I suspect you made the mistake of asking your solicitor what her fees would be, rather than what the total legal cost would be.
....If they are now invoicing you, it's too late to do anything, the deal is done.
'' they add on €75 for office overhead...''
New one on me, talk about a junk charge, anybody else ever hear of this ?......
... I've asked solicitors for a receipt for every third party cost, i.e. the land registry stuff. They also say they will give me a small discount, but I haven't received anything in writing yet.....
Actually, the 'third parties' fees have been outlined below, is anyone more knowledgeable about this than me? I don't think we need searches done, and why would they cost €300? The piece of garden is not going to have debts on it, and I know he owns his house for the past 30 years. How is registered post €30 when a letter costs €8 in an post to send by registered post. Also, should stamp duty not be 1% on a piece of land work €10K?
Outlays due to third parties:
Land Registry fee (registering Deed in Land Registry €500, Registering Deed in Registry of Deeds €50, printing folio X2 €10.00 & €40 Land Reg) (total €600)
Swearing fees: €20
Searches: €300
Same day transfer: €25
Registered post: €30
Stamp Duty 2%: €200
I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice folks.
Solicitors are obliged to send out a specific letter with their fees. S68 letter I think it is called. It would be much better if all solicitors sent out a detailed quotation for costs including VAT.Not specifically, "Vat and Outlays" was the old favorite, or sometimes if you were very lucky, you got "Vat, Outlays, Postage & Courier Charges"...
I think a lesson for everyone is to ask very specific questions about costs and also get them on email or in print, not just verbal.
Thanks for the replies. We were very clear to our solicitor that we wanted an estimate of what it would cost us in total. She even mentioned that we'd have to pay for an engineer and a valuation, so it's bizarre that she left out the Land Registry fees. She also didn't mentioned that it was ex vat and that they add on €75 for office overhead, which is also ex vat — I find that so annoying. Anyway, we can discuss it further with the solicitor, but it just seems we were grossly misinformed, whether it was deliberate or not.
I think that this is the bigger issue. Not the actual cost of the outlays. You asked your solicitor for an estimate of what it would cost in total. She didn't give it to you.
she said €850 approx. We also agreed to pay the solicitor fees for our neighbour to encourage him to sell us the piece of land.
The opening post here suggests otherwise. And no professional can give a reliable estimate of third party costs. least of all the costs of another professional. The claim that €850 was estimated to cover everything is ludicrous.
And if they're quibbling over €30 for registered post...
Point taken, but it would strike me that, at the start of the process, the solicitor should have sent out a written estimate - even an e-mail - quoting her own fee, VAT, a conditional estimate of outlays and perhaps a line saying that she could not estimate the other solicitor's costs and that the client should request an estimate from the other solicitor.
We asked the solicitor how much it would cost to sure we could afford it — she said €850 approx. We also agreed to pay the solicitor fees for our neighbour to encourage him to sell us the piece of land.
We were very clear to our solicitor that we wanted an estimate of what it would cost us in total.
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