Abortive fee

jelena290987

Do I have to pay abortive fee for failed flat purchase? If was not stated in any term and conditions 

Flugelhorn

who would this fee be payable to? if it is the solicior then usually yes, they quote an hourly amount for an unsuccessful conveyance.

TBagpuss

It depends on what the T&Cs say. However, people generally don't work for free so unless you explicitly agreed a no-complete/ no-fee deal then yes.

loubel

Yes, you would usually pay your solicitor either a percentage of the full fee or on an hourly basis for their actual time spent.

If you paid a surveyor to provide a structural report you would still pay them if they told you the building was falling down and recommended you walk away or if the seller withdrew from the sale.

People often expect solicitors only to charge if they complete because they don't ask for their fees upfront but it's no different really. I'd be very surprised if their terms of business didn't mention charging abortive fees.

user1977

jelena290987 said:

Do I have to pay abortive fee for failed flat purchase? If was not stated in any term and conditions 

What do the terms and conditions say? The general principle is that you pay your solicitors (assuming that's who you're talking about) for the work they've done.

canaldumidi

The poblem is that most people just read the headline quoted fixed fee for the transaction.

The Terms and Conditions and/or Terms of Business get skimmed through at best or ignored completely. These will almost certainly quote an houly rate (or often several rates depending on the seniority /qualification of each partner, solicitor, conveyancer, assistant, secretary......) which will apply where the fixed fee doesnot (ie for a complete transaction).