solicitor fees for buying a house

ascottdub

Registered User
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15
Hello Everyone,

I have finally sale agreed on a house.

Does anyone know of a rough estimate for a solicitor for their fee, and all the land searches, deeds, etc...?

I have searched the various sites, but the 1/2 I found were posted awhile back. I apologise if I have missed it somewhere else

I have a quote of 2500 euro.

Is this fairly standard.

Please advise?

Thanks in advance
 
I was quoted anything from 2k to 3.5k. In the end I got an all in deal for 1780euro's. The solicitor does a 15% discount through work.
 
There are three elements in the bottom line figure.

1. Professional fee
2. VAT @ 21.5%
3. Outlays - searches, commissioners fees and registration fees ( these can vary from 100- c.800). Registration fees depend on whether the title is registered in the Land Registry or Registry of Deeds - until you see the Title you can't tell.

If you are getting quotes , make sure to ascertain 1 and 2 and get the guesstimate for 3.

mf
 
I'm in the middle of buying a property at the moment. When I looked for quotes I was quoted €1500 to €2500. But don't forget to ask around and see how good they are. No point in going with the cheapest and find they make a dog's dinner of the process.
 
No point in going with the cheapest and find they make a dog's dinner of the process.

Totally agree with this - the quality of your buying process will affect the quality of your subsequent selling process - best get someone reliable so that they get the vendors to sort out any title issues/quirks (for e.g.) at the vendor's cost, rather than waiting for when you are selling and have to sort them out yourself.

As mf says, OP, check that what the 2500 includes - does it include VAT and a guesstimate of the land registry fees? If not, then the 2500 can end up looking a lot more like 3500 so best to check!
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. He is a well respected solicitor so I can't see him making a mess of it. Will be sure to ask him the other suggestions posted here.

Thanks
 
In Aug 2005 I paid 950 fees + VAT = 1150, plus outlays = 1325 in total.

I used Dermot Deane in Dublin.
 
2500 euro is far too high in today's competitive market. 995 plus outlays plus VAT (approx 1600 total) is pretty standard nowadays.


Certainly this sort of fee is available if you hunt around a bit. But I doubt that it is pretty standard. I would say a fee of €1200 - €1500 is closer to the norm (plus VAT and outlay) for the purchase or sale of a standard housing estate house or apartment.
 
I got a few quotes recently, they all worked out at the 2200-2300 (including VAT & outlays).
 
Hi,
I was quoted 1200 plus vat (professional fee) and about 500 odd for the outlay, had budgeted for €2k....just in case.

Bill arrived on Monday......€2640....queried the breakdown of fees associated with an AH property I never went ahead with. At the time solicitor had said he wouldn't commence anything until he'd heard from DCC......then I decided to back out before DCC had even got the ball rolling, solicitor said said no problem, nothing done on it anyway, keep an eye out and if you're offered another property we're here to help.

Within ten mins of my query for breakdown of costs an amended quote of €2080 arrived. I was shocked at the initial quote but more shocked at how quickly my solicitor backed down as soon as I queried it....also when colecting my keys he more or less admitted to chancing his arm. His exact words were " I wasn't chancing my arm (with the first quote) but thought if you accepted it, you accepted it". Now maybe I picked him up completely incorrectly....but I'm not sure what else "if you accepted it, you accepted it" could imply.

In short, my advice is get your quote in writing and keep it somewhere safe so you can produce it if there is any issue.
best of luck
FTB1975
 
This is common.

It is common to see huge fees falling a lot when queried.

This means that the sol hopes you won't query their huge fees.

It also means they can do the work for lower rates.

I have pity for the people who "trust their family sol" and then get fleeced with huge fees.
 
This is common.

It is common to see huge fees falling a lot when queried.

This means that the sol hopes you won't query their huge fees.

It also means they can do the work for lower rates.

I have pity for the people who "trust their family sol" and then get fleeced with huge fees.

1. It is common? Any basis for that comment?
2. These are by no means huge fees. Perhaps a solicitor just wants to get paid and move on?
3. Fees should be quoted in advance and this gives people the opportunity to ring around. Most people who call my office have already rung around.
4. "It also means they can do the work for lower rates." 1 and 1 equals 4? There is a cost associated with doing the work. A solicitor may well end up working for uneconomic fees -that does not mean they are making a living or can do it cheaper.

