Advice on usual practice in Scotland

[Oortam]

I'm looking for some advice from somebody who knows about the usual practices of lawyers in Scotland and charging fees for selling and buying a house. When selling we've been asked to bring with us the means to pay the fees when we go to their office to sign all the documents for buying another house. This is on Monday and we haven't yet seen the bill with the breakdown of charges. I've also been told that the money for the sale will be sent to me minus the lawyer's fees. Again, I haven't seen the bill. Is this normal practice in Scotland? I'm not in any way implying that there's any underhand dealings but I don't remember this happening the last time I bought/sold a house - about 25 years ago. Assuming that the bill is presented to me on Monday, can anybody tell me what I should be looking at as reasonable for handling buying/selling a house. Thanks for any advice.

[AGK]

Depends on the value of the house. My fees were fixed when buying and I knew from the start what it would cost. At no point was I required to prove I had the means to pay either.

[renmure]

Up front selling fees are usually fixed and well advertised (cost of advertising brochures, cost of insertion onto online solicitors web space etc). These are ment to be the costs of putting the property on the market and always taken in advance.

The conveyancing fees and other legal costs associated with selling would normally come off the sale proceeds paid to you and again are either fixed or fairly well known to the solicitor and you before hand given they will know the estimated selling price (if being paid a percentage) and any other costs.

There shouldn't be any reason not to know the initial costs and to have a pretty good estimation of the final costs.

[Martin_M]

Can only echo previous posts - I would be wanting a full breakdown of costs before any payment is made.

[Oortam]

Thanks for that guys. I just thought it was a bit strange to be asked to bring the means to pay the bill when I arrived to sign the documents. They certainly seem a bit more efficient in collecting their fees than they've been in doing the conveyencing!

[bobthebench]

You should have got a terms of engagement letter when you employed the solicitor as a matter of course from them, which sets out any fixed fees, or their method of charging e.g. hourly rates and expenses. Law society used to set fees but this was deemed uncompetitive and stopped, but all are surprisingly similar. Expect the legal fee at around £700 to £1000 for each transaction for an average house, with outlays for searches and reports on top, and a marketing fee for the house you are selling if solicitor advertised it of maybe 1%.

As for payment, it is easier to get payment off someone who still wants you to do something, like register title deeds, so most get fees paid before the exchange of paperwork.