Lenders legal fees on purchase and sale invoice

ohdarn

Hello, quick question before I ask the conveyancer (in case it's something silly that I've missed).
We've been sent the invoices for the legal work (again, the last ones were incorrect) and there's an item that says,
'Lenders legal fees (payable by you) - TSB Bank PLC £190+VAT=£228'
I can understand that being on our purchase invoice, but the same item is also on the sales invoice but without the TSB bit and I'm not sure what that means. It just says,
''Lenders legal fees (payable by you) £190+VAT=£228'
Can anyone she's light on it please?

davidmcn

Nope, I wouldn't expect your lender to be incurring legal costs for your sale.

ohdarn

davidmcn said:

Nope, I wouldn't expect your lender to be incurring legal costs for your sale.

Thanks, i thought for a moment it could be the redemption fee but that's £250 and taken into account elsewhere.
I didn't know if it were something that's standard or if it's (another) mistake.

Irishpearce26

Your conveyancer is working on behalf of you the buyer and on behalf of your lender (the risk taker) this incurs a fee which you are liable to pay for. The purchase is due to the lending risk however the sale is likely down to the handling of the payment and organization of paying the lender the full amount of your old balance after you sell and removing the lender from the title deeds. You really should raise this with your conveyancer rather than a forum to ensure no mistakes have been made.

ohdarn

Irishpearce26 said:

Your conveyancer is working on behalf of you the buyer and on behalf of your lender (the risk taker) this incurs a fee which you are liable to pay for. The purchase is due to the lending risk however the sale is likely down to the handling of the payment and organization of paying the lender the full amount of your old balance after you sell and removing the lender from the title deeds. You really should raise this with your conveyancer rather than a forum to ensure no mistakes have been made.

Thanks, We intend to raise it with the conveyancer, but thought we'd ask here first in case it was a standard charge that we weren't aware of.
If the charge on the sale invoice had mentioned our current mortgage provider then I could see where the money is going, but it seemed odd that it specified the lender on the purchase invoice but didn't specify anyone on the sales invoice.
I'm not querying the charge on the purchase invoice as I can understand that, it's the charge on the sale invoice I didn't understand.
Plus, we're already paying a £250 repayment charge to our lender, I was under the impression that that was to cover their admin and legal costs?

Irishpearce26

ohdarn said:

Irishpearce26 said:

Your conveyancer is working on behalf of you the buyer and on behalf of your lender (the risk taker) this incurs a fee which you are liable to pay for. The purchase is due to the lending risk however the sale is likely down to the handling of the payment and organization of paying the lender the full amount of your old balance after you sell and removing the lender from the title deeds. You really should raise this with your conveyancer rather than a forum to ensure no mistakes have been made.

Thanks, We intend to raise it with the conveyancer, but thought we'd ask here first in case it was a standard charge that we weren't aware of.
If the charge on the sale invoice had mentioned our current mortgage provider then I could see where the money is going, but it seemed odd that it specified the lender on the purchase invoice but didn't specify anyone on the sales invoice.
I'm not querying the charge on the purchase invoice as I can understand that, it's the charge on the sale invoice I didn't understand.
Plus, we're already paying a £250 repayment charge to our lender, I was under the impression that that was to cover their admin and legal costs?

Check in with the solicitor. They will quote a estimate but there ill also be a list of potential costs which technically should be standard costs. I've budgeted an extra £500 for this scenario because its never plane and sailing! Good luck with your new home. Just keep thinking of that first glass of wine/beer in your new home.

Tiglet2

Has your solicitor got a website where you can check their fees for "additional work"?  I am wondering if their quoted fee for a sale and purchase does not include their work in liaising with lenders (i.e. the current lender to redeem the mortgage and the lender for the new mortgage on the purchase) and this is the solicitor's "admin" fee on top of the original quote, rather than the lenders' fees.   Seems a bit lumpy to me, but many firms charge differently, some including this work in their quote and some have additional fees for anything extra.

davidmcn

Tiglet2 said:

Has your solicitor got a website where you can check their fees for "additional work"?  I am wondering if their quoted fee for a sale and purchase does not include their work in liaising with lenders (i.e. the current lender to redeem the mortgage and the lender for the new mortgage on the purchase) and this is the solicitor's "admin" fee on top of the original quote, rather than the lenders' fees.

Yes, while there are costs for acting on behalf of the lender in a purchase, there wouldn't normally be any "lender's legal fees" in a sale. There are costs for the time taken acting for the OP in the redemption/discharge of the mortgage - though in both cases I would normally expect those to be bunged into the standard fee given most properties are mortgaged (and in the latter case, £190 seems a lot for the minimal work involved).

ohdarn

I have had a look through the additional work section and under 'possible charges' there is a fee that matches the one we've been charged but it's listed as, 
'Acting for each lender in discharging each mortgage secured against your property'

And then there's a differently worded charge that matches the same price on the purchasing side.
So I guess it is some kind of £224 "admin" fee of having to request a redemption statement and the act of paying them (which also has an additional fee).
And then again for getting the new mortgage paperwork (plus there's another charge for having to deal with TSB directly).
I guess the £600 "all in" quote is starting to sound like it's not terribly all inclusive.

greatcrested

I would certainly query it.

I would have expected the lenders redemption fee which you say is "but that's £250 and taken into account elsewhere." to cover the legal, administrative and Land Registry fees for paying off your existing mortgage, so this 'Lenders legal fees (payable by you) £190+VAT=£228" seems questionable....