Seller pulled out- more solicitors fees?

saajan_12

£180 or even £500 for overall abortive costs is super cheap - are you not counting deposits or upfront fees already paid? 

The solicitor absolutely needs paying for the work done to review the contract, request searches, raise enquiries, collate responses, etc etc. Its nothing to do with them whether the transaction goes through and they have no upside if it does, so why should they risk working for free if it doesn't? Exactly the same as the work done to assess your mortgage affordability, check id, councils providing info for searches, etc. Why do you think the solicitor is any different?

If you want to avoid the risk too, there's insurance or no sale no fee solicitors (which is essentially a normal solicitor + such insurance). However that would mean paying extra for that, which I expect would eat up most of the £180 and payable even if you do complete. 

So the only remaining question is who covers the cost between you and the vendor. What if you found the house was structurally unsound? Or you found out about a nightmare neighbour? Or the vendor kept delaying indefinitely? All might be reasons that "you'd "pull out" but in reality feels like they are not your fault. Should you be charged for your costs as well as the vendors? How long do we let the litigation escalate to work out who pulled out and who pays the costs of that?

Basically there's a logic to the English system - there might be wholly different ways that work better overall, but with the base of English contract law, there is a reason for the way things are. 

TheJP

user1977 said:

TheJP said:

london21 said:

It is so annoying when this happens.

It seems you have gone far in the transaction process hence why solicitors requesting fees.

I had a similar situation but was early stages the seller pulled out and only lost my search fees.

Hopefully you get something better soon.

Because of such cases, I now only add the mortgage fee to the mortgage and can pay off earlier once mortgage has gone through/completed.

The law in England does not really protect the buyer when the seller pulls out before exchange.

The law in England does not protect the seller either if the buyer pulls out, no one is protected.

It's nothing really to do with "the law", it's just what is and isn't usual practice about the stage the parties are contractually committed and what the contracts say.

I was quoting london21. 

I'm well aware of the process and limitations.

aoleks

long story short, yes, you do have to pay and it's normal. especially in your case, as just before exchange, 90%+ of the work is done, so another solicitor would've charged almost the entire shabang (pro-rata).

next time, get home buyer's protection insurance... £60 for peace of mind.

Noneforit999

If you are at the point where contracts are ready to be exchanged then £500 seems fairly low.

If the full bill was going to be say £1500 for example and the solicitor had done the ID checks, prepared draft contracts, done searches, raises queries etc then a third of that seems a good deal all things considered.

user1977

aoleks said:

next time, get home buyer's protection insurance... £60 for peace of mind.

We've looked at those before here - the terms are very restrictive and chances are they don't cover what you think they do (after all, have a think about what proportion of transactions fall through and what the costs typically are - £60 ain't going to cover it, never mind leave a profit for the insurers).

aoleks

user1977 said:

aoleks said:

next time, get home buyer's protection insurance... £60 for peace of mind.

We've looked at those before here - the terms are very restrictive and chances are they don't cover what you think they do (after all, have a think about what proportion of transactions fall through and what the costs typically are - £60 ain't going to cover it, never mind leave a profit for the insurers).

terms are not restrictive, they do what it says on the tin. they're exactly made to cover people in your situations: seller changes his mind last minute. it's not a scam, it's a valid, regulated insurance product that covers specific situations, the kind of situations you want to be covered for.

it wouldn't cover you if you changed your mind because you found something better or because you want to reduce the price, but any other reasonable excuse is accepted.

deeboy12

How very frustrating at such a late stage - but though you may not feel it now I'm sure you'll find something even better soon.

As to the costs, it sounds super-reasonable to me - you've got off lightly.

canaldumidi

TheJP said:

canaldumidi said:

TheJP said:

ccluedo said:

Perhaps the Op could be reasonably forgiven for thinking (as a FTB) that the vendor should be liable since they were the ones who aborted the sale.......
They are now aware that rightly or wrongly that's not the case.
Agree that £180 seems very reasonable.

I disagree, just because you're an FTB shouldn't mean you can be ignorant. When i was buying my first home i looked into the process and understood how it worked. I knew the risks and what my responsibilities were before i offered on a property. 

Indeed. You're spending probably several hundred thousand pounds on this deal.

I don't do the lottary and don't really  understand how it works/how many numbers you need (or whatever - I gather there are scratchy cards too?) etc. But every once in a blue moon I buy a card. And don't feel the need to suss out the details of how it works.

But the two transactions are kinda on different scales!

Not a great comparison, you buy a lottery ticket, if you win you win if you don't you don't.

Buying a house is much more complex with contracts for many things and items that you may have responsibility in paying that you can only know from research.

My friend bought his first home a few years ago and just thought as an FTB he wouldn't have to pay SDLT, he had a shock when he had a bill that he hadn't budgeted for.

That was exactly my point! "t the two transactions are kinda on different scales!"

In the one case you just throw £1 or two over the counter and to hell with the full understanding.

In the other case, gainingfull understanding of the process, the potential risks and costs, is just common sense.