Conveyancing quote changed

stanley3000

I'm currently in the process of selling my flat. I engaged a solicitor to undertake the conveyancing for this on a "no sale, no fee" basis, they provided a quotation which I agreed to and paid a deposit to secure their services. The is was back in March of this year. Since then I've had a sale fall through but now have a new sale agreed. The sale price has reduced slightly so I need to make some changes to my account online with them (basically just the sale price) but they are now saying I need to request a new quotation - which, unsurprisingly, is higher than that agreed originally.

The solicitor is insisting that the reason for this is there has been a price chance since my time of instruction - specifically that the leasehold legal fee component of the quote has increased in price . They refer to my "previous file" but I've had no communication from them to indicate they had closed my file and the account is still available online.

My thoughts on this are that, regardless of their leasehold legal fee price having increased, I was provided a quote which I agreed to and accepted, and that paid my deposit on that basis. I understand that conveyancing fees can end up costing more than originally quoted when unexpected additional charges are incurred but that is not what has happened here. Instead they are trying to retrospectively apply a new price to an existing agreement. Are they not obliged to honour their original quote?

Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated.

AdrianC

You hired them for a transaction in March.
That sale fell through. They didn't charge you, because it was no-sale-no-fee.

Now you're hiring them for a different transaction in December...

Why would you assume the price was unchanged since your previous, abortive, transaction?

AndyTails

Just claim back your deposit from them on the failed sale (no fee - no sale) and go find a new conveyancer.

HampshireH

Agree with AdrianC

You are re employing them to provide a seperate service. They are more than within their right to change the price.

As you are to look elsewhere for a better quote

stanley3000

Thanks all for your prompt responses. I suppose my assumption - rightly or wrongly - was that it's common for sales to fall through and therefore one might expect to have a single agreement over the time period of selling the property, or that if there was a time limit it would stated in the T&Cs.

In addition, I actually had two sales fall though and between those, when the price also changed slightly, there was no mention of the agreement terminating. It's an online solicitor with the sale managed via an online portal and the communication was very much along the lines "when you get a new sale we'll pick up where we left off".

I'm a first time seller so I'm willing to accept that I may either be being naive or have just slightly misunderstood the agreement but I bet if their prices had come down they wouldn't be asking me to re-quote!

eddddy

Is it 'No Sale, No Fee' - even if you walk away and use another solicitor?


Typically, with a 'No Sale, No Fee' conveyancing deal, you have to stick with the same solicitor.

i.e. The solicitor offers the deal on the basis that they won't charge for aborted sales, as long as you eventually pay them for the successful sale.


If that's the case here, you need to read the original terms of business that you agreed to, to see if they allow the solicitor to increase the price - perhaps after 3 or 6 months etc.

stanley3000

Hi edddy

"i.e. The solicitor offers the deal on the basis that they won't charge for aborted sales, as long as you eventually pay them for the successful sale."

Yes, that is what I was assuming. They are stating the need for a new quote is "due to the age of the aborted file".

I need to check again what T&Cs I received as I've only looked at some provided provided via link in an email to an online page but there is no mention of time limits.

Thanks