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[tunnie]

Is it normal for Solicitors to ask for money on account up front when doing conveyance? One recommended by the Estate Agency the flat was listed with has asked for £500 up front  :-/

[TheBoy]

Not in my expereince  :-/

Generally, solicitors fees come in at £500-£1000 for house moves - yours should be lower end, as you are buying only.

I'd be inclined to try other recommendations...  ...some estate agents and solictors are too cosy.

[tunnie]

Not in my expereince  :-/

Generally, solicitors fees come in at £500-£1000 for house moves - yours should be lower end, as you are buying only.

I'd be inclined to try other recommendations...  ...some estate agents and solictors are too cosy.

My quote is approx £1,500 

£600 + VAT purchase
£100 + VAT mortgage
£50 + VAT  stamp duty form
£40 + VAT  bank transfer administration fee
£ 200 HM Land Registry fee
£ 4 HM Land Registry search
£83 L. B. Ealing search
£52.17 Thames Water search
£41.95 Environmental search
£50 Chancel indeminty
£2 bankruptcy search
£7.10 ID verification
£0 stamp duty as first time buyer for less than £250K

[RobG]

The only fee you might be asked for at the outset when buying a property is the cost of covering search fees: a local search, environmental search and a drainage and water search are carried out for practically every purchase. Depending on the location of the property, other searches such as a mining search may also be necessary.
HTH

[TheBoy]

Not in my expereince  :-/

Generally, solicitors fees come in at £500-£1000 for house moves - yours should be lower end, as you are buying only.

I'd be inclined to try other recommendations...  ...some estate agents and solictors are too cosy.

My quote is approx £1,500 

£600 + VAT purchase
£100 + VAT mortgage
£50 + VAT  stamp duty form
£40 + VAT  bank transfer administration fee
£ 200 HM Land Registry fee
£ 4 HM Land Registry search
£83 L. B. Ealing search
£52.17 Thames Water search
£41.95 Environmental search
£50 Chancel indeminty
£2 bankruptcy search
£7.10 ID verification
£0 stamp duty as first time buyer for less than £250K

I'll ask my best mate (who lead me astray on Friday night - I'm not drinking ever again ) who has just moved to deepest Brackley what his fees were....

[Kevin Wood]

Not in my expereince  :-/

Generally, solicitors fees come in at £500-£1000 for house moves - yours should be lower end, as you are buying only.

I'd be inclined to try other recommendations...  ...some estate agents and solictors are too cosy.

My quote is approx £1,500 

£600 + VAT purchase
£100 + VAT mortgage
£50 + VAT  stamp duty form
£40 + VAT  bank transfer administration fee
£ 200 HM Land Registry fee
£ 4 HM Land Registry search
£83 L. B. Ealing search
£52.17 Thames Water search
£41.95 Environmental search
£50 Chancel indeminty
£2 bankruptcy search
£7.10 ID verification
£0 stamp duty as first time buyer for less than £250K

That sounds a bit steep to me. £600 including the searches I might have been more comfortable with, and I've never paid extra for ID verification or bank fees, etc.

I've also never been asked for anything up front. I've paid for the searches, etc. as they were done, and paid the legal fees along with the deposit at exchange of contracts. If you pay up front how much do you get refunded if if falls through before your solicitor writes a single letter?

Can't remember what we last paid, and it was 6 years ago, but I'll have a look later.

Of course, NuLab probably introduced a load of extra horsepoo and red tape that needs to be negotiated since then.

Kevin

[tunnie]

Thanks, confirmed my thoughts, as me paying money is best weapon to make sure they do the job right. Decided to ditch them and use a local company we have used before, mother T used them for some family matters some years ago and she was impressed, and mother T is a barrister so thats good praise! 

They also quoted £650 all in which is much more reasonable.

[Sixstring]

Moved 3 wks ago Tunnie, cost me about the same, about £1000  all in, but asked for £400 up front to do all searches, HM land reg, etc.

Showed this to our company solicitor, he said tell them to **** *** and go to someone else. Nuff said.

[jereboam]

Once you have engaged a solicitor, the trick is to make sure they actually do something.  You absolutely need to chase them for everything, because if you don't, your case will sink to the bottom of their priority list.  This is especially important when dealing with the mortgage money - if you don't nag them, they won't tell you that they've received it, and it will sit in their account earning interest for them.  This isn't supposed to happen, but it still does.  It can be very expensive if you have any sort of bridging loan.

[tunnie]

on the large amount of sums, can see why the interest would be tempting

[CaptainZok]

Can't Mother T suggest someone with her being in the trade so to speak.

[tunnie]

Can't Mother T suggest someone with her being in the trade so to speak.

Gone with local one, mother T used them before. Got good impression from them 

[Marks DTM Calib]

That first quote is disgraceful.

I find with these law types that you have to keep reminding them who they are working for as they are not the most customer savvy people.

[HolyCount]

Once you have engaged a solicitor, the trick is to make sure they actually do something.  You absolutely need to chase them for everything, because if you don't, your case will sink to the bottom of their priority list.  This is especially important when dealing with the mortgage money - if you don't nag them, they won't tell you that they've received it, and it will sit in their account earning interest for them.  This isn't supposed to happen, but it still does.  It can be very expensive if you have any sort of bridging loan.

If you have to have a nag -- nag the secretary and get her to pass on a message -- as soon as you, the client, engages your solicitor in conversation, even about the weather, the clock will start ticking. The solicitor won't get any mortgage money before completion because the lender won't part with it before then!!!  As you are only buying and there is no sale involved the only money they will get in will be from you, in the form of deposit (ready for exchange of contracts), which they part with on exchange. The lender will transfer monies on the day of completion (maybe the day before if they are reasonable) which your solicitor will transfer straight back out again.

The fees quoted are noy just for your purchase. Acting for the mortgage company incurs fees which you also have to bear ( part of the agreement for getting the mortgage ). Some lenders even insist that you use their own solicitors for that part which racks up the fees considerably.

Luckily I have a good working relationship with my solicitors .... she signs the forms and I do the work ( mind you the last time I did that was 15 years ago --- things have probably changed since then )

[Kevin Wood]

That first quote is disgraceful.

I find with these law types that you have to keep reminding them who they are working for as they are not the most customer savvy people.

Problem is, conveyancing is boring bread-and-butter work for them so yes, they need constant chasing if anything is to be achieved.

When we last moved house one solicitor in the chain bu66ered off on holiday for 2 weeks with the keys to the safe in which his clients' searches and all other documents were locked. His partners knew nothing about it and we were due to complete during his holiday.

What kind of professional disappears without briefing a colleague about urgent business that might need to be looked after while he's away let alone denying access to documents that he knew full well would be needed?

As it was, one of his senior partners had to do (and pay for) all the searches again and complete the whole transaction in a couple of days to stop the chain falling through so I hope the rocket that he got up his jacksie on his return was large and sideways!

Kevin