Conveyancing solicitor asking for more money after the fact.

[Lurking Lawyer]

3Dee said:

So what is it? Is the conveyancer on a sticky wicket? Is the quote and invoice not a contract?

Without seeing the retainer letter, it's difficult to comment.

As I said above, I would expect it to quote a fixed fee for the solicitor's costs plus payment of disbursements. The disbursements are what they are, irrespective of whether the figure provided in respect of HMLR fees initially was wrong.

It is possible that the engagement letter is drafted in such a way as to mean that the firm have effectively offered a fixed price, even including disbursements. I'd be surprised if it did though.

[Rude-boy]

BTW - there have been some changes with LR applications and fees in recent months that are still being fed through the system with some firms. Some applications can be submitted electronically now and as the LR are keen on this they are offering 50% fees on this. BUT only certain transactions can be done like this and some have to go old school paper application. We stick with the latter as it save embarrassment and the LR adds in a final layer of double checking on the validity of title. I'll bet they were told the LR fee was £135 and it's actually £270 as there is a quirk in there that was not noted/known at the start and when the sec did the comp stat they went to the Client Care for the figures...

[havoc]

ORD said:

havoc said:

ORD said:

So your son thinks the sols should make a loss on this transaction? He sounds like a real gent.

(a) they won't make a loss, they'll just make a lower hourly rate than they'd planned.

(b) if (!) they won the business based on their quote, then that sounds like sharp practice to me. Low-balling part of the fee that they know the customer is legally obliged to cover?!?

(a) Profit on conveyancing is absolutely tiny. Bearing this chap's costs themselves would almost certainly mean the sols lost out overall.

(b) Classic PH. Obvious mistake by cheap and fairly low-skilled professionals becomes calculated fraud!

OK, so someone who DOES IT FOR A LIVING can't accurately quote the disbursements??? Where does 'professional' come in exactly?!?

Does no-one there review the quotes before they're issued? Granted the conveyancer may not be a qualified solicitor, but I'd have expected them to be supervised by one!


(BTW - ref. profit, you're measuring profit against a charge-out rate, not against the true cost of the employees, who are actually a fixed cost in the short-term, so any income when they're not fully engaged is pure profit in reality. And if it wasn't profitable the partnership wouldn't engage in it...)