Need Legal Advice

Ramsay458

I used a solicitor to sell a property and buy a new property. Now months after the sale and buy was completed i have now had several emails from the solicitor saying they have made a mistake in there figures and now i owe them arond £1000.00
They are explaining that a £999 product fee was deducted from my loan amount for the new
Mortgage and now im in ledger of £999 and could i be greatful and transfer this over to there account ?When we first received the emails my wife called them and they held there hands up and said they made a mistake and as a good will gesture they reduced the fee down to around £800 ?
Now they have sent a recorder delivery letter saying if we dont pay in 7 days its going to there recovery depertment at our cost ?
Does anyone know where legaly we stand ? Do we need to pay this ?
Also worth explaining that i asked for an exact figure how much it would cost to sell and buy they gave me a broken down quote and they charged me allot more than they originally quoted.
Any help would be greatfull.

lindens

If this was me I would make an appointment and get them to walk through all the costs , then go from there

It's easier to negotiate with someone when you can see the whites of their eyes

davidmcn

Ramsay458 wrote: »

Do we need to pay this ?

If their sums are now right (have you checked?) then yes, it's money you should have paid at completion. It's still due by you.

Also worth explaining that i asked for an exact figure how much it would cost to sell and buy they gave me a broken down quote and they charged me a lot more than they originally quoted.

That's a separate matter. Have they explained to you what the difference(s) are? Any quote in advance of a transaction will make various assumptions which might be proved wrong as the work proceeds, it's never going to be a cast-iron guaranteed price.

foxy-stoat

Look at your mortgage AIP/DIP and what you paid for the property. Did you confirm that the fee for the mortgage was to be added to the mortgage, did you check the total mortgage amount on the documents before proceeding?

Ramsay458

Hi thanks for your reply, it states in my documents that the £999 fee was to be added to the mortgage.

davidmcn

Ramsay458 wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply, it states in my documents that the £999 fee was to be added to the mortgage.

And having checked your mortgage account, what actually happened to it? I can see why the solicitors didn't anticipate having to deduct it if the mortgage offer said it was going to be added to your mortgage. If it's your lender's mistake, maybe get them to debit the £999 to your account now and they can send it to the solicitors?

[Deleted User]

Ramsay458 wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply, it states in my documents that the £999 fee was to be added to the mortgage.

Some lenders add the fee to the mortgage by simply reducing the amount they send to the lender.
I have one with Pepper who did this. States that the amount loaned is inclusive of any fees so the solicitors effectively get £999 less.

What lender are you with? Might be a smaller lender and the solicitor expected it to behave like a normal lender and release the full advance

eddddy

Ramsay458 wrote: »

When we first received the emails my wife called them and they held there hands up and said they made a mistake and as a good will gesture they reduced the fee down to around £800 ?

If the £800 offer is still on the table, it would make sense to go with that.

And maybe double-check your mortgage account, to make sure all the numbers balance.

You can check your docs to see out if it was a misunderstanding by you and your solicitor, or whether it was an error by your lender.

If it really was an error by your lender, I guess you can discuss with them whether you want them to lend you the additional £999, or have a reduced mortgage balance.