legal costs to pay when inheriting property
Discussion
I was a little surprised that the legal costs involved on inheriting our parents' property jointly with my brother were similar to buying a new property. Approx £2500- £3000, as the solicitor can't give an exact quote. Is this normal?
I realise that my brother and I would need to be tenants in common and there would be a charge for that - but well over £1K +VAT for land registry and then there are a lot of additional costs for unknown sums, all with +Vat.
Has anyone else experienced this when they've inherited property?
I realise that my brother and I would need to be tenants in common and there would be a charge for that - but well over £1K +VAT for land registry and then there are a lot of additional costs for unknown sums, all with +Vat.
Has anyone else experienced this when they've inherited property?
speedyman said:
As long as you have probate and a will it's legally yours. Just register it, you don't need a solicitor.
The solicitor is the executor and has probate and the will. A conveyancing colleague will be in charge of the property transfer work - if my brother and agree to their extra charges, we can use our own solicitor ( which neither of us have one). The solicitor has already charged £15K to the estate so far.This includes -
Applying to the freeholder for the licence which, because the flat is leasehold, will be required before the title can be transferred.
Registering the transfer (once signed by the Executors) with HM Land Registry
Serving formal notice on the freeholder in accordance with the lease.
Aside from land registry fees of approx £1K +Vat there are Freeholder's transfer fee and Freeholder's charge for approving the licence which are unknown. Also £150+Vat to prepare a Declaration of Trust. Solicitors charge £260+Vat/hour.
Solicitor fleecing people, no chance?
When I bought my current house my girlfriend (now wife) wasn’t working as we had just returned from Germany, so couldn’t go on the mortgage.
NatWest required her to sign something along the lines of, ‘you live there but have no financial claim’, in order to have this witnessed solicitors wanted ... £400-600 + VAT.
An accountant reviewed it with her, advised on its meaning for .... £0, it took 5 minutes.
I’d recommend speaking with a few solicitors but I can’t see the fees being that much, buying & selling a house is under £3k so I wouldn’t expect to pay more than £1,500.
When I bought my current house my girlfriend (now wife) wasn’t working as we had just returned from Germany, so couldn’t go on the mortgage.
NatWest required her to sign something along the lines of, ‘you live there but have no financial claim’, in order to have this witnessed solicitors wanted ... £400-600 + VAT.
An accountant reviewed it with her, advised on its meaning for .... £0, it took 5 minutes.
I’d recommend speaking with a few solicitors but I can’t see the fees being that much, buying & selling a house is under £3k so I wouldn’t expect to pay more than £1,500.
My brother and I don't want the flat, we've agreed to taking it so as to remove it from the solicitor and stop delays with the pay out of funds and also to stop the solicitor from keep charging us. Our father died over a year ago ( April 2019) and we're still waiting for the estate to be settled.
It is frustrating, and I'm sorely tempted to put in a formal complaint against them. To who? the Law society? However, it's very difficult when they are the executors and are in total control and can do what they like.
It is frustrating, and I'm sorely tempted to put in a formal complaint against them. To who? the Law society? However, it's very difficult when they are the executors and are in total control and can do what they like.
condor said:
My brother and I don't want the flat, we've agreed to taking it so as to remove it from the solicitor and stop delays with the pay out of funds and also to stop the solicitor from keep charging us. Our father died over a year ago ( April 2019) and we're still waiting for the estate to be settled.
It is frustrating, and I'm sorely tempted to put in a formal complaint against them. To who? the Law society? However, it's very difficult when they are the executors and are in total control and can do what they like.
Not sure it is an easy process but you can remove them.It is frustrating, and I'm sorely tempted to put in a formal complaint against them. To who? the Law society? However, it's very difficult when they are the executors and are in total control and can do what they like.
https://www.human-law.co.uk/_cmroot/human-law.co.u...
https://www.lawskills.co.uk/articles/2018/07/remov...
condor said:
Thanks 
But I think that shows how little one can do, as a beneficiary, to stop solicitors charging excessive amounts.
