Solicitor Fees, Abandoned Purchase - Pay Fees OR Challenge Fees?

tony1997r

Hello,

I have recently had a property purchase fall through before completion, for clarity I was the buyer.

The solicitor has quoted me near to £500 in total fees relating to this abandoned purchase.

I have already paid half of that £500 in a down payment at the start so I still owe £250.

I completely understand I owe the solicitor money for the work that they have done but I am wondering if the amount they are asking for is too much.

The purchase had reached the stage of the searches being completed and the initial queries being sent over to the sellers solicitor.

I know that solicitors fees are not cheap and I don't want to undervalue the work that the solicitor has done but I also don't want to be paying more than what I should be.

If anyone could share their opinion or professional view on this that would be great!

HampshireH

Did they give you a breakdown of the fees in their quote?

That will tell you if their fees are to be expected or not.

tony1997r

HampshireH said:

Did they give you a breakdown of the fees in their quote?

That will tell you if their fees are to be expected or not.

Their breakdown was not specific, there majority of the invoice quote was relating to professional costs which I can only presume is the administration time that was involved.

canaldumidi

Nowadays most conveyancing is done on a fixed price basis eg £800 legalfee + disbursements (+ SDLT) etc.

However, you'll usually find that in the Terms of Business is an hourly rate (£100 ph? £150? 200?). This will be used where a purchase is aborted,so the fee depends on the number of hours the conveyancer has actually spent on the work. That would workout considerably more expensve if applied to the full conveyance as it's a more expensive way to charge. Hence it may seem expensive for a part-conveyance.

The conveyancer should be able to provide a break-down of time spent - though you might find yourself charged for the time they spend providing it.......

TBG01

What did the retainer/terms of engagement or whatever they call it say regarding abortive fees?

If they point it out in there, you signed and returned it (which is you agreeing to those terms), why now challenge it?

tony1997r

TBG01 said:

What did the retainer/terms of engagement or whatever they call it say regarding abortive fees?

If they point it out in there, you signed and returned it (which is you agreeing to those terms), why now challenge it?

That the initial £250 may or may not cover abortive costs, there is no specific value which I understand as different aborts would reach different stages.

I'm not challenging the fact that there is an abortive fee, more the total cost of the abortive fee.

user1977

What was the total fee for the purchase quoted as? 

Thrugelmir

Pay Fees

Was the down payment to cover the search fees?  These are disbursements not fees. 

tony1997r

user1977 said:

What was the total fee for the purchase quoted as? 

Total fee, £1,400.

tony1997r

Thrugelmir said:

Was the down payment to cover the search fees?  These are disbursements not fees. 

They stated in the initial terms before commencement that the down payment was to cover administration costs.

In their final quote for the abortive purchase, the search fees are listed separately from their professional costs.

The majority of the fees in the invoice quote was relating to professional costs which I can only presume is the administration time that was involved.

tony1997r

I really appreciate the responses received so far on this poll, thank you!