Abortive fee for solicitor, do I owe them anything?

jafranklin

I have recently pulled out of the purchase of a property and informed my mortgage advisor and solicitor accordingly. My solicitor is now asking me for a £240 abortive fee for pulling out of the sale. I questioned the fee and they said they have investigated the property title, raised enquiries and drafted a report for me. Had the transaction have been completed the bill would've been £475.

I had sent them £220 to cover searches but they were waiting for my instruction to action them as we put things on standby for a while after a bad survey report and the uncertain times we find ourselves in.  The only complete work that I'm aware of is the welcome pack that I have completed when I initially contacted them.

I can't help but feel like they're trying it. Any advice is welcome.

princeofpounds

Possibly they are a little. But I bet you they have the timesheets now that show them doing this work, and you'll have to pay something assuming it's a normal contract. What does your contract say?

davidmcn

If they haven't spent the money for searches then that should be refunded (or set off against their fee) - aren't they proposing to do that? Otherwise there's nothing untoward about them charging for the work done to date, unless the arrangement had been "no completion no fee".

AdrianC

Were you on a "no completion, no fee" deal? If not, then of course they have the right to charge for the work they did for you before you decided to pull out of the purchase.

ACG

Did they say they only charge for completed work? If not, I am not sure where that comes in to play. If you get asked to stop doing a task at work, that does not mean you have not spent any time on it. 

What do your terms state in relation to pulling out and costs? Have a read over them or ask them to point out where it mentions the abortive fee and the terms surrounding it. 

steampowered

£240 sounds like a perfectly reasonable charge to me for for investigating title, raising enquiries and drafting a report. I think you should pay.

If you could show that you instructed your solicitors in writing not to do any more work, and they then did work AFTER you told them not to, you might have an argument. But it sounds like the above may have all been done before you got the bad survey.

You've chosen a very cheap quote ... you could have got a no-win-no-fee deal but the cost may then have been higher.

Comms69

jafranklin said:

I have recently pulled out of the purchase of a property and informed my mortgage advisor and solicitor accordingly. My solicitor is now asking me for a £240 abortive fee for pulling out of the sale. I questioned the fee and they said they have investigated the property title, raised enquiries and drafted a report for me. Had the transaction have been completed the bill would've been £475.

I had sent them £220 to cover searches but they were waiting for my instruction to action them as we put things on standby for a while after a bad survey report and the uncertain times we find ourselves in.  The only complete work that I'm aware of is the welcome pack that I have completed when I initially contacted them.

I can't help but feel like they're trying it. Any advice is welcome.

Seems perfectly reasonable. 

Thrugelmir

If you instructed them to commence work. Then reasonable that they charge for their time spent to date. 

greatcrested

* Only you (and they) know what the agreed contract terms between you were. What does your contract say?

* If it was a 'no completion no fee' contract (unlikely at £475!) then they can only charge you for disbursements.

* It's not clear from your post if they are charging £240 on top of the £220 you've already sent, or if that is their total charge. Perhaps you could check/confirm?

* It is normal for a fixed fee quote (ie the £475) to be a more economic way to pay for a solicitor for conveyancing than on an hourly basis. However in a case like this the contract (amost certainly) will allow them to charge hourly (the rate should be specified) for whatever work they've done to date.