Statement Check Fees of £180

shawba1064

I had my initial Solicitors Fee Quotation

Got my final bill and they have charged £180 for checking by Bank Statements, cannot challenge this yet because of losing the completion date

I have been told that this should be automatically included in their fees and not an additional cost 

Please help

Beverley 

theartfullodger

Pay "under protest" (in writing/email ) then argue about it later.

Suggest you carefully re-read any paperwork from solicitors.  Carefully.

TBG01

Told by whom? And what authority to do they have for choosing what the Solicitor charges as additional work.

[Deleted User]

That is a rip off but maybe complete first before challenging.

Are you sure this is not mentioned or covered in their paperwork.

EssexHebridean

shawba1064 said:

I had my initial Solicitors Fee Quotation

Got my final bill and they have charged £180 for checking by Bank Statements, cannot challenge this yet because of losing the completion date

I have been told that this should be automatically included in their fees and not an additional cost 

Please help

Beverley 

Hi Beverly - the money laundering checks are a standard part of the process so this should have been included in your original quote if it was going to be charged as an additional item. You can definitely query it now - they cannot threaten you with not completing for you just because you've queried something on the completion statement!  It certainly sounds like quite a high sum to be charging. 

propertyrental

My solicitor is a tad on the pricey side, but is pretty 'all inclusive'. Sure Disburdemets are on top of his fee, but money laundering checks, SDLT completion, dealing with estate management company etc etc is basically just part of conveyancing so is not extra.

Since the introduction of advertising and competition between solicitors (remember when it used to be illega!?), many conveyancers have taken to quoting low fees to suck in clients, with all these extras in their 'Terms of Business'......