Solicitor bill received when terms and conditions not signed - Do I have to pay?

emwee09

Hi all, 

First time buyer so admit I am probably just naive in this situation..

I was going through with a house purchase but had to pull out due to do the valuation coming lower than the asking price. 

I had instructed a solicitor. They had read a contract and raised enquiries on my behalf. No searches were instructed. 

I informed them that I was no longer going ahead with the purchase and to please quote me on a new property i was proceeding with - they never responded. 

A month later I was surprised to get a bill for £354 for work done to date (which is where I am probably naive) however I never signed their terms and conditions agreeing to pay any charges. (Yes I was sent them, but I never signed and agreed to pay them)

Do I have to pay this bill legally?

Thank you 

fiveacre

You say you instructed them, and you'd had sight of the terms and conditions - by instructing them to do work you are entering into a contract, whether you signed a document or not. Lesson learned, next time use a solicitor who doesn't charge if you fail to complete, plenty work that way.

teachfast

If they did the work, you should pay, not try to get out through a technicality.

Pok3mon

Would you do any work for free?? You need to pay, you also may need to use them in the future.

Thrugelmir

emwee09 said:

Do I have to pay this bill legally?

I'd say that solicitors are better informed than yourself with regards to the legalities. 

AdrianC

emwee09 said:

I was going through with a house purchase but had to pull out...

I had instructed a solicitor. They had read a contract and raised enquiries on my behalf. No searches were instructed. 

I informed them that I was no longer going ahead with the purchase
...
A month later I was surprised to get a bill for £354 for work done to date
...
Do I have to pay this bill legally?

You instructed them.
They did work for you.
You decided not to proceed.

Do you have to pay them for the work they did?

Let me think about this for a moment.
Yes... or no.
Umm...

lookstraightahead

emwee09 said:

Hi all, 

First time buyer so admit I am probably just naive in this situation..

I was going through with a house purchase but had to pull out due to do the valuation coming lower than the asking price. 

I had instructed a solicitor. They had read a contract and raised enquiries on my behalf. No searches were instructed. 

I informed them that I was no longer going ahead with the purchase and to please quote me on a new property i was proceeding with - they never responded. 

A month later I was surprised to get a bill for £354 for work done to date (which is where I am probably naive) however I never signed their terms and conditions agreeing to pay any charges. (Yes I was sent them, but I never signed and agreed to pay them)

Do I have to pay this bill legally?

Thank you 

Do you feel you need to pay it morally? 

AdrianC

lookstraightahead said:

Do you feel you need to pay it morally? 

...and if the answer's no...

Would a court agree, if it came to a small claim?

GDB2222

This is a pretty clear point of contract law.

Solicitor says "These are my terms, please sign and return them".

You don't do that, but instruct him to go ahead, without  disputing his terms.

Yes, you are stuck with his terms.  


On a general point, you can enter into a contract verbally, without signing anything.

You can even enter into a contract without saying anything. Think about what happens when you queue up at the supermarket checkout. You don't need to say "I offer to buy these items at the prices shown on the shelves." Just by queueing up, that's what is indicated.

And the checkout operator can chat about the weather, but she's still effectively miming "We agree to sell you these items at the prices in the computer, which hopefully are the same as the ones on the shelf stickers. Most of the time, anyway. And, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt if there's a discrepancy that you spot. Unless it's completely silly, in which case I'll ask my supervisor. Amen."

Hope this helps.

Redwino222

But they did work for you,  the read the contract and raised queries.  What don’t you want to pay them for it?

FaceHead

fiveacre said:

You say you instructed them, and you'd had sight of the terms and conditions - by instructing them to do work you are entering into a contract, whether you signed a document or not. Lesson learned, next time use a solicitor who doesn't charge if you fail to complete, plenty work that way.

Agree with this entirely, except the advice to use someone with a no completion no fee clause.

In my experience this creates a conflict of interest for the solicitor and they are less likely to ask probing questions and bring seemingly minor issues to the client's attention. They end up working for the completion without being liable for anything, rather than for your best interest.

Instead, I hope you've become less naive and realise if you're going to instruct work, you will get a bill for it.