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Solicitor increased fee-purchase of freehold and parking space

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mustachio
mustachio Posts: 83 Forumite
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in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,

I am purchasing a freehold (with another flat) and a parking space altogether.

Got a letter from solicitor advising that his fee had increased by £200 (to a total of £780).

This is due to complete early next week-how do others feel about this? The solicitor states: "my costs have inevitably had to increase beyond the original estimate because I had to spend so much extra time sorting out the insurance, apportionments and dealing with the other flat (not involved with the purchase.

Do I just have to pay?

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  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    mustachio wrote: »
    Do I just have to pay?
    £200 sounds quite reasonable for the additional work.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    mustachio wrote: »
    Hi,

    I am purchasing a freehold (with another flat) and a parking space altogether.

    Got a letter from solicitor advising that his fee had increased by £200 (to a total of £780).

    This is due to complete early next week-how do others feel about this? The solicitor states: "my costs have inevitably had to increase beyond the original estimate because I had to spend so much extra time sorting out the insurance, apportionments and dealing with the other flat (not involved with the purchase.

    Do I just have to pay?


    What you are saying is that you don't feel that the solicitor is entitled to be paid for extra time he spent doing your job? I hope your employer decides not to pay you for several hours of your job next week on the basis that they could have got it done in less time.
  • JoJo1978
    JoJo1978 Posts: 375 Forumite
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    Yes unless your contract clearly states you hired them on a fixed fee basis. If there was extra work the amount sounds reasonable, your original engagement letter probably states what their hourly rate is, so you can work out how much extra time you've been charged for. You can argue now if you think it's unfair and risk delaying completion (they need payment on completion) or pay up now and try for a rebate later. Personally for the sake of a couple of hundred I'd let it go, especially if your engagement letter states this may happen.
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
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    JoJo1978 wrote: »
    Yes unless your contract clearly states you hired them on a fixed fee basis. .
    and even if it was a fixed fee, that would have been for a specified job. If other unexpected and unspecified elements of work arose, the solicitor can charge for these on top.
  • mustachio
    mustachio Posts: 83 Forumite
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    edited 13 April 2018 at 2:23PM
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    Cakeguts wrote: »
    What you are saying is that you don't feel that the solicitor is entitled to be paid for extra time he spent doing your job? I hope your employer decides not to pay you for several hours of your job next week on the basis that they could have got it done in less time.

    No not at all. I am not saying I won't pay the money I am querying here to get an informed opinion if it is fair to do so since the fee had been quoted prior to starting the purchase.

    For example if you agree to work in a shop for £10 an hour and it is busy you don't start asking your boss for £14 an hour. Similarly when it's quiet you don't accept being paid £7 an hour.

    The solicitor knows the seller and the situation very well so it was unexpected. As it happens I will be paying the additional money.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    mustachio wrote: »
    No not at all. I am not saying I won't pay the money I am querying here to get an informed opinion if it is fair to do so since the fee had been quoted prior to starting the purchase.

    For example if you agree to work in a shop for £10 an hour and it is busy you don't start asking your boss for £14 an hour. Similarly when it's quiet you don't accept being paid £7 an hour.

    The solicitor knows the seller and the situation very well so it was unexpected.

    The problem is that a solicitor can't tell how complicated something is likely to be until they start on it. He has told you that he had to spend more time on it than he expected to do. So he is just asking you to pay for the extra time he spent I think this is fair enough.
  • Tiglet2
    Tiglet2 Posts: 2,470 Forumite
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    I work at a conveyancing firm where a lot of our work is fixed fee, but this is for a straight forward sale or purchase. Recently a potential client rang our sales department to get a quote for a "remortgage", so the sales department provided a quote which the client accepted. It later transpires that the client is intending to divide her title into two, sell the original house on one half of the title, then build a new house on the other half with the remortgage monies and the proceeds of the sale of the original property. The solicitor wrote a similar letter to yours explaining that there would be an uplift in fees for the additional work. Client wasn't happy but the solicitor would not work all the extra hours the transaction needed for a couple of hundred pounds.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    mustachio wrote: »
    For example if you agree to work in a shop for £10 an hour and it is busy you don't start asking your boss for £14 an hour.
    I don't think this is a great analogy to start with, but anyway...


    It's more like if you agree to do a five hour shift for £50, and end up having to work an eight hour shift, but your manager is grumbling about paying you more than £50.
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