From the initial response to you, can I take it that if you or your brother had probate, then they couldn't take the clean piss with fee's etc? But I think that shows how little one can do, as a beneficiary, to stop solicitors charging excessive amounts.FWIW - I have almost zero knowledge on all this.
condor said:
Thanks But I think that shows how little one can do, as a beneficiary, to stop solicitors charging excessive amounts.
When did they obtain probate? But I think that shows how little one can do, as a beneficiary, to stop solicitors charging excessive amounts.https://www.executorsinsurance.co.uk/what-is-the-e...
A cousin of mine found the executor of his late father's estate was an elderly solicitor (and former golfing buddy of the deceased). He proved to be worse than useless and was eventually able to get rid of him - after £80K had been stolen thanks to his poor judgement. When it came to a legal redress the solicitor basically said 'I'm a solicitor and backed by the Law Society, how lucky do you feel?'
I'd get rid of yours too if possible.
I'd get rid of yours too if possible.
LetsTryAgain - I don't know. I also have little knowledge of the procedures. What I think should happen, I then discover doesn't happen. I've been waiting nearly 2 weeks to find out if there is a possibility that we'll be needed to sign paperwork in their offices. We both live approx 200 miles away and effectively shielding, so would need some time to organise a visit. Emailed them again last week and still no reply. Each email costs us £30 too.
Simpo - I think there should be warning notices about having solicitors as sole executor to your will.
catweasle said:
Probate was granted in October and we've been told 1st August for initial payouts ( to charities and minor beneficiaries). Simpo - I think there should be warning notices about having solicitors as sole executor to your will.
condor said:
Aside from land registry fees of approx £1K +Vat there are Freeholder's transfer fee and Freeholder's charge for approving the licence which are unknown. Also £150+Vat to prepare a Declaration of Trust. Solicitors charge £260+Vat/hour.
The land registry fee seems high - what kind of value of the property?Is the £2.5K to £3K inc all fees etc? I think normally they quote for their work, plus fees. I've no idea what the lease transfer etc fees would be, but maybe they're significant.
Wife's Godfather's estate, inc house sale, was handled by his solicitor. All relatively low value - a few £K and a £150K house, but a messy series of bequests - their total bill was a couple of £K, which was way less than we feared it might be.
condor said:
Probate was granted in October and we've been told 1st August for initial payouts ( to charities and minor beneficiaries).
Simpo - I think there should be warning notices about having solicitors as sole executor to your will.
There is no good reason it should this long once probate has been granted.Simpo - I think there should be warning notices about having solicitors as sole executor to your will.
We went through this recently and we used a very good probate solicitor to help with the tax aspect and he quite clearly said that and bequests not subject to probate (under £50k for most banks) can be paid out almost immediately and the rest as soon as we could send the probate certs to the banks/building societies where they have lower probate amounts.
Same with the property. Was on the market subject to gaining probate and we had a buyer lined up almost straight away who was aware it was a probate sale and as soon as probate was granted, the sale progressed.
From start to finish it took us about 5 months and that included minor delays with the Christmas period shutting things down, probate courts introducing new computer systems, solicitor going sick for a few weeks and the normal London delays (had to use a different probate court in the end).
You need to start banging desks to get things moving.
I'd say the solicitor is taking the piss, charging that much for so little, frankly.
We recently dealt with the execution of 2 Wills as my in laws died about 18 months apart. I'd say the solicitor in charge there was very reasonable, with total costs in the region of £5k, which included the sale of the family home, probate, etc. IIRC, the solicitor was a firm partner, charging about £350 / hour. He didn't have to do all the work as he had paralegals to do a lot of it at lesser rates, but he checked everything. Very reasonable, IMO.
If your solicitor's already "spent" £15k of the estate, that's too much £££ for the work completed.
We recently dealt with the execution of 2 Wills as my in laws died about 18 months apart. I'd say the solicitor in charge there was very reasonable, with total costs in the region of £5k, which included the sale of the family home, probate, etc. IIRC, the solicitor was a firm partner, charging about £350 / hour. He didn't have to do all the work as he had paralegals to do a lot of it at lesser rates, but he checked everything. Very reasonable, IMO.
If your solicitor's already "spent" £15k of the estate, that's too much £££ for the work completed.
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