Not paying stamp duty - solicitors charging a fee?

maisonette

I'm due to complete on a shared ownership property, the share I'm buying is under 125k so there's no stamp duty to pay.

My solicitors have included a fee for 'SDLT transaction return'. Does anybody know if this is something that should be charged if no stamp duty is payable?

I'm going to query it with them but was wondering if anybody was aware if it is something they'd still need to do, even if no stamp duty is being paid.

scottishblondie

The solicitor still has to fill in and lodge the form even when no stamp duty is due, the charge is for their time and effort to do that.

G_M

As SB says above.

Though most decent solicitors include this activity within their basic conveyancing fee - it's a required part of the process of buying property.

Some conveyancers charge extra for it as a way to make their initial conveyancing quote look cheaper, and thus drum up more business...... You'll find the fee specified somewhere in their 'Terms of Business', or smallprint elsewhere........

maisonette

Thanks both, no point querying it with them in that case. They're charging £100 for it, along with numerous other charges - none of which are optional so to my mind should have been included in their headline fee. The initial quote of £1200 has ended up being £2000!

aneary

maisonette wrote: »

Thanks both, no point querying it with them in that case. They're charging £100 for it, along with numerous other charges - none of which are optional so to my mind should have been included in their headline fee. The initial quote of £1200 has ended up being £2000!

I would question why the original quote was only £1200 if it didn't include required costs. Once the work is finished.

My solicitor's quote appeared huge just under £2000 but that included stamp duty which was £400 and every cost imaginable I did check it with a solicitor and they said some costs were a little high but others were lowish so overall it was okay.

00ec25

maisonette wrote: »

Thanks both, no point querying it with them in that case. They're charging £100 for it, along with numerous other charges - none of which are optional so to my mind should have been included in their headline fee. The initial quote of £1200 has ended up being £2000!

sadly as you have now discovered you are not the first to be caught by a low headline price "+ costs"

i agree that an all inclusive price for those activities which must be done in all cases would be better, but sadly of course a way to win business is to present quotes for the work in a manner which is less transparent as to what the bottom line figure will finally be as that makes then look cheaper than their competitors who do an all inclusive quote

maisonette

aneary wrote: »

I would question why the original quote was only £1200 if it didn't include required costs. Once the work is finished.

00ec25 wrote: »

sadly as you have now discovered you are not the first to be caught by a low headline price "+ costs"

i agree that an all inclusive price for those activities which must be done in all cases would be better, but sadly of course a way to win business is to present quotes for the work in a manner which is less transparent as to what the bottom line figure will finally be as that makes then look cheaper than their competitors who do an all inclusive quote

In fairness they did include a doucment entitled "Terms and Conditions, Schedule of Additional Costs
Costs applicable to your transaction if the following apply...." in the initial bumph.

That said, as an example this was a shared ownership purchase - when I was provided the quote for a shared ownership house I feel it should have included the shared ownership fee (£350) but even the initial quote didn't have this on. As I had read all the blurb I was aware of this, so looked at their list and tried to work out what I thought would be added, the SDLT wasn't one I was expecting hence my query.

I know that this solicitors is not competetive to say the least, unfortunately the shared ownership market round here is red hot, houses sell within 24 hours without fail, often with huge 'premiums' ie cash lump sums generally between 10k-30k which is paid to the seller that can't be added to the mortgage.

In order to secure this house and be 'picked' from the multiple viewers I suggested to the estate agent I would be more than happy to use their recommended solicitors and mortgage advisor. Lo and behold the seller (advised by the EA) picked me!

If the seller's had added £800 to the purchase price I would have still bitten their hand off so I just consider the expensive (along with slow & uncommunicative) solicitors fees to be part of the overall cost of house buying. I won't give them a second thought when I'm in my forever home. :j

ReadingTim

maisonette wrote: »

Thanks both, no point querying it with them in that case. They're charging £100 for it, along with numerous other charges - none of which are optional so to my mind should have been included in their headline fee. The initial quote of £1200 has ended up being £2000!

You could say the same about low cost flights offered by EasyJet, RyanAir and the likes - once you add the taxes, fuel surcharges, booking fees etc, they're not so low cost any more...!

YorkshireTraveller

ReadingTim wrote: »

You could say the same about low cost flights offered by EasyJet, RyanAir and the likes - once you add the taxes, fuel surcharges, booking fees etc, they're not so low cost any more...!

But airfares must include taxes, surchages and booking fees in the headline cost.

ReadingTim

Yorkshire_Traveller wrote: »

But airfares must include taxes, surchages and booking fees in the headline cost.

Must they? EasyJet this: "Flight prices in external advertising: One way per person, based on 1, 2 or 4 people travelling (as indicated) on the same booking. Includes admin fee & airport taxes. Additional charges for credit card payment and baggage."

maisonette

I've just paid the bill, initial quote was £1180... final bill was £2130, almost double what was quoted!

There was no 'extra' work needed, everything added on was standard for this type of purchase.

This nugget from their quote made me chuckle "[FONT=&quot]Competitive Legal Fees, No Hidden Charges, Terms & Conditions attached" [/FONT][FONT=&quot]:rotfl:[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Hidden in plain sight more like![/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]