Buying house off neighbour (solicitors fee's)

markwm

Buying a house of my friend/neighbour for under 200k. I don't need a mortgage.

The seller is using Emsley's estate agents as their solicitors who want to charge the seller £900(to include home buyers pack), and me as the buyer £450 for their services. On top of that I have to pay my own solicitor to act on my behalf.

Seems a bit off to me, that they charge me £450?

What exactly would you expect the solicitors fee's to be for a sale of this type?

clutton_2

why not talk to your friend / neighbour to see if he can throw any light on it ...

Doozergirl

Did your neighbours market the property at all? ie. did they instruct an EA or advertise it anywhere? I presume the 'home buyer's pack' you talk of is a HIP - if the property was not advertsied for sale, then no HIP is needed. You may benefit in the form of some searches but the EPC is not needing nor is the admin fee for compiling the thing!

I have no idea why they are charging you £450 at all have you asked them? Personally, I'd just ask your neighbour if they could find a solicitor not affiliated to an estate agent. Nobody has ever suggested I pay a fee to a vendor's solicitor, apart from some auctions explicitly state that you have to pay the vendor's fees, which obviously isn't happening here if they are gettting charged £900!

I should expect to pay no more than £500 + VAT for the sale of a property. A HIP costs £300-350 if, indeed, you need one at all!

As a buyer, again no more than £500 +VAT, plus all the usual disbursements which will probabaly end up taking it a bit under £1100 in total. No fees to anyone else's solicitors!

david29dpo

I too dont understand this. why are you paying £450 for there services? All you pay for is your solicitor and stamp duty.

coal9011

Hello! ................. "solicitor alert!"

Just in case their are people on this forum who have not yet had any dealings with solicitors here are some words of wisdom from my own experience.

Don't ask me why? but EVERY solicitor that I have ever had dealings with exhibit that they "truely" believe that: " they should do as little work as possible - for as much reward as possible".