Should probably have mentioned this at the beginning.

DaftyDuck

Just been charged £377.something for sale ... was an online company, but it worked!

I'd always use a local solicitor for a purchase, but for selling, that price couldn't be matched.

Your bill does seem a little high, but not extraordinarily so from experience.

Ah, being in a Trust may well have added to the costs involved quite a bit...

G_M

Livemore wrote: »

The house was in a trust. The solicitors who administer the trust used a different branch of themselves to administer the sale and then send the bill to the trust.

Should probably have mentioned this at the beginning.

Are you a/the Beneficiary of the Trust?

The trustees have a legal duty to protect the assets in the trust on behalf of the Beneficiaries. If they are squandering those assets on inflated and unecessary conveyancing costs, especially where they (the solicitors) are benefitting by charging excessively, they could (should?) be challanged.

£1400 for a sale seems excessive, but hey! it's extra money in the firm's pocket!

Horseygirl123

Did you get a quote? A friend and I swapped our properties so one sale and purchase each. I didn't ask for a quote and her solicitor charged £600 and mine £1100. I complained but they wouldn't budge and it was only something I read on this forum that encouraged me to complain to the legal ombudsman and I received £400 back.

TBagpuss

The volume of work does not seem excessive and the hourly rate is on the low side.

depending on the nature of the trust it may be that that would make things more complicated than a 'normal' sale.

You could ask the firm whether they normally do conveyancing on a fixed fee basis and of so, what the reason was for it not being fixed fee for this?

£17.70 per unit amounts to £177 per hour - which is pretty low as an hourly rate