£5000 Solicitors Fee is this too hight?

steampowered

Gosh that's really quite a lot.

The first thing you need to do is go back to your original quote and read it carefully to see exactly what is included or not included, and what the disbursements were.

Then go through the bill you have received to see how it matches up.

Some of the additional costs look like genuine third party disbursements - e.g. the fees paid to Savills and Homeground. Those are not within the control of the conveyancer. However, the "additional review of searches" and "Additional legal fees" items suggest extra money going to your solicitor - the bill says "as agreed" which suggests these charges were made known to you during the process?

trex227

I used to work at a solicitors and part of my job was giving quotes. Due it being difficult to compare quotes from different firms I would often offer to compare them for clients so I literally saw hundreds of quotes from other firms. My thoughts:

Our Firm's Legal Fee for Purchase  £1,130.00 VAT £226.00  £1,356.00 INC VAT - on the high side, our fees for £600k property were around £700 but this is for the midlands. Not at all unusual if the firm is in London though.
Our firm's Stamp Duty Processing Fee £90.00 VAT £18.00 £108.00 INC VAT - quite standard fee, most firms charge around this. Should be included in initial quote
Our Firm's Search Admin Fee £100.00 VAT £20.00 £120.00 INC VAT - unusual to charge for this, think I only saw this a few times. Might make sense if they deal with a lot of transactions where searches aren't done, but most firms include checking searches in the legal fee.
Our Firm's Fee related to additional review of searches £150.00 VAT £30.00 £180.00 INC VAT - was additional work done regarding searches/did you request this?
Our Firm's Leasehold Supplemental Fee £175.00 VAT £35.00 £210.00 INC VAT - quite standard fee, most firms charge around this. Should be included in initial quote (assuming you told them property was leasehold)
Our Firm's Electronic ID Search £38.00 VAT £7.60 £45.60 INC VAT - standard fee, maybe a little on high side, duplicated below?
Our Firm's Lender Legal Fee £350.00 £70.00 £420.00 INC VAT - its usual to charge a fee for dealing with your lender, usually called mortgage fee. Thats the most I ever recall seeing though- usually fee in region of £50-150. Should be included in initial quote (assuming you told them you were buying with a mortgage)
Agreed Fee for Our Additional Legal Work £750.00 VAT £150.00 £900.00 INC VAT - I assume you know what this relates to and asked for it?
Our Firm's Fee for a Deed of Covenant £120.00 VAT £24.00 £144.00 INC VAT - due to property being leasehold. Solicitors don't know until they review the lease if a deed of covenant would be required. If they drafted this deed this is in the realms of a normal charge for a deed
Our Firm's Bank Transfer Fee (x2) £94.00 £18.80 £112.80 INC VAT - standard fees, but little on high side.
Our Legal Fee for Service of a notice of assignment £150.00 VAT £30.00 £180.00 INC VAT - most firms would include this as part of the leasehold fee. Depends if anything outside the normal was required by the landlord/management company
Land Registry Fees £270.00 - disbursement, standard fee
Searches (being Local, Enviro, Water etc) £264.12 - disbursement, seems to be the actual cost of searches. A lot of firms round up for a search pack e.g. charge £300-350
Electronic ID Search £14.40 - standard, but duplicate of above?
SIM Search £4.00 - standard
Homground Fee for Notice Of Assignement £162.00 - relating to the property being leasehold. Fee the landlord/management company charges and payable to them. Solicitor has no control over this fee and can't advise on if/what the fees will be until the transaction is underway.
OS1 Search £3.00 - standard, sure this is actual cost
Bankruptcy Search  £4.00 - standard, sure this is actual cost
Savill's Fee for Notice of Assignment £198.00 - relating to the property being leasehold. Fee the landlord/management company charges and payable to them. Solicitor has no control over this fee and can't advise on if/what the fees will be until the transaction is underway.
Savill's Fee for Restriction Certificate (DOC) £150.00 - relating to the property being leasehold. Fee the landlord/management company charges and payable to them. Solicitor has no control over this fee and can't advise on if/what the fees will be until the transaction is underway.
Homeground's Fee for Restriction Certificate (DOC) £115.00 - relating to the property being leasehold. Fee the landlord/management company charges and payable to them. Solicitor has no control over this fee and can't advise on if/what the fees will be until the transaction is underway.

