Being charged twice by solicitors

leca1990

Hi,

I am hoping someone can help me.

I purchased a house in July last year that was freehold with a management company. As part of my solicitors fees, I was charged for Deed of covenant fee, Certificate of compliance fee and Notice of transfer fee.

My solicitor has just got in touch to say that some fees were missed off my invoice and that I need to pay them so that they can be paid to the management company. These fees are the ones mentioned above, that I had already paid to my solicitor. I’ve queried this with them and they’ve told me that although I’ve already paid the solicitor for them, the management company also needs to be paid them separately. 

Is anyone able to advise on whether this sounds correct, and whether this should have been picked up by my solicitor at the time of purchase? It seems strange that I need to pay for the exact same thing twice

Thank you!

Mark_d

You shouldn't be charged the same fees twice.  Maybe the solicitors fees are their charges for dealing with these specified fees. I would trust the solicitor

kraven_t_punter

I would query it with them.

In my experience, there was loads of hidden costs which were not even mentioned on the initial quote, and we ended up paying over double what we were originalally quoted.

EssexHebridean

Go back to your original quote and compare that with the completion statement you will have been sent at the close of the transaction. what does this say about these fees - do either or both include the fees themselves or just the fee for the solicitors in dealing with them? 

MichelleUK

It seems to be quite normal for both the management company and the solicitor to charge a fee each. It might be that the solicitor has already charged you for their costs of those three items but they missed off the management companies charges. Did you get a FME1 from the management company? This would tell you any fees that they charge, on top of any from your solicitor.

saajan_12

leca1990 said:

Hi,

I am hoping someone can help me.

I purchased a house in July last year that was freehold with a management company. As part of my solicitors fees, I was charged for Deed of covenant fee, Certificate of compliance fee and Notice of transfer fee.

My solicitor has just got in touch to say that some fees were missed off my invoice and that I need to pay them so that they can be paid to the management company. These fees are the ones mentioned above, that I had already paid to my solicitor. I’ve queried this with them and they’ve told me that although I’ve already paid the solicitor for them, the management company also needs to be paid them separately. 

Is anyone able to advise on whether this sounds correct, and whether this should have been picked up by my solicitor at the time of purchase? It seems strange that I need to pay for the exact same thing twice

Thank you!

Presumably the amounts aren't the same? This is most likely
a) the fee for the solicitors work to represent you in dealing with those items in what they say is non standard work and so not included in the fixed fee. 
b) the fee the management company charge to deal with a change in leaseholder. 

leca1990

Thanks for your responses everyone. The charges are the exact same as the ones I’ve already paid, which is why it seems like a duplicate, rather than the solicitors fees for dealing with the matter. 

There was no mention whatsoever of these additional costs at the time, which is why I’m reluctant to pay without getting another opinion.