Conveyancer made error on completion statement and now says we owe them money!!!!

rik111

As others have said you must have realised and as for taking it out of their fees, hows that going to work? Their fees can’t have been anywhere near 4.5k.....

steve866

Did you realize and thought you got away with it or did you really not realize it was £4,500 out? Sounds like you will owe the tax man for stamp duty if you don't pay up..

Thrugelmir

How much did you pay in actual fees? Disbursements etc aren't classified as fees. 

Did you check the completion statement?  The solicitors would have asked you to do so. Did you miss the error too? 

If the stamp duty doesn't get paid then you'll be the ones with an even bigger problem. 

Jonesy_21

Thanks to those who responded and didn’t have a sarcastic tone to their email. Of course I checked the statements. The itemised bill was all there and correct. It was the formula that was wrong. 

greatcrested

No idea what that means, but that's irrelevant.

You seem to be accepting that the original statement was wrong and that therefore you owe the addiional £4K odd, so I'm afraid you will have to pay it.

You could request a goodwill deduction (£50?) or time to pay/installments, but that is down to negotiation and the firm's agreement.

iampetesmith

Have you had a revised completion statement that shows the correct amounts, then compared it against the old one so you can see where the difference is?

If it happened to me, I'd check it all over to make sure they haven't made another mistake. Then I'd begrudgingly pay it as I wouldn't have a choice, but it would annoy me.

scottishblondie

Our solicitors 2 purchases back made errors on the completion statement not once but twice, coming back to us months after the purchase was done and dusted.  It was irritating but we did rightfully owe the money so I paid up.  It was a matter of £100 and £15, so small fry compared to you.  If the new calculation is correct and you do owe the money, then I imagine they will take you to court if you do not pay up.  Double check the amounts yourself, but if it is correct I would just pay up ASAP.  

hazyjo

Jonesy_21 said:

Thanks to those who responded and didn’t have a sarcastic tone to their email. Of course I checked the statements. The itemised bill was all there and correct. It was the formula that was wrong. 

Where did it go wrong? I think the point people are trying to make it that you can surely roughly know solicitors to buy and sell will be, what, a couple of grand max. EAs will be around 1% to sell. And then there's stamp duty. Even with "back of a fag pack' calculations, you shouldn't be more than £500 out. I'm sure, like me, they're just curious what you failed to account for to be that far out. 

No sarcasm meant. I was a few hundred quid out on mine. Just wondering if they'd included something like EA costs which you thought you'd already paid.

rik111

Jonesy_21 said:

Thanks to those who responded and didn’t have a sarcastic tone to their email. Of course I checked the statements. The itemised bill was all there and correct. It was the formula that was wrong. 

It’s simple mathematics, no need for complicated formula’s. I’m sure before you completed you must have had an idea what you were due at least to within £1000.00 odd. You’ve ignored the question everyone is asking, did you not realise the completion statement was wrong ? And yes you owe the money and should pay it, not sure what your gripe is, mistakes happen but pretty sure you knew this....

steampowered

You will usually be asked to check the completion statement before completion.

Did you check it? If so, did you realise there was an error?

I find it a bit difficult to believe that you wouldn't notice a £4.5k error to be honest. Most people will know what they expect to receive from the sale.