Does this price seem about right?

theoldbreed

Hi all,
So we needed an up to date Certificate of Compliance and Declaration of Identity because a name is being transferred onto mortgage and this is required by bank. We have the original and notification of planning permission for subsequent work i.e garage and sun room.

We contacted the original architect who said he would update them. He hasn't been out to house and we have only communicated via phone and post (I sent him copies of originals). After three weeks of trying to contact him he said it's ready and cost will be 800 plus vat. I was expecting to pay a bit but this seems high.....Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Thank you

BryanF

Did you pay him the first time around? Did he provide those certs when the house was built to you?

theoldbreed

BryanF wrote:

Did you pay him the first time around? Did he provide those certs when the house was built to you?

Yes he was paid first time round and he did provide the originals.

Johnnyhpipe

theoldbreed wrote: »

Yes he was paid first time round and he did provide the originals.

So if I'm reading this right..he is not signing up to anything new, not taking on any greater risk than he did initially and is charging €800 to change a person's name on a piece of paper?

theoldbreed

Johnnyhpipe wrote:

So if I'm reading this right..he is not signing up to anything new, not taking on any greater risk than he did initially and is charging €800 to change a person's name on a piece of paper?

He actually doesn't have to do any name changes just sign off that everything is above board, which it is, he hasn't been out to the house since we asked either. I've asked him for a breakdown but he hasn't gotten back to me. We don't know if that's the norm. If we went to another architect, would that be what we would be charged? If so we'll pay, it just really took me by surprise and after solicitor fees etc it's an expense greater than what we planned for.

Johnnyhpipe

theoldbreed wrote: »

He actually doesn't have to do any name changes just sign off that everything is above board, which it is, he hasn't been out to the house since we asked either. I've asked him for a breakdown but he hasn't gotten back to me. We don't know if that's the norm. If we went to another architect, would that be what we would be charged? If so we'll pay, it just really took me by surprise and after solicitor fees etc it's an expense greater than what we planned for.

"To sign off that everything is above board"
- surely this was done on his original cert then? I get the feeling there's more to this..?

He provided a design for works in the past? You paid him for this? He provided you with an opinion on compliance? Is all of this correct? If so, what is the purpose of the new and amended opinion/cert? Is it a different cert ie signing off on some parts of the regs which were not covered by the original cert?

theoldbreed

Nope there is nothing more to this. We have all the original documents, my husband built the house, my name is going on the mortgage and the bank are requesting a more recent cert. That's it.
He was paid in full for original. As I said when we called him about a month ago he didn't come to house in the meantime anyway, we just got a text saying cert is ready 800 euro plus 23% vat.

Maybe I'm misinformed but i didn't think that an original opinion of compliance would cost that much either.

Johnnyhpipe

theoldbreed wrote: »

Nope there is nothing more to this. We have all the original documents, my husband built the house, my name is going on the mortgage and the bank are requesting a more recent cert. That's it.
He was paid in full for original. As I said when we called him about a month ago he didn't come to house in the meantime anyway, we just got a text saying cert is ready 800 euro plus 23% vat.

Maybe I'm misinformed but i didn't think that an original opinion of compliance would cost that much either.

It seems a very unusual request from the bank if absolutely nothing has changed?? €800 doesn't seem unreasonable for an original cert.

theoldbreed

Johnnyhpipe wrote:

It seems a very unusual request from the bank if absolutely nothing has changed?? €800 doesn't seem unreasonable for an original cert.

Yeah we asked solicitor was it really necessary as we didn't think it was but it's in their terms so we need it!

800 is normal enough so? Okay I just wanted to check really if that was reasonable....We weren't expecting that high and it just caught us off guard ya know yourself!

Thank you for your help

Johnnyhpipe

theoldbreed wrote: »

Yeah we asked solicitor was it really necessary as we didn't think it was but it's in their terms so we need it!

800 is normal enough so? Okay I just wanted to check really if that was reasonable....We weren't expecting that high and it just caught us off guard ya know yourself!

Thank you for your help

Well i'd say its not unreasonable for an original cert. however this doesn't sound like an original cert as you say you've already paid for this - so I'm still unsure what you're actually paying for now and what you're actually getting when you do..?