Been charged £2800 to sell some ftse 100 shares. Fair?

[jonah35]

Family member passed away and left some ftse100 shares. Tens of share certificates in same company, mainly bought through same broker. To sell them for probate the broker charged £2800. This seems like daylight robbery to me (they were all in same company). Is this fair?

[nyt]

It would cost about £18 through someone like TD-Waterhouse I think

[jonah35]

Per share certificate or for the whole lot?

[Sir Bagalot]

I know of some places that charge a percentage, say 1%, to buy or sell.

You simply vote with your feet and sell elsewhere

[jonah35]

Ok, thanks.

[williaa68]

It very much depends on the value of the shares rather than the market cap of the company (ftse 100, 250 etc). Shares in certificated form are relatively uncommon these days and many brokers will charge more to deal with them. Barclays would charge you 1.5% to deal by post - that would be top of the market - so for that sort of fee it would need to be a sizeable amount - approx 200k worth.

When you took the shares to the broker you should have been told their charges. If you weren't, and you believe their charges were unreasonable (i.e. more than Barclays as a benchmark) you should complain via their complaints procedure and ultimately to the ombudsman.

Does the broker have a website and if so what does it say its charges are for certificated dealings?

[Cockey]

What was the value? If it was £500ks worth then fair enough. And was the charge dealing commission only or did they charge to value the shares for probate and register the death too?

[SlowMoped]

What was the consideration of the deal? It sounds like it has just been done at someone's headline commission.

[ellroy]

Could be your relative decided to keep shares on a certified basis rather than have them in a nominee account with the broker in order to save money. The fees for probate/sale etc in this case will be in the T&Cs that your relative will have been provided and at a standard rate which is probably a lot more than it would have been if dealing on a nominee basis.

They get you in the end.

For the record Barclays do not charge 1.5%, if you trade via their Stockbrokers it can be as little as £12.50 a deal.

Edited by ellroy on Monday 3rd November 18:10

[jfbrin]

That is excessive regardless of being a certificated sale.
My guess is that the executor did not fully understand the charge nor did the broker explain what the cost would work out at.
If the executor feels that he has not been treated fairly, he should write to the broker outlining his dissatisfaction. The compliance department will take that seriously.
If, however, the executor was well read in financial matters and perhaps should have known better, then not such a strong case.
You probably could have dealt for £50 if grant of probate and certificates were all in order with registrar notified etc etc but most executors rely on a broker or solicitor taking care of this admin. In such a case, £500 would be reasonable in my opinion.
JB

[jfbrin]

That is excessive regardless of being a certificated sale.
My guess is that the executor did not fully understand the charge nor did the broker explain what the cost would work out at.
If the executor feels that he has not been treated fairly, he should write to the broker outlining his dissatisfaction. The compliance department will take that seriously.
If, however, the executor was well read in financial matters and perhaps should have known better, then not such a strong case.
You probably could have dealt for £50 if grant of probate and certificates were all in order with registrar notified etc etc but most executors rely on a broker or solicitor taking care of this admin. In such a case, £500 would be reasonable in my opinion.
JB

[Helicopter123]

On the face of it, sounds like the bad old days of broking.

Did the executor take advice from the broker who carried out the sale?