Working for ftb's is a nightmare are they are the most cost conscious with the least idea of what they are doing. Its far easier to work for someone who has been through the process before and has a notion about just what is involved and how much work is involved so you don't eat up the fee dealing with queries on life policies and direct debits.
Equally, they are far better at discussing money and fees early on.

I remember a long time ago on this site someone making the point that whereas many people are happy to have a go at the legal profession en masse, most people will confirm that they were happy with their own solicitor. Perhaps we're seeing a whole wave of unhappy clients currently on this site but it does not mean that they are representative of the public at large.

mf
 
MF1,
I hope your comments on FTBs aren't directed at me! I certainly wasn't taking up my solicitors time with queries on direct debits and life policies I can assure you. I think your comment may be a bit of a generalisation but I'd agree we probably are the most cost concious and the process is new to us and we may be more of a hassle to solicitors than seasoned buyers but I was far from "not knowing what I was doing". Anyway who enters into the realm of property purchasing needs to have a good idea as to what they're at in my view...especially if they're an FTB.

To clarify...I did get a quote, numerous quotes from different solicitors in fact and the reason I queried the initial invoice was as it was far in excess of the quote and the figure I had budgeted for.
I certainly wasn't taking a swipe at solicitors in my post, at least that wasn't my intention.

FTB1975
 
FTB1975 I think that anyone who is entering i nto property purchase should be as consiencous as each other, be they FTB or people who are buying their 15th property. If for one reason or another things are being held up you should always be liasing with your solicitor anyway to get their opinion on it, can they do anything, is it worth trying anything. I wouldn't call it being "nightmarish",as MF1 has stated, and any solicitor who does think that should put a sign on their doors saying "consiencous property buyers not wanted" if they want an easy life.

I'll hopefully be a 2nd time buyer soon and I know that I'm going to be as apprehensive and consiencous as I was buying my first property. The fees I was charged for my part in selling my previous property were quite modest, I know that the buyers solicitor was doing most of the work and ended up getting charged almost 3 times more than my bill of 1055 from my family solicitor (800 for fee plus outlays, plus 21% vat).

I know back in 2005 it cost in the region of 3000 worth of sols fees to purchase the first property, so it will be interesting to see the difference in the fees for buying property in the current climate, to see if fees have come down, or whether or not the solicitor I'm using this time would be cheaper anyway.
 
I have come across solicitors quoting registry of deeds fees for land registry properties (a difference of about 500) over the phone to get the business and then saying ooops that's actually a land registry property once they get the contracts. This is very sharp. A solicitor in an area that has both types of title should be pointing this differential out very clearly when giving a quote. In any given area a solicitor who knows about conveyancing will know by the address which system applies. I got abused by a quote seeker over the phone for quoting land registry fees on a property to which they applied because someone else had told him it was registry of deeds. I was happy not to get his business but have also had others told the same thing and one person who was very annoyed at finding out about the increased cost after several weeks and being told by the solicitor that he had already read the title and would still charge her for this if she went elsewhere, and anyway the outlay would be the same at another solicitor.

Sorry for the rant but I hate this sort of carry on. It is tough for everyone in business at the minute but deliberately misleading people to get business is not on. If someone cannot be up front about something like how much your registration outlay is going to be do you really want them handling hundreds of thousands of pounds on your behalf?

So when shopping for a solicitor, compare the fee quotes, outlay is determined by the government and should not vary between solicitors.
 
There are three elements in the bottom line figure.

1. Professional fee
2. VAT @ 21.5%
3. Outlays - searches, commissioners fees and registration fees ( these can vary from 100- c.800). Registration fees depend on whether the title is registered in the Land Registry or Registry of Deeds - until you see the Title you can't tell.

If you are getting quotes , make sure to ascertain 1 and 2 and get the guesstimate for 3.

mf

Can someone explain to me why solicitors have to charge 21.5% VAT for a service, and all other service industries only charge 13.5%?
 
Accountants charge 21.5%.

That is standard for professional services.

mf
 
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