Solicitors Fees

O

oreilly21

Registered User
Messages
31
I am currently trying to sell my shar in an apartment to my two friends whom i already own it with,
this requires me to have my name removed from the deeds and my name taking off the mortgage account.

i went to my solicitor and stupidy didnt ask what his fees were, i have now been billed 2450 altogether for this to be done, of which 1800 (incl VAT) is professional fees, i have gotten other quotes out of interest after this and the average for this process is around 600-800 euros, does anyone know do i have any come back to my solicitor. this seems very high altogether for what was really a simple enough process..

please help if you can
 
There are some solicitors that post on Askaboutmoney and they will be able to clarify this, but I thought that a solicitor was required to give a written fee estimate prior to commencing work.
 
thanks

that is what i thought as well, but we didnt receive anything, should have been on top of this from the begining but trying to buy own place at the same time and work, so let it go and trusted the solicitors fees from the last time when we actually bought the apartment. his fee this time is actually more than when we bought the property initially (1 1/2 years ago)
 
There is a requirement for your solicitor to produce an estimate under Section 68 of some Act or another (commonly referred to as a Section 68 letter).

Some information in this thread may be of interest, especially this post.

You may have some grounds for a discount, but the fact that you didn't ask for and estimate upfront may not help your case.
 
You havn't posted enough information for anybody to make an informed judgment or comment about this. If this was a sale, I don't see how the fee could be €1800 including VAT but yet the total bill could be €2450. On a sale, the outlays would generally be in the region of €100, leaving your total bill at less than €2k.

Can you give us the full breakdown of the bill, including the itemised outlays that bring it to 2450? Then perhaps you can get some useful feedback.
 
MOB said:
You havn't posted enough information for anybody to make an informed judgment or comment about this. If this was a sale, I don't see how the fee could be €1800 including VAT but yet the total bill could be €2450. On a sale, the outlays would generally be in the region of €100, leaving your total bill at less than €2k.

Can you give us the full breakdown of the bill, including the itemised outlays that bring it to 2450? Then perhaps you can get some useful feedback.
Click to expand...

Sorry if it isnt clear, i will do my best:

i am selling my share of a property to my two partners (ie our 33.3% is now becoming their 50%)
basically this involves taking my name off the deeds and the mortgage.

the solicitor has it broken down as :

Professional fees: 1500 + Vat=1815
Outlay (land registry, searches etc..) 570
Other fees (telephone etc) 100

that totals: € 2485

it is the professional fees that seem very high to me as other quotes i have gotten ranged from 600-800 euro..

the lesson learned is to always ask for a written quotation beforehand....
 
Sounds like the solicitor could be acting for all three parties? Can you confirm if that is the case, because if so, the fee is extremely good value.
 
I agree with Vanilla's comment. I do not believe that any solicitor would do the work of both sides to this transaction for €600-€800. When you say that the solicitor is 'taking my name off the deeds and mortgage' what this actually means is doing much the same work as in a sale of the apartment AND, it appears, the purchase of the apartment, plus the equivalent of a remortgage transaction. A solicitor might charge 600-800 for just selling out your interest (and this would be cheap), but I cannot believe that the solicitor would also do the work on the buyer's side for this money.

Of course, unless it was specifically agreed beforehand, there is no reason you should be liable for the entire bill - at least some of it should be borne by the people buying you out (and in my view they should bear 100% of the Land Registry fees)
 
Many solicitors (myself included, from time to time, if I am brutally honest) seem to fall down in the area of clear communication and justification of their charges.

Here we have a situation where it seems that in fact the solicitor was giving excellent value and yet client originally felt that he\she had been overcharged. (I am assuming from last post that OP now sees and accepts that charges are very reasonable). A two minute chat about the fee would have avoided this. It's very frustrating for a member of the profession to see fellow solicitors shooting themselves in the foot like this.
 
that is exactly the case,

it is a simple thing but wires were crossed, thanks for clearing this up!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top