Solicitor charges for the exchanged emails

parksider

Hello friends,

Do you think it is sensible that the Solicitor charges for the exchanged emails asking about procedures, quotes .. during the process of purchasing a house.

What other potential stuff the solicitor may charge you ?

Thank you.

Hollister11

Yes it is sensible.

Every Time they send you an answer to your queries, they are working. These are billable hours.

Would you work for free ?

godtabh

Hollister11 wrote: »

Yes it is sensible.

Every Time they send you an answer to your queries, they are working. These are billable hours.

Would you work for free ?

My professional fees would include answering client emails and wouldn't be an additional line item on an invoice.

Hollister11

godtabh wrote: »

My professional fees would include answering client emails and wouldn't be an additional line item on an invoice.

It may not be an additional item on the invoice. But the fee would be included somewhere under labour.

Being honest, your not going to email your client back and forth, and that bill for the time it took. You bill for every possible minute. There's bills to pay.

Sleeper12

I know an architect & back in the 70s & 80s, long before mobile phones he had a timer beside his phone. He hit it at the start & end of the phone call. He charged for the recorded time.
He always said that he didn't spend all those years studying just to pass on his knowledge for free.

Hollister11

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I know an architect & back in the 70s & 80s, long before mobile phones he had a timer beside his phone. He hit it at the start & end of the phone call. He charged for the recorded time.
He always said that he didn't spend all those years studying just to pass on his knowledge for free.

What a man.

Sue Pa Key Pa

When I bought my house 30 years ago, my solicitor used to write to me VERY regularly with the line 'will you call me or drop in?'. Charged me £5 for each one of those as well as the consultation. To put it in to context, I was earning £600 a month gross in those days

johnnyskeleton

parksider wrote: »

Hello friends,

Do you think it is sensible that the Solicitor charges for the exchanged emails asking about procedures, quotes .. during the process of purchasing a house.

What other potential stuff the solicitor may charge you ?

Thank you.

People used to give out the solicitors charged a global fee with no breakdown.

If he/she charges a global fee and a fee for emails then its a problem, but if he/she has just itemised all the time spent on your file then its just transparency. Would it be better if he just gave you a global fee and said nothing?

Avatar MIA

Was the time spent on emails back and forth to each other for your benefit or his?

Did you think you had discovered a loop hole as to how to engage a solicitor without incurring fees?

Munstermissy

Went to a consultation recently about an issue I had. Advised that they would give an opinion the following week. Didn't receive opinion but got a bill from them. If I received an opinion I would not have an issue in paying but to receive nothing and asked to pay for having a chat is a bit rich!!!

parksider

@Hollister11: Time is not free. But email is just part of the communication channel. If you go to a restaurant, would you order a meal without knowing what it is and price ? then, email here is for query to get the right menu that suits your taste. Very surprised if the restaurant charge you for asking those details.
Even if he wants to charge for emails, he should make customers aware of.
@godtabh: That makes sense.
@Sleeper12: What if people in other professions do the same .. like teachers ?
@Sue Pa Key Pa: what a rif-off, but at least he made you aware of the charge and it was up to you to choose him or someone else.
@johnnyskeleton: I wish he told me up front about his charging system .. there are many choices out there for me to choose. Quite a good experience for me.
@Avatar MIA: Of course, for me as I need to be clear and full understand of the contract, some information I did not know. All of his answer is like the contract should be the way it is, he will answer when I go to his office for signing, or he did not answer and said it is already in the guideline.
About phone, I could not even reach him. His secretary is nice and most of the information I get from her.
@Munstermissy: I can feel your pain.

Above all, I'm sensible enough to understand time is not free. It is just Ì'm not aware of the charging beforehand because it is against my common sense.

Sue Pa Key Pa

parksider wrote: »

@Sue Pa Key Pa: what a rif-off, but at least he made you aware of the charge and it was up to you to choose him or someone else.
.

I was 24 and had just moved to a different part of the country. I didn't know anything about the process of buying a house, other than you needed a solicitor. One of my new work colleagues recommended the one I used. I was only told their fee and that 'administration' would be extra. Only found out how much when I got their bill

wokingvoter

OP
What you are doing is quite reasonably musing that sending an email is "free"
No stamp is required
No phone bill will be issued
The solicitor is charging you for the time spent considering your query, composing and writing the email and for all the years of study and hard work that went into being in a position to advise and inform you on very important matters of law.