Choosing a solicitor when buying a house... and COSTS!!!

K

kennedst

Guest
Hello everyone,

I've just gone sale agreed on a house @ €415K and need to pick a solicitor. I'm fairly to the pin of my collar and need to get a good deal on solicitor fees.

I've two questions - 1) What should I expect to pay? 2) Can anyone recommend a good solicitor?

Thanks so much for your time :)
 
hi ,
your best thing to do is get on the phone and get some quotes. you'll get good feel for range of prices out there.

you'll find huge variation- in price and quality of service.

they'll ask purchase price and location- if its in a pretty new estate it means there'll be no issues with the land registry so it'll be cheaper, a stand alone house or old house is more likely to cause them work so will be slightly more. make sure the price quoted is all inclusive and includes land registry fee. a friend of mine got burnt by solicoitor recommended by her brother that charged her 20 euro for every phone call she made to them !

also use the ringing around process to get a feel for the quality of service you will get- I ended up using a solicitor who had the quote emailed to me within 2 mins of her making it over the phone- you have to sign it and hand it back - she lived up the road so she dropped into my house to pick up the forms - saved me a trip to her office. i.e fast and excellent service.

a slow solicitor can really hold up a sale- on another house- vendors sol was really slow getting paper work together and held up our purchase by 5 months.

if its a new build you EA will have a recommended list- again jsut get on the phone.
 
Thanks so much for getting back to me and the great advice. I'll get on the phone tomorrow and start the ringing around. Much appreciated & thanks again.
 
I got a quote for E275 per hour with a standard purchase taking approx 5 hours. Searches E125. Registration fees (ranging from up to E600). Also don't forget stamp duty at 1%.

love to hear other quotes.
 
Was quoted 1950 in legal fee (ex vat + other fees) from someone who was recommended. Which I am having huge regrets now and am looking into changing. It was only two days ago that we talked. Hope I can change and ring around to get other quotes. Pure naivety plane and simple in trying to rush a sale through.
 
KildareMc said:
Was quoted 1950 in legal fee (ex vat + other fees) from someone who was recommended. Which I am having huge regrets now and am looking into changing. It was only two days ago that we talked. Hope I can change and ring around to get other quotes. Pure naivety plane and simple in trying to rush a sale through.
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All you have to do is email or call and say you've decided not to use their services at all or unless they will do it more cheaply. Then maybe go and find someone else recommended to do it cheaper and play one off against the other. Or just go for the cheapest you can find anywhere.

mf
 
Are you unhappy with the fee or the service to date or both?
If you are unhappy with the service perhaps you can flag this and have the relevant issues addressed before deciding to switch?
If they have done any work for you to date then I presume that they will expect to be paid for that even if/when you switch to another solicitor for the conveyancing proper?
 
Yea I'm wondering about the charges , but it is barely 2 days from talking to them. Estate agent and all say nothing should have been sent so I dont expect that much can have been done.

As regards the service, im sure he would do a good job and is very professional, maybe too much so. But I suppose I feel very secure about the property , its 8 years old and in an estate, so I dont see there being any major issue as regards the transaction that could justify paying 2/3 times other people for fees.

I've been onto all involved and am looking around for other quotes now ..
 
Regardless of how confident you are about the property or how recently it was built the title and all contractual stuff still needs to be checked out and the conveyancing done. All things being equal I'd prefer more rather than less professionalism in this context. But maybe all things (e.g. price) are not equal. Good luck with your search for a suitable and suitably priced solicitor and with the transaction itself.
 
Sorry for adding to this thread, but I was wondering if it were possible to use the same solicitor for both the purchase and sale of a house. The transaction is an executor sale to a family member with agreement from all other family members.
 
Eithneangela said:
Sorry for adding to this thread, but I was wondering if it were possible to use the same solicitor for both the purchase and sale of a house. The transaction is an executor sale to a family member with agreement from all other family members.
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Yes you can use same the solicitor for both. Most practical thing to do!
 
Eithneangela said:
Sorry for adding to this thread, but I was wondering if it were possible to use the same solicitor for both the purchase and sale of a house. The transaction is an executor sale to a family member with agreement from all other family members.
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It is possible but it is not recommended practice.
 
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