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Solicitor trying to charge more money after sale

2

Comments

  • NineDeuce
    NineDeuce Posts: 997 Forumite
    I dont know what your exact rights here are. I think you would probably have to pay it.

    The other posters on here are right in saying that you have to pay this and that this is not profit for the solicitors. However, the solicitor is at fault for not mentioning this in the original quote. By omitting a fee from the quote, this could make easily have persuaded you to use this company over another. This is misleading, however unintentional. They have been negligent

    Someone may argue that you should know this but I dont think so. If they have provided you with a quote to see through a house sale/purchase, then they should be obliged to stick with it.

    What would be their reaction if you said to them that you felt like taking some money off?
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    NineDeuce wrote: »
    Someone may argue that you should know this but I dont think so. If they have provided you with a quote to see through a house sale/purchase, then they should be obliged to stick with it.
    They will probably have been quite clear in stating that the third party disbursements are merely estimates, and will depend on the eventual detail of the transaction (e.g. they won't necessarily know at the outset whether a transfer of part is going to be involved), and whether the third party varies their fees or is simply indecisive about what they're going to charge.

    If they had overestimated by £135, the solicitors wouldn't be entitled to pocket the surplus money, so I think the converse ought to apply.
  • NineDeuce
    NineDeuce Posts: 997 Forumite
    davidmcn wrote: »
    They will probably have been quite clear in stating that the third party disbursements are merely estimates, and will depend on the eventual detail of the transaction (e.g. they won't necessarily know at the outset whether a transfer of part is going to be involved), and whether the third party varies their fees or is simply indecisive about what they're going to charge.

    If they had overestimated by £135, the solicitors wouldn't be entitled to pocket the surplus money, so I think the converse ought to apply.

    They will know about a land registry fee though wont they?
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    NineDeuce wrote: »
    They will know about a land registry fee though wont they?
    Yes, they'll know what the (then) standard registration fee will be, but at the point of quoting the fees won't necessarily know anything about the title or what complications might be involved in registration.

    Similarly, SDLT will be quoted at the standard rate for the price, not taking account of any surcharges or exemptions arising from the client's personal circumstances.
  • Lucky_Duck_2
    Lucky_Duck_2 Posts: 271 Forumite
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    I would have expected the completion statement - which is presumably what the OP has already paid - to have the 'proper figures' for disbursements and the like rather than carrying over an estimates from the original quotation
  • NineDeuce
    NineDeuce Posts: 997 Forumite
    davidmcn wrote: »
    Yes, they'll know what the (then) standard registration fee will be, but at the point of quoting the fees won't necessarily know anything about the title or what complications might be involved in registration.

    Similarly, SDLT will be quoted at the standard rate for the price, not taking account of any surcharges or exemptions arising from the client's personal circumstances.

    Well yes, I can understand SDLT because that is percentage variable, but the land registry fee?
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    NineDeuce wrote: »
    Well yes, I can understand SDLT because that is percentage variable, but the land registry fee?
    What is it you don't understand about it? The fee will depend on how many titles are affected by the transaction, which deeds require to be registered, whether there are transfers of part involved, whether the Land Registry changes its fees during the course of the transaction...an initial quote will assume it's straightforward, but it might not be.
  • parkrunner
    parkrunner Posts: 2,610 Forumite
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    davidmcn wrote: »
    What is it you don't understand about it? The fee will depend on how many titles are affected by the transaction, which deeds require to be registered, whether there are transfers of part involved, whether the Land Registry changes its fees during the course of the transaction...an initial quote will assume it's straightforward, but it might not be.

    But why would things change after receiving the final bill? I understand your points but surely they would have known about it all prior to the final account unless of course some kind of addendum was added to that bill implying it wasn't final.
    It's nothing , not nothink.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    parkrunner wrote: »
    But why would things change after receiving the final bill? I understand your points but surely they would have known about it all prior to the final account unless of course some kind of addendum was added to that bill implying it wasn't final.
    I was more responding to Ninedeuce's comments about them using an attractive quote to compete at the outset rather than discrepancies in the final account - yes, they should have a better idea by the time you get to completion, but even then the "final" account may be subject to change as not everything has actually happened yet. At the end of the day the solicitor's accounts have to reflect the actual costs incurred.
  • johntaylor1980
    johntaylor1980 Posts: 11 Forumite
    Hi,

    Thanks all for the replies, I have just checked the final completion statement and it says £135 for land registration which I have obviously paid. Surely this is the solicitors fault?
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