Solicitors fees ?

sty345

Hi all

My fees have gone up from £1300 ish to £1975

They are charging me £325 for the costs of the purchase but £120 for filling in the form for the land transaction return fee. Should this not be included in the £325?

they have been a nightmare from the beginning as I had to keep chasing up documents etc so just want to clarify a few things !

is there any way I can the local authority search fee? I have been charged £120 and £24 for an OS search fee?

thankyou !!

sty345

Costs on the Purchase	325.0
Banking and Bank Transfer Fee	49.50
Maintaining Archive Fee	40.00
Land Transaction Return Fee	120.0
Lawyer Checker	20.00
Bankruptcy Search Fee	4.00
OS Search Fee	24.00
Local Authority Search Fee	120.0
Help to Buy	150.00
Purchasing using a Gifted Deposit	95.00
ID Verification Administration Fee	40.00
Acting for Lender Fee	215.00
Total: £1443 including VAT Engrossment fee £180 Acting for lender fee £215
Is there anything that has been overcharged or could be removed?

sty345

Sorry land registry fee of £230

user1977

It's the Ryanair style of billing these days - attractive-looking basic fee (£325 is very cheap these days) and then lots of non-optional extras. £215 extra for "acting for lender" is the sort of nonsense you get when most purchases involve a mortgage and it doesn't really increase the workload by 66%.

The search and registration fees are going to third parties so aren't negotiable - they're what you'd be paying even if you did the conveyancing yourself.

propertyrental

These fees will (almost certainly) have been laid out in the terms and conditions / quote you originally agreed to. Take a look back at your paperwork.

As user1977 says - it's Ryanair. Cheap flight ticket (basic conveyancing fee) and then extras for check-in, luggage, water (!), etc etc

Next time, go for a proper local solicitors firm which quotes an all-in price.

Is there anything that has been overcharged or could be removed?

Impossible to say without reading the T&Cs and the oiginal quote you received!

loubel

I would not expect completing your SDLT Return to be included in their ridiculously low base rate of £325 plus VAT, no. At that price they will need to charge you for each and every little thing they do for you. Did they not send you a list of likely charges and costs?

As user1974 says, search costs are third party charges that they pay on your behalf so you have to reimburse them for those and they cannot discount them.

Their total charges are well below average though.

Tiglet2

sty345 said:

Hi all

My fees have gone up from £1300 ish to £1975

They are charging me £325 for the costs of the purchase but £120 for filling in the form for the land transaction return fee. Should this not be included in the £325?

they have been a nightmare from the beginning as I had to keep chasing up documents etc so just want to clarify a few things !

is there any way I can the local authority search fee? I have been charged £120 and £24 for an OS search fee?

thankyou !!

Conveyancing fees of £325 are extremely low.  Conveyancing on a purchase at this price level would not be worth their while, so they price it so that there are additional fees for almost everything outside a very basic transaction.  A basic transaction would be a freehold, no management company, a cash in the bank buyer, no lender, no ISA, no LISA, no HTB, no Gifted Deposit, able to fill in the SDLT form without assistance and ID which is validated in the office and doesn't throw up any anti-money laundering queries.

You could fill in the SDLT form yourself and therefore not be charged £120 for them to do it.  Your firm are are presenting this as an additional fee rather than include this in the basic fee, because there will be many clients who will be able to complete the form rather than the solicitor doing it.  It saves the solicitor time, therefore the option is given to you to decide which way you prefer.  You just return the completed form to the solicitor for them to submit to HMRC on completion.

Local Searches, HMLR fees, bankruptcy fees and OS searches are third party fees, i.e. the solicitor has to pay this on your behalf, so you cannot query these fees.  They would be additional to any conveyancing transaction done by either yourself or another solicitor.

The other additional fees, i.e. banking fees, Help to Buy fees, acting for the lender, gifted deposit fees, are added as additional fees because if you were a cash buyer and didn't have a lender, or HTB involved, nor a relative giving you a money gift, you wouldn't be paying the additional fees.  Again, the solicitor has structured their fees along the lines of assuming everyone is a pure cash buyer (i.e. money in the bank) who is savvy with filling in the SDLT form not paying additional fees on top of the basic fee.  

The lawyer check fee and maintaining the archive fees are taking the p though.  If an unqualified conveyancing assistant is doing the majority of the basic work, a suitably qualified solicitor/licensed conveyancer must check the work before completion anyway.  Similarly they must keep their files for 6 years  so why on earth they want paying a fee for this is extremely cheeky.  PPL by any chance?

 

SprostonGreenHead

sty345 said:

Hi all

My fees have gone up from £1300 ish to £1975

I'm a bit confused because your itemised bill totals 1443 inc VAT. Are you including SDLT in the above? SDLT is not a fee, it's a tax.

This total (1443) is not at all unreasonable and based on the quotes I got (and the one I went with and just paid) seems about right to me, indeed probably on the lower end.

sty345

Thankyou everyone!!! You have all been really helpful
I have paid it all off so hopefully can move in soon! 

The solicitors were recommended to me by my new build developers

In hindsight I would have never gone with them because it’s been a really big headache 

but I’ve learnt now so in the future I am better prepared

thanks!

user1977

sty345 said:

The solicitors were recommended to me by my new build developers

In which case I would be more worried about what they haven't told you, than what they're charging.