Spiralling Solicitor’s Fees for New Build Shared Ownership House

ImranBro

Hi,

I was appointed a random solicitor by Nationwide (my mortgage lender) through their LMS service.
They’ve been pretty decent with communication and it seemed like a decent service.


Nationwide knew (for mortgage purposes) that I was buying a shared ownership property, it was a new build and some of my deposit is gifted.


However, recently as part of an update my solicitor told me that I would be charged additional costs for the following:


£195 for shared ownership supplement
£150 New Build Supplement
*£150 Registering a new restriction
All exclusive of VAT


Now apparently registering the title deeds will cost £190 because the housing association use a different method that does not allow for electronic submissions. Is this the charge (inc vat) relating to registering a new restriction or is that a separate cost?


They had already told me about £95 charge for verifying the gifted deposit quite early on so I’m not too hung up about that.


I emailed LMS (not my solicitors) as they are the management company and should have included these in my original quote. I’m yet to receive a reply.


Should I have been told of these charges in advance or is this not normal practice?

Thanks,

Crashy_Time

New build? Shared ownership? A few hundred extra surely isn`t going to make much difference, you are already being conned.

ImranBro

Keen to know why you think I'm being conned?

For me it's a start on the property ladder where otherwise I wouldn't be able to...

usefulmale

Why didn't you appoint your own solicitor?

We bought our shared ownership with a mortgage from Nationwide and they never mentioned this LMS outfit.

ImranBro

For a couple of reasons:

1. I thought it would smoothen the mortgage process.
2. Having identified Nationwide as my lender, I couldn't find anyone local to me that was on their lender's panel.

sparky130a

ImranBro wrote: »

For a couple of reasons:

1. I thought it would smoothen the mortgage process.
2. Having identified Nationwide as my lender, I couldn't find anyone local to me that was on their lender's panel.

No,no,no.no... :wall::wall::wall::wall:

Suck it up and learn the lesson....

wordsearch

I very recently bought my shared ownership property, and though there were all sorts of surprise fees that I now know are common for home purchases, I definitely didn't get anything like that that was shared ownership specific!

For what it's worth, I used a recommended solicitor who had nothing to do with my bank, so I don't know if that makes any sort of difference.

Hopefully that is the last of your unexpected costs!

Crashy_Time

ImranBro wrote: »

Keen to know why you think I'm being conned?

For me it's a start on the property ladder where otherwise I wouldn't be able to...

Ladder? http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/london-firsttime-buyers-95-per-cent-mortgages-combined-with-slowing-property-prices-increase-a110941.html


You are being conned because in a functioning property market you should be able to buy a house without government schemes designed to help bank balance sheets and builders. If interest rates rise you will be climbing down the ladder to the basement I`m afraid.

ImranBro

So I'm guessing there's nothing that I can do?

Surely these costs should have been included in my original quote and hence these charges shouldn't apply? Or Am I just being too naive?

Loanranger

Imran, ignore Crashy Time and all of his unhelpful remarks. He is posting in the hope that someone will decide to rent instead of buy and thus send the property market into a crash. Just ignore him.
As for the charges, I have no idea unfortunately. If it were me I would pay up and get on with my life.

martindow

ImranBro wrote: »

£195 for shared ownership supplement
£150 Shared ownership supplement.

Aren't these two figures for the same thing? I imagine you will be paying one or another rather than both.