Legal fees – Do these prices include VAT.

Essexdelboy

My girlfriend and I are buying a bungalow for £166,500 (subject to satisfactory survey etc) and we have had our solicitors fees come in and I just need to clarify what disbursements I will have to pay VAT on top off. I am reluctant to phone the solicitors as I know how much they charge to receive phone calls etc, once they have you on their books.

I know that our solicitors fees are £350 + VAT but can someone advise me on the others. My disbursements are as follows.

Local search £172
Drainage search £39.95
Residential Environmental Search £34.08
Bank Transfer fee (CHAPS) £35.25
Land Charge/Registry searches £10 (approx)
Land registration fee £150
Stamp Duty £1665.00 ( I know this doesn’t have VAT on top)

Any help would be most appreciated as we are first time buyers and are obviously very green when it comes to property etc.

Doozergirl

Looking at a solicitors invoice from when we bought, no there is no VAT on the other items!

There is one piece of paper with their fee - £400 to which they add VAT (£70). Then they add that £470 to a list just like yours, plus the purchase price.

HTH
Nicola

Essexdelboy

Thanks nicola i appreciate your reply.

payless

Should not be VAT on extras mentioned above (they add VAT to there own part)- or if there is the solicitors have paid it and quoted gross ( no VAT on Land Reg/ fees)

as you can see the net figures are fairly rounded
Drainage search £39.95 ( £34 + VAT)
Residential Environmental Search £34.08 (£29 +VAT)
Bank Transfer fee (CHAPS) £35.25 (£30 + VAT)


tip - if quoted gross divide by 47 , times 40 to get net

Bossyboots

To the OP. Conveyancing these days is quoted as a fixed fee and you should not be charged any more for telephone calls you make. Check your client care letter and see whether it refers to item by item billing.

garysletters

Bossyboots wrote:

To the OP. Conveyancing these days is quoted as a fixed fee and you should not be charged any more for telephone calls you make. Check your client care letter and see whether it refers to item by item billing.

Having read that, I wanted to know if that was a 'set in stone' law thing??
i am currently buying, and my quote was £480+VAT. However, in the terms in the agreement you sign with the solicitors it states under costs

"An important factor in arriving at the amount we charge for conveyancing is the time we have to spend dealing with the transaction. Please bear in mind that we DO NOT charge for recieving a letter, but WE DO charge for the time engaged on the telephone, preparing relevent documents and letters, considering documents and so on. this firm operates a time recording system so that all time spent on a matter is properly and accurately archived. This facilitates the preperation and consideration of bills rendered tro our clients."

So, should I expect a higher than quoted bill????

Bossyboots

You have not been given fixed priced conveyancing. You have been given an estimate of costs. That is quite a rarity these days, certainly in the area I live.

The estimate given has to be a true reflection of the expected final amount and if it is more, it is only allowed to be a little more. Their experience in this work will be used to set the figure for the estimate. It should only go over this if something exceptional occurs that could not reasonably have been foreseen. However, there is nothing to stop them sending you a revised estimate if their time recording shows up that they are going to go over the costs. It would then be up to you whether to accept that estimate or not. With conveyancing, they have pretty much got you over a barrel. Although they say they charge for a telephone call, they cannot charge you for calls you have to make chasing them up for work they should have done. I have no doubt though that this does happen. You should budget for your bill being a bit higher just in case.

If you are not happy with their costs, there should be a notice on the back of their bill telling you what you can do.

Does the client care letter you have received state the hourly rate being applied and the rate charged of each telephone call? You should not be charged for photocopying on top of the bill either, as that is a cost ordinarily involved in conveyancing.

1jacks64

I spoke to a mortgage broker the other day and he reckoned conveyancing costs in the region of £3000.00!!! Is this really true or have I misunderstood what he was saying.

I have also been talking to a solicitor about buying a house and he hasn't told me anything about his charges. Should I get the prices from him before I instruct him to undertake the conveyancing?

Essexdelboy

1jacks64 wrote:

I spoke to a mortgage broker the other day and he reckoned conveyancing costs in the region of £3000.00!!! Is this really true or have I misunderstood what he was saying.

I have also been talking to a solicitor about buying a house and he hasn't told me anything about his charges. Should I get the prices from him before I instruct him to undertake the conveyancing?

Conveyancing costs around £300-500 + VAT depending which solicitors you go with. I think where you have got confused is, that it usually costs around £3000 + mortgage arrangement + fees and survey fees to buy a place. Included it that £3000 is you stamp duty, solicitors fees and all other disbursements.

I hope this helps