No sale no fee solicitor advice

thomaas197

Hi Everyone,

Need some advise, myself and my partner are FTB's who are currently looking to purchase a house.

We were progressing on a purchase however unfortunately due to a survey which revealed a number of big issues with the property, we decided to pull out of the deal. We had however already started the legal process and had paid our solicitor for the searches and a few other disbursements.

We have now received an invoice for the full legal costs of the purchase, despite the deal collapsing after 2-3 weeks. Our solicitor advertises a no sale, no fee policy; however when queried on this she states this only applies for sellers. I cannot see this stated anywhere on either the website or on any of the documentation we have been sent. I've attached a screenshot from the site, this is also what is included on all the documents.

At the beginning of the process we took out home buyer's insurance with her, she now insists that because of this we were aware that costs were payable if the purchase did not proceed.

Unfortunately we don't meet any of the conditions for the insurance as not all of the issues are not structural and the structural issues alone would not come to 10% of the amount offered.

I fear we may just have to pay the fees but I thought I'd just check for any advice / similar experiences beforehand.

BarelySentientAI

The marketing speak on the website doesn't overwrite your contract.

There will be some wording about cancellation of services in the T&Cs - can you post that here?

Mark_d

no sale no fee  - You were not selling do this does not apply to you.

homebuyer's insurance - Why would there be insurance if a purchase falling through incurs no fees?

You chose to pull out of the purchase. Who do you think should foot the bill when you choose to do something different?

thomaas197

BarelySentientAI said:

The marketing speak on the website doesn't overwrite your contract.

There will be some wording about cancellation of services in the T&Cs - can you post that here?

There isn't anything that specifically mentions cancellation of services, I guess this part would cover that?

 

thomaas197

Mark_d said:

no sale no fee  - You were not selling do this does not apply to you.

homebuyer's insurance - Why would there be insurance if a purchase falling through incurs no fees?

You chose to pull out of the purchase. Who do you think should foot the bill when you choose to do something different?

I fully understand that the bill does need to be paid by someone. I think it's just gonna have to be written off as a mistake, albeit a costly one.. 

BarelySentientAI

thomaas197 said:

BarelySentientAI said:

The marketing speak on the website doesn't overwrite your contract.

There will be some wording about cancellation of services in the T&Cs - can you post that here?

There isn't anything that specifically mentions cancellation of services, I guess this part would cover that?

 

That's the cooling off period rules, but not the bit that matters.

There must be something, somewhere, that tells you how services can be terminated - otherwise you would be under contract with that solicitor forever.

mebu60

No sale no fee is the same as no completion no fee, i.e. it covers purchases too. I have pulled out of a couple of purchases for differing reasons and only paid the disbursements incurred.

Ultimately it is what is stated in the Ts&Cs of the contract you signed. 

thomaas197

BarelySentientAI said:

thomaas197 said:

BarelySentientAI said:

The marketing speak on the website doesn't overwrite your contract.

There will be some wording about cancellation of services in the T&Cs - can you post that here?

There isn't anything that specifically mentions cancellation of services, I guess this part would cover that?

 

That's the cooling off period rules, but not the bit that matters.

There must be something, somewhere, that tells you how services can be terminated - otherwise you would be under contract with that solicitor forever.

Here's the full document, other than this we have a conveyancing factsheet which shows price breakdowns for different types of purchases / sales and a price quote for the legal work which we obtained whilst applying for the mortgage.

BarelySentientAI

It's those bits.

There is nothing in these T&Cs that indicates a contingency fee structure (the 'real name' for no sell, no fee), in fact they state a fixed fee structure plus disbursements ('costs').  That first section I cut out is where it would be written if there was the arrangement you thought.

You have ended the instructions ("terminated the retainer"), but still have to pay fees and expenses already incurred as that second section implies.

edit: You are still entitled to put in a complaint through their official procedure and point out that you felt misled by the advertising and initial discussions, which might result in a 'goodwill' adjustment.

propertyrental

Usually in the T&Cs there is also information about the solicitor's (and support staff's) hourly rates. These would be used to calculate the amount owed on cancellation based on the time spent of your file to date, plus disbursements.

In the absence of any reference to hourly rates, all there is to rely on is the fixed fee amount of £795+VAT