So £625 of the fees are payable to the landlord/management company. A fair amount of the fees I would expect the solicitors to have quoted upfront in their initial quote, what total did that give?

lika_86

fleur8 said:

From_Cordoba said:

Guys I'm asking  your pesonal opinion. Would you be happy in paying £5K in legal fees inc Searches. Is this something you've heard? my expectation was around  £2K for a £600K property. 

I paid just over £4000 for a £600k property. Not sure it really made a difference tbh. You should choose a solicitor based on personal recommendation if you can. 

Was it leasehold or particularly complex? My freehold purchase around that ballpark was only £1800 all in except for SDLT as a quote and actually I think the searches were less than quoted in the end.

AdrianC

trex227 said:

Our Firm's Electronic ID Search £38.00 VAT £7.60 £45.60 INC VAT - standard fee, maybe a little on high side, duplicated below?
Electronic ID Search £14.40 - standard, but duplicate of above?

I think it's £14.40 of disbursement and £38+vat=£45.60 to them for doing it, so the actual electronic ID search comes in at a total of a nice round £60.

trex227

tacpot12 said:

Yes, complaint in writing, tell them which of the additional fees were not pre-advised or agreed with you, and offer to settle  for the amount of the fees that were pre-advised to you or that you agreed to. Confirm that if they provide evidence that they have paid out money on your behalf to third-parties you will reimburse these, but complain that you were not kept informed of these costs when they became aware of them. I would suggest you argue that they should forfeit the fees for making such payments because of their woeful communication. You might need up having to pay them a little bit for their time to make such payments if they can evidence that they have them.  

You need to query why there were two bank transfer fees, did they have to send money to two accounts?
Did you ask for a Deed of Covenant and was one necessary? If you asked them to prepare you, you will need to pay something, it would never have been part of their original quote, BUT they should have told you the cost of the work before starting it. 

I'm not sure the OP will have much luck with a complaint on this basis, but worth a try I guess. Having worked at a solicitors I would imagine their terms and conditions are absolutely watertight. Usually solicitors instruction forms include an estimate of fees and a copy of terms and conditions which usually lists an enormous list of potential additional fees and by signing the instruction forms you agree to these terms and conditions. Its seems they are very sneaky as most firms I've seen the quotes of include a lot of the "standard" fees in their initial quotes/estimates

trex227

AdrianC said:

trex227 said:

Our Firm's Electronic ID Search £38.00 VAT £7.60 £45.60 INC VAT - standard fee, maybe a little on high side, duplicated below?
Electronic ID Search £14.40 - standard, but duplicate of above?

I think it's £14.40 of disbursement and £38+vat=£45.60 to them for doing it, so the actual electronic ID search comes in at a total of a nice round £60.

Ah yes, good point. Assuming 2 buyers a fee of £25 plus VAT per person is not unusual, saw this charge relatively frequently.

AskAsk

you can get quotes like this where the fixed fee covers very little and everything is extra.  they are often solicitors that are recommended by estate agents who gets a kick back from them.

they normally come to £3k for simple transactions and increases with queries and additional work.  sounds like you have been hit by one of those.

2nd_time_buyer

AskAsk said:

you can get quotes like this where the fixed fee covers very little and everything is extra.  they are often solicitors that are recommended by estate agents who gets a kick back from them.

they normally come to £3k for simple transactions and increases with queries and additional work.  sounds like you have been hit by one of those.

The irony is that you need a solicitor to check over the terms and conditions of the solicitor.

annetheman

A reverse question that would help, as I'm terrified of this happening on my new build, leasehold, shared ownership - myriad of additional costs...

Can anyone say how much above the amount quoted at the beginning they have been charged after a purchase?

GDB2222

AdrianC said:

Lemme guess, you went for the lowest headline quote without reading what was and wasn't included...?

Lemme guess that you're right. There's a song about it (Les Mis.)

Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice 
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks I knows
How it all increases, all them bits and pieces
Jesus! It's amazing how it grows!