Solicitor asking for fee when transaction fell through

SameOldRoundabout

It does clearly state that if you choose to withdraw from the transaction you’ll be billed.....

akashkuk

whirlyhead said:

I just paid £595 for the legal fees on a remortgage.  Depends on a lot of things.  My normal conveyancing solicitor charges £495 but that's just for a standard residential conveyance.  Did you not get a quote from them, or a fixed fee?

I did. They are now charging me the full amount of that quote even though the transaction didn't go thru

SpiderLegs

I’m really loving this sales incentive.
The only way you don’t pay is if the other party pulls out.  My guess is that that happens in a very small number of transactions.

So well done OP, you signed up for a deal that offered you pretty much nothing.

Scotbot

You are being charged for 4.75  hours work assuming 2 phone calls. That is not a lot and considering there were issues identified with the lease they probably spent  that time on it. Leasehold transactions are more complex than freehold. 
It is irrelevant that you pulled out on their advice, they still did the work. Look at it as £550 well spent, you avoided buying a property that you would have had problems selling at a later stage. 

davidmcn

SpiderLegs said:

The only way you don’t pay is if the other party pulls out.  My guess is that that happens in a very small number of transactions.

Well, it's happened to the other party in this transaction!

SpiderLegs

davidmcn said:

SpiderLegs said:

The only way you don’t pay is if the other party pulls out.  My guess is that that happens in a very small number of transactions.

Well, it's happened to the other party in this transaction!

Fair point lol.
let me restate.
Out of the three outcomes - completion, buyer withdraws or seller withdraws, I bet the third of those is by far the least likely.

NameUnavailable

The lesson here is always read the small print!

Thrugelmir

NameUnavailable said:

The lesson here is always read the small print!

That's why solicitors are employed in the first place. So people avoid making huge financial mistakes. 

ChewyyBacca

@akashkuk Did they work for you? Getting searches etc Yes
Were they available on calls? Yes
Did they pour over complicated documents and raised a red flag when documents were missing? Yes
Did they give you advice not to go ahead because of missing documents? Yes
They did their job man, now your turn to pay up. 
Sad, that the transaction didn't go through but be happy, they did their job well and safeguarded your interests. That's what they are paid for. What if they were substandard and didn't do proper due diligence and you would have gone through with the transaction, not knowing head and tail of lease documents? You would have ended up making a big regrettable mistake. 
Im sure you are fretting over the fallen transaction, but don't redirect over frustration or try to wriggle out of paying people you owe!

Xenon

Thrugelmir said:

NameUnavailable said:

The lesson here is always read the small print!

That's why solicitors are employed in the first place. So people avoid making huge financial mistakes. 

And that's why you should also read the small print - to ask questions/resolve doubts etc etc