Solicitor closure

goonerjon

Hi all
Approx 3 months ago our solicitor was closed down suddenly by the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) without warning. The solicitor in question had been dealing with the sale of my mothers home following the death of my father a year ago. My mother now lives abroad and so I am dealing with all the affairs in regards to the sale of her property. Anyway, there were a couple of sales that fell through before our solicitor was closed down and suddenly out of the blue I have received a bill for £400 ish for services conducted on those sales that were never completed prior to closure. Immediately after our solicitors closure, a sale has progressed but it has caused us no end of headaches to sort out all the required information etc (items were missing or took a long time to be retrieved) and more costs with a new solicitor. My question is where do I stand with the bill I have received from the closed solicitor? The letter has instructed me to pay the relevant intervening agent which will hold funds for the SRA (another local solicitor). The additional work and costs I have incurred as a result of the sudden closure makes this additional bill hard to swallow. What happens if I ignore it? Do I have to pay it? Any thoughts appreciated.
JB

lincroft1710

Some solicitors will charge for work done on abortive sales. There may also be disbursements. Did you have a written contract with the solicitor and were there terms and conditions.

Contact whoever sent you the bill and say you dispute it. Don't just ignore it.

Thrugelmir

goonerjon wrote: »

suddenly out of the blue I have received a bill for £400 ish for services conducted on those sales that were never completed prior to closure.

Would you expect to work for free? If you instructed the solicitor to undertake work then reasonable you should foot the bill. Take out VAT and the remaining balance is only a few hours work.

davidmcn

You'll be liable for whatever you would have been had the solicitor simply decided to stop acting for you. If you've incurred expense due to the papers etc not being handed over promptly then I would say that's reasonable to deduct from the fee (and is it all fees or does it include disbursements?).

TBagpuss

It's reasonable to query the bill and to ask for a breakdown.

If it more, or less, than you were originally quoted?

Have you already received/ paid a further bill from the firm which took over?

Did you make any complaint about the delays / problems arising from the firms's closure?

In your position, I would look at the total amount that you've been billed, by both forms, and how that compares with the original quote you were given. If it is more, then raise it with the solicitors and request that they limit the total amount to whatever you were originally quoted.