Solicitor fees. Feeling a little ripped off

helenjones2

First time buyer in Scotland, I'm near the completion stage, just to sign the legal documents and move into detached house soon.

Received solicitor fees today and wanted to check if this sounds about right:

<Firm Name> professional fee: £750
VAT: £150

Outlays
Registration dues of Disposition: £360
Registration dues of Standard Security: £60
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax payment (LBTT): £0
Advance Notice registration cost re. Security: £10
Copy Title sheet: £3.60

Total: £1,333.60

To be honest I was expecting £1,000 max because I had everything prepared and bang on time (deposit, mortgage).

I just feel a little ripped off. Mainly because my solicitor never would pick his phone on multiple occasions or respond to his emails. I had to call the reception desk to try and get hold of him to put offer in the house and chase him up on the sale progress.

Is there any point trying to ask the firm to lower the cost or should I just eat it up and get on with it?

emilysexton89

I think that sounds about right,

I was quoted for a house between £130,000 to £150,000 a few months back:

Standard Fee - £750 + VAT (this was reduced a little as I have a family connection)
Disposition Registration Dues £240
Security Registration Dues £60
Advance Notice re Security £10
Help to Buy ISA Fee - £50

In total it was around £1,260 or something.

I since went for a more expensive property around £205,000 and the total fees are now £2,000 including Scottish Stamp duty.

My solicitor is based in Glasgow City Centre and has been great, responsive to emails and very good at guiding me through the process. I think I could have got it cheaper if used an online solicitor but I didn't fancy that too much.

helenjones2

emilysexton89 wrote: »

I think that sounds about right,

I was quoted for a house between £130,000 to £150,000 a few months back:

Standard Fee - £750 + VAT (this was reduced a little as I have a family connection)
Disposition Registration Dues £240
Security Registration Dues £60
Advance Notice re Security £10
Help to Buy ISA Fee - £50

In total it was around £1,260 or something.

I since went for a more expensive property around £205,000 and the total fees are now £2,000 including Scottish Stamp duty.

My solicitor is based in Glasgow City Centre and has been great, responsive to emails and very good at guiding me through the process. I think I could have got it cheaper if used an online solicitor but I didn't fancy that too much.

Glad to here things went well

Yea I also prefer interacting face-to-face rather than online solicitors, especially when there is a lot of money involved.

Oh I forgot I have that Help To Buy ISA which I opened 4 months ago, should have about £500 bonus from that.

csgohan4

Why do you feel ripped off? Did you compare prices before you accepted the quote?


Local firms are usually the best bet as you can speak to them directly, did you choose an online one as it was the cheapest?




What would you regard as a reasonable price, given the years of training and expensive indemnity insurance and costs that goes with being a solicitor?

davidmcn

helenjones2 wrote: »

<Firm Name> professional fee: £750
VAT: £150

Outlays
Registration dues of Disposition: £360
Registration dues of Standard Security: £60
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax payment (LBTT): £0
Advance Notice registration cost re. Security: £10
Copy Title sheet: £3.60

Total: £1,333.60

To be honest I was expecting £1,000 max because I had everything prepared and bang on time (deposit, mortgage).

What were you quoted? The only bit of that which the solicitor is getting is the £750 - which, with the VAT, is under £1,000. And seems a fairly typical fee. The rest is unavoidable costs to the Land Register, which can't be haggled by anyone - if you wanted to bring the total under £1000 then the solicitor would have to give you a 38% discount on their own fee. You having your money "bang on time" doesn't really reduce the work.

ACG

Assuming you have used a local firm then it is probably not too bad.
You do not get a discount for sending things over quickly.
Presumably you had a quote upfront - or did you not ask for one?

I would expect you to be able to get it for under a grand but only if you use an online only conveyancing supermarket type company. We work with a couple which help to get costs down, but we also work with a local firm where £1300 is about right - it all depends what the customer wants.

G_M

Which element of that bill do you feel is a 'rip off'?


Which bit do you feel is either something for which you should not pay, or is more than you were quoted?


I can't see anything unusual there, but if, for example, your originalquote was for £600 for their fee instead of £750,then yes, you have been ripped off.

MaudeLebowski

The outlays don't go to your solicitor. Just their fee. As a reference, we're paying £650 for ours (plus VAT) in Glasgow West End (home purchase price around £180k).
We had quotes from another 3 and they were all much of a munchness, ranging from £650 to £700.

kingstreet

helenjones2 wrote: »

First time buyer in Scotland, I'm near the completion stage, just to sign the legal documents and move into detached house soon.

Received solicitor fees today and wanted to check if this sounds about right:

<Firm Name> professional fee: £750
VAT: £150

Outlays
Registration dues of Disposition: £360
Registration dues of Standard Security: £60
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax payment (LBTT): £0
Advance Notice registration cost re. Security: £10
Copy Title sheet: £3.60

Total: £1,333.60

To be honest I was expecting £1,000 max because I had everything prepared and bang on time (deposit, mortgage).

I just feel a little ripped off. Mainly because my solicitor never would pick his phone on multiple occasions or respond to his emails. I had to call the reception desk to try and get hold of him to put offer in the house and chase him up on the sale progress.

Is there any point trying to ask the firm to lower the cost or should I just eat it up and get on with it?

Is this more than you were quoted at the outset?

somethingcorporate

Seems about right in terms of cost, given a large chunk of it is LR fees.

Thrugelmir

helenjones2 wrote: »

I just feel a little ripped off. Mainly because my solicitor never would pick his phone on multiple occasions or respond to his emails.

If your solicitor did. Then your bill would be considerably higher. Time is income. Time is chargeable. If you want a cordon bleu service then ask at the outset.