posted 17 December 2004 06:08 PM
I am a conveyancing solicitor, so I do not like the way people are led to believe that fees are lower than they really are. It gives the profession a bad name. I am assuming that none of these extras were expressly pinted out to you at the outset. if they were it is more difficult to complain, you should have gone somewhere at the start. It is unfortunate to say the least that an explanation of "disbur*****ts" is hidden in Xpress's FAQs section where under a "miscellaneous costs" heading they list "administration fee, indemnity insurance, leasehold supplement, acting for the mortgage lender, etc."
Most of the items that you have listed are part of the solicitor's overheads and should be included in his fee. Indemnity insurance is an overhead, the stamp duty form is a standard feature now that does take time, but that should be reflected in the costs. A separate Funds Transfer Fee is reasonable although the £41 is a little on the high side. It is reasonable to charge extra for a leasehold purchase as there is a lot of extra work, but this should have been made clear at the outset.
I do not know what value property and if freehold/leasehold for £495, but that sounds much more in line in general terms. I would have done a leasehold purchase for at £202500 (worked out from stamp duty) for £550-£600 + vat including acting for the lender. The only extras would have those you have correctly identified as legitimate (and a £25 + vat CHAPs Fee) although I am not really sure about the need for a drainage search on a flat, which judging by the cost of the local search, would be in London.
The solicitor in question signed on to use Xpress Conveyancing's marketing and so would have been aware of what they were telling people and indirectly responsible for it. Therefore I would suggest you complain to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors about the misleading information given to you. You can also challenge the solicitor's bill with the Law Society. I wouldn't bother about complaining to Xpress - go straight to/for the solicitor.
When people ring me for an estimate I try to get as much detail as I can at the outset so I can do my best to tell them about any likely extras, so they know from the start what these are likely to be. From what you have said the only "unusual" factors about your transaction were that the property was leasehold and you were getting a mortgage. How many buyers fall into that category? Those are the two most obvious points that could make a difference to the figures quoted.
Solicitors generally have two clients on a purchase - the buyer and his mortgage lender and the buyer pays the fees for both. The point here is that most people don't realise that, so it is only right a solicitor should point that out and explain if the charge is more because there is a mortgage.
I hope others read this and learn not to trust some of the claims on the internet at their face value. They don't all have to be bad - I can think of one licensed conveyancer with a fairly impressive website that makes a point of expressly refusing to have anything to do with these "extras". You should also read ALL THE small print and the "terms and conditions" and FAQs.
Richard Webster
quote:
Originally posted by slyrubies:
Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this. My conveyancers claim that their fees are only £395.00 (exc VAT) BUT they have farmed out most of the conveyancing to another solicitor for which I am being charged "disbur*****ts". These include the following:£464 conveyancing
£64 admin fee
£64 indemnity fee
£41 "fee for lengthy Land Transaction Return Form"
£41 "fee for scheduling Deeds"
£64 "fees for acting for Lender"
£41 "bank CHAPS fee"
£164 "leasehold supplement fee"
so I am actually paying around £945 or so for conveyancing, but their adverts claim it's only £395.00. The true disbur*****ts as far as I can see are:
£2025 stamp duty
£220 land registry
£200 local search
£47 environmental search
£45 drainage search
£52 postal sector search
£18 notice to landlord
£2 bankrupcy search
£4 land registry search
£8 office copy entries
I'm in the process of buying 3 properties. Two of them are close to exchange. The third I have switched to my previous conveyancer with whom I sold my last property. I'm on a tight budget so obviously if I can avoid paying for these extra costs somehow that will make a big difference to me.
My previous conveyancers are quoting £495 but that includes all conveyancing work with no hidden extras and it includes insurance to cover if a deal falls through and they have to start again.
I asked my current conveyancers (Xpress Conveyancing) about the extra hidden costs but they are refusing to talk to me about them.
Apart from hiring a hitman, any ideas? =p
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posted 09 September 2004 05:34 PM
