Increased solicitors fees at last minute

Richard_Webster

Normally a warning should be given to you that extra work is anticipated. You should be given the choice of paying or not. If you say you won't pay for the extra telephone calls then the solicitor simply refuses to talk to the agents. Sometimes that can be counterproductive and may prejudice your position.

We don't know what the problem with the title is. Sometimes the seller's solicitors can't see or won't see what the issue is, and a buyer' solicitor has to spend a lot of time explaining it and effectively telling the seller' solicitor how to sort it out. If the buyer's solicitor didn't do that then he would be accused of being unhelpful.

Sometimes, as a buyer's solicitor, I get replies back which obviously suggest the seller's solicitor has not understood what I am getting at. If I simply do nothing or write a "please let us have a proper reply to point 5 of our letter of ..." then they don't know what I mean and carry on missing the point so I have to explain painfully in words of one syllable what the issue and why it is important. I don't generally charge more for that kind of thing unless it gets really tedious and then I would warn the client beforehand.

The solicitors might be justified but more likely they should have explained themselves beforehand and warned the clients about the potential extra costs.

I make a point of telling clients that my estimates for my fees are not fixed quotes, but then make the point that it would be very rare for there to be a variation, and I am protecting my back in relation to extreme situations. From a practical point of view it is silly to charge a lot extra anyway because the solicitor can spend unprofitable time defending the extra charge. Also the client will probably tell all his friends NOT to use that solcitor and what help is that? Alternatively if he tells his friends that "My solcitor did a lot of extra work because the estate agents were difficult... and didn't charge me any more..." then he will get business from the friends.

nutmegman

lump sum fixed price, get it covered in writing before you proceed, this applies to all things not just legal fees, builders, plumbers etc etc

chickmug

nutmegman wrote: »

lump sum fixed price, get it covered in writing before you proceed, this applies to all things not just legal fees, builders, plumbers etc etc

I fully agree with you but in my experience people seem to shake at the knees at the thought of asking 'a solicitor' for such confirmation.

lisalop

thanks richard.

would you say that your way of working is pretty much standard 'good practice' in this area?


i completely agree wth you re: counterproductive. i think my husband and i have come across as green and naive, the point about the money was hidden in rather a long letter.

the solicitor was recomended by our broker. our broker gets a deal from the insurances we take out and they do not get their 'cut' from the insurance firm should we cancel. I might cancel becuase of his recomendation and hope to force him not to use these solicitors again.

keep it coming any more is great

JimmyTheWig

Richard_Webster wrote: »

I don't generally charge more for that kind of thing unless it gets really tedious and then I would warn the client beforehand.

The solicitors might be justified but more likely they should have explained themselves beforehand and warned the clients about the potential extra costs.

I think that this hits the nail on the head.

the client will probably tell all his friends NOT to use that solcitor

Agreed. Though the other people to mention to the solicitors are the estate agents. When our vendors' solicitor was causing all sorts of grief our estate agent went to the boss of the solicitor and told them that they were messing with two local estate agents and they're not people you want to mess with if you want to get future custom. Seemed to help (at least for a while).

Richard_Webster

would you say that your way of working is pretty much standard 'good practice' in this area?

Certainly we are expected to warn clients of significant increased costs as soon as it becomes likely they will be incurred. I deal with things on the basis of practicalities, what I think the average person will understand, and preserving goodwill.

Other firms use lengthy terms and conditions which they get their clients to sign for and then justify extra charges on the basis of these. If the client signed an acceptance of them, then there is little the client can do, even though the reality is that the terms and conditions may have been so turgid that the average non-conveyancer would not spot the booby traps lurking there. There are some prize instances of this with some factory firms that advertise on the web.

So sadly I'm not sure that the way I deal with things is "standard".