Solicitor fees

Bettyboop

having agreed a payment to a solicitor for fees incurred for buying a new house
and receiving a letter with the agreed fee,taxes sundries etc. I now received a letter for the fee due,however it was not what we agreed too,its a lot more
plus he added on taxes and sundries etc. as extras.Can he do this?? Even though the 1st letter had the set fee??

ircoha

Bettyboop wrote:

having agreed a payment to a solicitor for fees incurred for buying a new house
and receiving a letter with the agreed fee,taxes sundries etc. I now received a letter for the fee due,however it was not what we agreed too,its a lot more
plus he added on taxes and sundries etc. as extras.Can he do this?? Even though the 1st letter had the set fee??

make sure the first letter is not an estimate. If not I would fight it.

Has the sale closed and the bank funds in place etc?

If not then you will prolly have to pay the new fee, otherwise they will not close the transaction.

While they are not renowned for looking after the plaintiff, u could always contact the law society complaint section
http://www.lawsociety.ie/displayCDAContent.aspx?node=163&groupID=163&code=complaints_handling

it will take 4 to 6 weeks to get an initial response and about the same if there is ongoing correspondence.
They dont process emails or faxes, only snail mail.

to see self-regulation in action in the legal profession view http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0529/primetime.html
it makes very depressing viewing

Bettyboop

ircoha wrote:

make sure the first letter is not an estimate. If not I would fight it.

Has the sale closed and the bank funds in place etc?

If not then you will prolly have to pay the new fee, otherwise they will not close the transaction.

While they are not renowned for looking after the plaintiff, u could always contact the law society complaint section
http://www.lawsociety.ie/displayCDAContent.aspx?node=163&groupID=163&code=complaints_handling

it will take 4 to 6 weeks to get an initial response and about the same if there is ongoing correspondence.
They dont process emails or faxes, only snail mail.

to see self-regulation in action in the legal profession view http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0529/primetime.html
it makes very depressing viewing

Thanks very much you have been a great help.No the 1st letter wasnt an estimate we get the keys this week bank fees were in place 2 wks ago.

myhandle

write a letter to your solicitor
enclose a photocopy of the original quotation
enclose the original of the recent fee note*

say you assume the latter fee note was sent in error, and that you look forward to receiving one that reflects the original quotation

*this is symbolic, also it means that if there was a clerical error, you are doing him a favour and allowing him to sweep it under the carpet, returning the evidence so to speak

(although you'll have made a photocopy just in case)

Maximilian

If he quoted you a fee, that shouldn't change.

As for "sundries", the solicitors professional fee doesn't include things like law searches, registration fees etc. In fairness though, that should have been pointed out to you (if it wasn't).