Solicitor Fees

Dozer1

Just got the solicitor’s bill in the post for transferring the farm from my dad to my name, €3120, is this around normal or is it on the high side? It was to transfer about 85 acres, 50 of which was forestry so he had to stamp some forms for that aswell. He charged €30 for postage and phone calls….anyways was wondering if you guys have experienced similar costs. My sister got a site transferred to her by a different solicitor in town and that on its own was around €1100

maidhc

It sounds about right really. €30 for postage is also understandable, as often it will be necessary to send title to a) The Revenue b) Land Registy and c) Bank, all by registered post.

There is more work in transferring a farm than a site.

tismesoitis

ye the transfer of the land fee sounds there or there abouts what we paid for about the same area. the 1100 for site transfer is very steep my brother got 3/4 acre transfered to him for €500.

Tomjim

Purchased 37 acres last year. Paid solictor €800 PLUS VAT. Was this resaonable

ellewood

transferred 30 acres last year cost just over 4000 inc vat i taught theyd be a bit cheaper this year with them not being as busy

maidhc

Tomjim wrote: »

Purchased 37 acres last year. Paid solictor €800 PLUS VAT. Was this resaonable

For nothing. I don't think I'd have done it for that price (and Im a part time farmer and full time solicitor!)

Box09

maidhc wrote: »

For nothing. I don't think I'd have done it for that price (and Im a part time farmer and full time solicitor!)

I agree - any figures mentioned above seem very competitive.

Bitten & Hisses

Is it reasonable for a client to ask a solicitor how they arrived at their figure for postage/fax/email/telephone/correspondance? i.e. is it reasonable to ask for a list by date of what they are charging for? I ask this because it would be an easy place for an unscrupulous character to pocket some handy money if it's all just lumped into a vague description on the invoice.

maidhc

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

Is it reasonable for a client to ask a solicitor how they arrived at their figure for postage/fax/email/telephone/correspondance? i.e. is it reasonable to ask for a list by date of what they are charging for? I ask this because it would be an easy place for an unscrupulous character to pocket some handy money if it's all just lumped into a vague description on the invoice.

Yeah, of course.

Generally in a property transfer you will have three (or more) sets of registered post, and with a big bunch of title documents this does add up.

On the other hand I have driven from Cork to Mitchelstown, paid the M8 toll both ways and never even mentioned the fact to the client, and things like this happen a bit as well.

milkprofit

As thet say once bitten:pac:
next time get a price beforehand
treat like any service you use

johnstown

What are the recommendations of the law society on this? Asked a solicitor about this recently and he said 0.5% (before vat) is normally charged. Obviouly this is subject to negotiation. Do solicitors still tend to charge the same 0.5% if dealing with varying tranfer values. For example, say the solicitor was transferring a farm worth one million euro, then is 5000 (0.5%), a fair charge (before vat)?

musings

johnstown wrote: »

What are the recommendations of the law society on this? Asked a solicitor about this recently and he said 0.5% (before vat) is normally charged. Obviouly this is subject to negotiation. Do solicitors still tend to charge the same 0.5% if dealing with varying tranfer values. For example, say the solicitor was transferring a farm worth one million euro, then is 5000 (0.5%), a fair charge (before vat)?

what does the value of the transaction have to do with the fee the solicitor charges??

would you be happy to pay a courier based on the value of the package they are delivering for you?

This parasitic profession needs to be regulated urgently!

irishh_bob

musings wrote: »

what does the value of the transaction have to do with the fee the solicitor charges??

would you be happy to pay a courier based on the value of the package they are delivering for you?

This parasitic profession needs to be regulated urgently!

auctioneers use the same criteria when charging and they do even less for thier money

musings

irishh_bob wrote: »

auctioneers use the same criteria when charging and they do even less for their money

Well it could be argued that auctioneers work on a commission basis and therefore it encourages them to get the best price they can for what their client is selling. They also have far more costs than solicitors as they have to pay for newspaper advertising etc, which is costly.

On the other hand, there is very little difference in the costs a solicitor incurs in administering the sale of a 200,000 property or a 600,000 property

Solicitors just assume that if a client can afford more land they can charge them more.

It is amazing what people let solicitors away with.

sheff the ref

Are there any solicitors out there who will transfer a site from the home farm to the children for a set price. If it was to happen for a few siblings all as part of the one transfer, would they agree a deal for the lot??

Manoffeeling

sheff the ref wrote: »

Are there any solicitors out there who will transfer a site from the home farm to the children for a set price. If it was to happen for a few siblings all as part of the one transfer, would they agree a deal for the lot??

Yes.

DaveM-sport

I was asked the guts of 10K to transfer 110 acres from my uncle into my name!!!

It should have been around 3, max 4.

whelan1

i am sure there are plenty of solicitors with feck all to do, shop around