Solicitors asking for more monies 9months after completion!

carpetbelly

I got a letter from the cowboys of a bunch of solicitors I used when I purchased my house. They're now asking for another £60 off me 9 months after I completed!

I mean, I already paid for their service and they adjusted the bill about 3 times in May of last year as it was as they kept getting calculations wrong. Obviously simple addition is to hard.

What's really infuriated me is the fact I spent from May to late July chasing up monies they owed me from the 1% cashback deal I got (FTB mortgage) from my mortgage company. And they were rather blas! about the whole affair.

Does anyone know about them being able to request this money this long after the event? I know it's only £60 but this is the principle of the matter now. I mean, I spent 2 months chasing nearly daily with people fobbing me off for the monies they owed me and now they write me a letter with a nicely revised statement again on it saying I now owe them money. How many times can they change this statement?!

PasturesNew

What do they say the money was for?
Were you paying them by the hour, or on a fixed fee?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

We had this happen once,ask them to send you a complete breakdown of the original charges and what the shortfall is for, before you offer to hand anything over.

JasonLVC

I also find confirming in writing to them that you want a full breakdown of these costs within 7 days and that if not satisfactory you will raise a complaint with the Law Society (the threat of being grassed up to the Law Society usually does the trick).

In legal terms, if the additional cost is genuine and they've made a genuine mistake then you are still liable for the cost - however, for such a small amount and in view of the previous errors I think they've got a very big cheek to even ask.

Nicki

I am a solicitor, and if this would happen to me, and I had been sent something which was either headed up "final bill" or described in the covering letter as the final bill, then I would not pay the difference, and argue that the liability had been paid.

The only exception would be if they have missed off a disbursement (ie a figure that was payable to a third party) rather than just miscalculated the amount of their own fees, and if this was obvious to me, and I had up until then been hoping to get away with it.

Hope this helps

Becks045

We had a similar problem with a flat we purchased last year, we were owed over £1,000 from the solicitor and weeks later despite calls and e-mails we heard nothing. As soon as I sent them a stern letter saying I'd be contacting the Law Society for withholding funds owed to me they very quickly sent me a cheque saying that the solicitor was on holiday and then sick and apologies for the delay.

I then infact disputed my bill and refused to pay it all given the fact they had witheld my money and they agreed and said fine. Plus throughout the purchase they were rubbish. I got 50% off my bill.

carpetbelly

It was a fixed fee rather than by the hour. I've printed off the last statement I got from them to take home and compare this 'new' one with. But to have a final statement then receive another is just silly.

As I've said, if it's a genuine mistake that is owed moreso to a third party then I've no issue with paying as long as the solicitors take any consequences for the late payment.

I'm just really annoyed with the fact they send a letter basically saying 'give us more money please even though we were quite !!!! at communicating to you and you never even got to speak to your solicitor no matter how hard you tried'.

Thankyou all for your advice. Some really good bits here to take away and work on. I think the main thing I'm going to do is compare the two 'final' statements they've sent me. Ask for a breakdown in a sensible timescale and then take it from there.

Thanks again

Richard_Webster

If it had taken that long they might legally be able to collect it from you but I'm surprised they are still bothering because for that amount the negative publicity etc. wouldn't be worth it.

carpetbelly

Oooo I am never using these Solicitors again.

I still haven't received any information from them about this and to be honest I'd forgotten about this as the other week the misses little boy tripped down the stairs and hurt himself. So we've had other priorities of looking after a little boy who's a bit sore.

But I received an email this morning asking for the money again but again, they've now upped the amount again! So I've got a letter at home asking for £50 from about a couple of weeks ago and now I have an email asking for £80 from me.

I've phoned the Law Society and am now going to make a formal complaint about this. They won't get give me a breakdown and have issued more final bills than I can count! The person from the complaints line at the Law Society did say she thought it was rather incompetent that they're coming back this late on in the day and she feels that it's something they should write off.

I said before I would be happy to pay if I knew what it was for. Now I'm not so sure with the fact the amount now has gone up again and no one has said what it was for. Though I spoke to a completions clerk this morning who seemed to think it was for registering with the Council (leaseholders). Surely this should have been done at the time of completion?!?!?

These solicitors have lost my business after this, that's for sure.

Loretta

Please don't raise your hopes of getting any help from the Law Society, they are not there to help you they are there to cover the backsides of the solicitors

carpetbelly

I'm not raising my hopes to be honest. If I have to I'll get a friend who's a solicitor to see if anyone she knows can look at this (family law's a bit different I would have thought). I mean, I just noticed the new final balance they've supplied in the documentation this morning is different to both the last final bill they supplied the other week and the amount quoted in the email this morning alongside the attachment.

So I have people pestering me to pay when there's now 3 different amounts and a lack of contact from the solicitors as to what this is for and why it wasn't brought up at the time of completion.