Solicitor fees help

Bounty1

Not sure if this is the correct place for this so apologies if it’s the wrong place.

I am in the process of trying to get planning permission on my land that is attached to my house which involves another land owner, we had an agreement written up that I took to a solicitor to check over for us, this was all fine and we paid the bill there and then. We happened to mention to the solicitor that if all goes ahead we will be paying the whole mortgage off with what we sell the land for but the house will be separate as it’s just the land with planning permission we will be selling, solicitor tells us we need to tell our mortgage provider our plans, we thought we would use this solicitor to deal with the matter if needed and called our mortgage provider to let them know our plans, this was all fine as obviously we will be paying the whole mortgage off, now it gets complicated as they wanted a valuation (again fine) we let the solicitor know and bank arranged this through solicitor.

Since then we have had many short emails from the solicitor, for instance some say we tried to call you, will try later. We also had emails asking what date we want to put the mortgage just in my husbands name!? This was totally incorrect. We got in touch and told them we only want to let the bank know we want to pay the mortgage off once we get a buyer but still they get the wrong end of the stick and are trying to tell mortgage we want to split the land and keep a mortgage! Anyway we had a bill from solicitor for £450 for emails and a few phone calls that they got wrong each time! I asked for a breakdown of the bill in which they have now whacked another £300 on top of the bill for doing s breakdown of bill!! So they are changing me £750 for something they still haven’t done correctly and £300 for absolutely nothing!

Sorry for long complicated post but does anyone know where I stand?

eddddy

It sounds like there was some major confusion. You shouldn't need a property valuation in order to pay off your mortgage in full.

I guess you realise this now - but you shouldn't have got your solicitor involved in any of this.

Presumably your solicitor sent you a letter in advance telling you their hourly rate (maybe £250+ per hour plus maybe £25 per letter and £8 per email), and then you instructed the solicitor to deal with the bank for the valuation etc.

But if you're unhappy with the fees (and/or quality of service), you can follow this process: https://www.sra.org.uk/faqs/contact-centre/public/03-problems-with-a-solicitor/solicitor-fees-unhappy-complain-refund-legal-ombudsman.page

G_M

Why don't you pop in and have a chat with the solicitor to make sure you and he both know exactly what your plan is, and what legal work you want him to do, if any?


Clearly there has been a breakdown in communication. The solicitor has asked you to call, and you have..........????

Bounty1

It was the solicitor that told us we needed a valuation etc when we had them go over our original agreement, we didn’t ever get a letter from the solicitor letting us know the hourly rate etc.

davidmcn

Just to clarify - you're planning simply to sell the undeveloped plot with planning, not to build anything yourselves?

Bounty1

Yes that!!!8217;s correct, once we have planning permission we plan to sell the land undeveloped