Purchasing a new house. Why do I need to use PurpleBricks solicitors?

Moneyextra-Matt

Hey,

I need advice on my house move guys!

I sold my apartment in Feb with PurpleBricks, and stupidly opted to 'Pay Later' (I didn't realise I was tying myself into their terms etc). I've been perfectly happy using the solicitor they recommend and actually wanted to use them myself anyway.

Since then, i've now seen a property I like, and want to use the same solicitor. I called them and said i'd like to use their services, but was told I needed to go through PurpleBricks first. I found this strange as the purchase of the house has absolutely nothing to do with PB.

Either way, I decided to get a quote from them to see what the cost adds up to....

Legal fees: £599 + £120 (mortgage fee) + £75 (stamp duty) = £794
Expenses: £275 (search pack) + £20 (land registry) = £295
Taxes & charges: £135 (land registry fee) + £4599 (stamp duty)
VAT: £217.80
Total: £6040.80

Based on the above, would anyone recommend that I go ahead with this, or am I cheaper to arrange it myself? I'd prefer to keep it all with one solicitor, but not if it's silly expensive.

franklee

Suggest you get at least two other quotes. Not that price is necessarily the deciding factor when buying as IMO paramount is that they are competent and you trust them to spot and deal with any problems and answer your questions. Personally I prefer a local solicitor and not the cheaper online conveyancers. YMMV.

quantumlobster

Sounds steep. We used a local solicitor for a sale and a purchase, and it came to about a grand all up.

sheramber

The taxes and charges will be set amounts.

The bulk of that estimate is Stamp Duty £4599 .

What is the second Stamp Duty £75?

Why 2 land registry charges?

eddddy

Moneyextra-Matt wrote: »

I called them and said i'd like to use their services, but was told I needed to go through PurpleBricks first. I found this strange as the purchase of the house has absolutely nothing to do with PB.

FWIW, the solicitor's contract with PB probably says that the solictor must refer you back to PB.

PB will almost certainly get a referral fee form the solicitor for your purchase (as well as the referral fee that they will get from the solicitor for your sale).

The solicitor might be quoting/charging you higher fees than usual, to cover the referral fee.

quotememiserable

So basically the solicitor is charging £599. I don't think you'll get it significantly less anywhere else. All the expenses will apply whoever you go with.

eddddy

quotememiserable wrote: »

So basically the solicitor is charging £599. I don't think you'll get it significantly less anywhere else. All the expenses will apply whoever you go with.

Looks more like £794 (+vat) is the total solicitor's fee.

steampowered

Purplebricks charge you an additional fee if you want to choose your own solicitor, rather than one of the conveyancing factories on their panel.

PB's panel of solicitors pays PB a kick-back.

That is why PB wants to know who you are using.

TBagpuss

The £794 is the solicitors fee. The rest will be the same whoever you use as those are payments to third parties.

If you feel the solicitor did a good job, then by all means use them.

It sounds as though they have a referral arrangement with Purple Bricks which means they can't take you on without going through PB. I m not familiar with PBs terms so you would need to check what *your* contract with them says.

davidmcn

sheramber wrote: »

What is the second Stamp Duty £75?

It's the solicitor's fee for preparing and submitting the SDLT return

Why 2 land registry charges?

First one search fee, second one registration. I think.