Solicitors: Should I worry??

[michaeljclark]

The other day my OH and I put an offer in for a house, which was accepted.

The estate agents (who were marketing the house we want to purchase and also the house I'm selling) obviously have a "regular" Solicitors to whom they farm their work out as I had a phone call from asking if I'd like a quote. So I said yes

I've had the quote and can see 2 fundamental errors

Solicitors said:

Stamp Duty (2% of the purchase price) = £2,400.00

Now forgive me if I've got this wrong, but I thought the stamp duty threshold was 1% on properties up to £250,000???? So on a purchase of £240,000 I would expect a 1% fee (she's managed to get the money amount right not the %age).

She's also aware that my OH and I are purchasing the property I would expect to see 2 lots of bankruptcy fees not the 1 that's been quoted.

Now I know that these are small and pedantic points, but I must say that I'm slightly concerned that if they can't even get a quote right, what's the standard of work likely to be?

I know there are solicitors on PH (Soovey and Tonker spring to mind) and wondered what they (and others think)?

Mike

I also phoned the solicitors who orginally helped with the purchase of my existing house who were more than happy to quote (and were a tad cheaper)

[paulmurr]

The figure is correct but the percentage shown is not. Possibly just a typo, it can and does happen. I'd call them up and ask them to correct these errors, this should give you an indication of their typical customer service.

[rude-boy]

Right back now so full reply.

Point 1 - Stupid mistake, don't know why, ask if was a new secretary or why the hell as there is no 2% rate at all. As said by other poster, typos do happen from time to time, if you call them up they should issue an amended letter asap.

Point 2. If you are exchanging and completing on the same day you will only need one b/s per client. How much nave they quoted for this? If you apply by post it costs £1 per name, by computer £2 per name (don't ask I don't understand it either!!!) In your case they should be quoting £2 or £4.

Sounds alrightish to me but i can see how you can get put off. No one is 100% right every time. IMO this is a golden opportunity for both you and the solicitors. You never find out how good they are when everything seems to be going right, it's only when the brown stuff hits the fan that you find out how good they really are.

Edited by rude-boy on Tuesday 3rd February 15:54

[michaeljclark]

Cheers for the opinions

Mike

[therealpigdog]

michaeljclark said:

I also phoned the solicitors who orginally helped with the purchase of my existing house who were more than happy to quote (and were a tad cheaper)

There's your answer - if you were happy with them before, why change?

Mistakes do happen, but they shouldn't. In fairness, most residential conveyancing these days is carried out by paralegals with minimal supervision so as to bring the price down. I wouldn't necessarily go with the cheapest quote, but go with someone you feel that you can trust and who will look after your interests sensibly. Shop around and see who you feel comfortable with. There are a lot of conveyancers out there fighting for business so you probably will be their number one priority.

Edited to sort out rubbish spelling

Edited by therealpigdog on Tuesday 3rd February 17:14

[Simond001]

I only ever use Jonathon Smithers at Copper Burnet in Tunbridge Wells.

Just seems to make the whole purchase thing go smoothly, and cheaper than the inhouse or preferred solicitors / coveyancers Ea promote.

[Soovy]

michaeljclark said:

I know there are solicitors on PH (Soovey and Tonker spring to mind) and wondered what they (and others think)?

Not sure who's more offended by that, Tonks or me.....

I play for the "other side" sir. Wigs and all that.

[pikey]

Soovy said:

I play for the "other side" sir. Wigs and all that.

Really? :snigger:

[Soovy]

pikey said:

Soovy said:

I play for the "other side" sir. Wigs and all that.

Really? :snigger:

*slaps ample forehead*

[michaeljclark]

Soovy said:

Not sure who's more offended by that, Tonks or me.....

I play for the "other side" sir. Wigs and all that.

Whoops

Sorry chaps

Going to use the mob that helped me with my original purchase.

[bigdods]

Solicitors are money grabbing thieves. Once you get that straight in your head you will understand why things go wrong. Contracts and documents are just cut and paste from an old contract . This means the secretary does the work but they can charge you solicitor rates for it. Unfortunately they often forget to actually change names, values etc.

I have managed to find a solicitor now that usually only makes 2 or 3 mistakes in each piece of work which seems pretty good compared to the competition. I tried 2 other solicitors , one couldnt spell my name correctly even after 3 tries , the other just had random words inserted into contracts and documents making them nonsensical.

Errors are always incorrect names, addresses, values ... in oher words the bits that have to be changed from client to client. Cut and paste but they forget to engage brain....