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

Sunsaru

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 

Yes, you do have to pay the bill.

You're welcome.

fiveacre

FaceHead said:

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.

If conflict of interest is a concern you can take out low cost insurance against the risk, which can include the cost of disbursements too.

There are many reputable conveyancing firms offering no completion no fee though. The assumption is you'll probably still want to buy a house and will continue to work with them.

saajan_12

Legally, yes, as you have a contract since:

• They presented the T&Cs - offer
• You instructed them to proceed verbally / via email -> acceptance
• They started work -> consideration.

Now what are the terms of that contract and what would the abortive fees be? Precisely the T&Cs that were shared and not altered via phone or email. 

They may get it signed to get everything tied up in a nice bow and have no misunderstandings about what was agreed, but that doesn't make it necessary. 

user1977

Moreover, many terms will explicitly say that, even if they've asked you to sign an acceptance and haven't done so, the terms will be deemed to apply from that point on.

teachfast

What is well known is the urgency that solicitors firms fail to show when conveyancing is present in triplicate when pursuing debtors to them. 

emwee09

I'm aware I was trying my luck but sometimes you just need people to tell you straight up you're being a d*ck.

I've never used a solicitor before so the processes and charges are all a shock/new concept to me. I'm aware that brokers do a certain amount of work "for free"/up until a certain point of the process but now see that is not the case for solicitors. 

Thanks all.

emwee09

Small note in addition - I instructed based off a full quote and before the T&C's were received.
 
Again, a small technicality

thriftytracey

Our chain is not complete and no work has been started until we find a property.  We still had to give the solicitor £400 on account as they "open a file" even if they don't do much else.  The cheque was cashed as well so its not as if they keep the cheque on file without cashing it.

Thrugelmir

thriftytracey said:

Our chain is not complete and no work has been started until we find a property.  We still had to give the solicitor £400 on account as they "open a file" even if they don't do much else.  The cheque was cashed as well so its not as if they keep the cheque on file without cashing it.

That's to pay for the search disbursements once you give the solicitors the go ahead. Not the solicitors fee charges.