My solicitors says he undercharged me! WTF?

Christ0pher

I was just wondering, what would you do if you recieved a letter from your solicitor stating that he undercharged you two years ago? Basically, my solicitor says he undercharged me for conveyancing services two years ago, and due to his mistake, I now owe him a sum circa 150 quid!

He also states that he does not know how exactly the mistake happened, but that if I could forward the money owed to him he would be much obliged.

Any advice on this? What would you do?

uberwolf

nothing, in brief.

grumpytrousers

well it's similar to you bringing a basket of stuff to the checkout in tesco and the checkout person not scanning it by mistake and you walk out with it. A mistake was made and presumably services were done for which you were not charged. I guess 'morally' you should pay debts.

Legally? Arrah - what's he gonna do. He could sue you for the debt, but that might be more hassle than its worth. You can probably brazen it out. Of course, bear in mind that if he has any title deeds belonging to you, you might have difficulty getting them released anytime in the future until the debt is cleared. He could also, if he wished, register a 'lien' on your deeds for the amount owed.

Like i say - it depends on your 'moral' outlook. If another providor of services told you there was shortfall, would you pay them? The profession of the person is irrelevant.

Our man in Havana

I would not pay until he clarified in detail what the €150 is for.

johnnyskeleton

Bond-007 wrote: »

I would not pay until he clarified in detail what the €150 is for.

Exactly.

If he does not know how the "mistake" happened, logically he cannot know how much you initially owed him, and/or he cannot know how much you subsequently paid him either. If he did, he would know exactly how the mistake happened i.e. he either left something out of the bill, or you left something out of the payment. If he doesn't know why you owe him the extra €150, then he cant sue you for it.

pirelli

Christ0pher wrote: »

I was just wondering, what would you do if you recieved a letter from your solicitor stating that he undercharged you two years ago? Basically, my solicitor says he undercharged me for conveyancing services two years ago, and due to his mistake, I now owe him a sum circa 150 quid!

He also states that he does not know how exactly the mistake happened, but that if I could forward the money owed to him he would be much obliged.

Any advice on this? What would you do?

Yes, I recieved letter last year stating that my bank was cleaning the bank vault and they would require my consent by way of reply along with my account number. Apparently they was a trojan in the bank vault and they had to send in anti-virus into the bank accounts. My money would have to be temporarily removed until the whole virus scan was completed.

The following week , I realised they neglected to put the money back into the account. I am still waiting to be compensated.

MrPudding

pirelli wrote: »

Yes, I recieved letter last year stating that my bank was cleaning the bank vault and they would require my consent by way of reply along with my account number. Apparently they was a trojan in the bank vault and they had to send in anti-virus into the bank accounts. My money would have to be temporarily removed until the whole virus scan was completed.

The following week , I realised they neglected to put the money back into the account. I am still waiting to be compensated.

Hmmm, someone has been watching fonejacker...

MrP

MrPudding

pirelli wrote: »

Yes, I recieved letter last year stating that my bank was cleaning the bank vault and they would require my consent by way of reply along with my account number. Apparently they was a trojan in the bank vault and they had to send in anti-virus into the bank accounts. My money would have to be temporarily removed until the whole virus scan was completed.

The following week , I realised they neglected to put the money back into the account. I am still waiting to be compensated.

Hmmm, someone has been watching fonejacker...

MrP

BigglesMcGee

Do a Ryanair and tell him thats fine, but you'll have to look into it yourself as its he didnt include it in the initial transaction. This is etra expense and work for you and there will be a €200 administration charge to him for doing this which is payable in advance.

jmd

Good advice from BigglesMcGee. What would your reaction be to your garage if they wrote to you stating that they undercharged you for a car you purchased 2 years ago. I know what I would tell them to do.
This solicitor is supposed to be a grown up Professional, I think he/she should be big enough to write off his/her mistake. He doesn't know how his mistake happened- does he know if there was ever a mistake. Would he refund you if you had overpaid him.. I doubt it.

BigglesMcGee

Dont forget to ask him to dig out a copy of every document ever exchanged between yourself and himself and the bank too, marking clearly on each document where he thinks there is a problem and what the problem is and snail mail it to you. Tell him you'l be charging admin and incidentals on these too. Then say you're on holidays and will be back in 3 months between each letter.

Every now and then say a letter got lost and to send it again (take another holiday )

Play the fukcer at his professions own game.

MarkR

Tell him you'd be happy to arrange a meeting with him at this expense to discuss it. As it will be business hours presumably, you'll have to bill him for your time out of work. About €200 per hour (or part thereof) should suffice.

Amazotheamazing

Smart and all as the above answers are, did he indicate anything would happen if you didn't pay, how the mistake was made, and how he recently became aware of the mistake?

I presume if he still has the title deeds to your house, he can (attempt to) refuse to release them until he is satisfied he has been paid?

Our man in Havana

If he tried any funny business with your deeds over this you would have a case to take to the law society.

Amazotheamazing

Bond-007 wrote: »

If he tried any funny business with your deeds over this you would have a case to take to the law society.

Depends what the OP signed when he paid the bill, afaik. Did he sign one that was complete and final, or was there a clause allowing for any mistake?

It's not funny business for the solicitor to hold onto deeds until the solicitor has been paid, it's fairly standard practice (again, afaik).

We need more details on how the mistake occurred and how the solicitor discovered it.

Our man in Havana

Actually if the property has a mortgage on it the lender would get very shirty with him if he was withholding the deeds.

maidhc

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

We need more details on how the mistake occurred and how the solicitor discovered it.

It is highly unlikely it is for professional fees, but instead outlay which someone forgot to include in the original bill.

Bring a conveyancing file, and being €150 I would suspect it is land registry fees.

Amazotheamazing

maidhc wrote: »

It is highly unlikely it is for professional fees, but instead outlay which someone forgot to include in the original bill.

Bring a conveyancing file, and being €150 I would suspect it is land registry fees.

I'm more concerned that he's just discovered it after two years. Two years is a long time to suddenly revisit a file. Why did he check that one, or is there something going on in his office that means he has had to review his old, presumably closed files?

Amazotheamazing

Bond-007 wrote: »

Actually if the property has a mortgage on it the lender would get very shirty with him if he was withholding the deeds.

Which would have happened two years ago, which is why I put the word "if" in the sentence.

Christ0pher

thanks for all the replies. I have to say my initial reaction is to ignore the letter and carry on. But now, I think I'll write back requesting copies of relevant docs etc, house deeds and so on. Also ask him to elaborate on the undercharge.

Maybe he'll just cancel it if I make him do some work for it

Our man in Havana

Christ0pher wrote: »

Maybe he'll just cancel it if I make him do some work for it

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did drop the matter if you were to challenge him on it.

Maximilian

Assuming its a genuine mistake, the decent thing to do would be to pay. I would ask how the undercharging occurred however?

On a practical level, your solicitor has a lien on your file until his fee has been discharged. Could create a problem or delay in future but I hardly think he would sue you over such a small amount.

Bandara

If you were happy with the service you received for the Solicitor, and you can put your hand on heart and say that if you had discovered yesterday that he had OVERCHARGED you by €150 that you would have just written it off as an error, then ignore the letter.

If however you would be straight on the phone and looking for your €150 back after you noticed the error, then pay the man his money.

You cannot live your life both ways in my opinion, its dishonest to do so.

Maximilian

Hammertime wrote: »

If you were happy with the service you received for the Solicitor, and you can put your hand on heart and say that if you had discovered yesterday that he had OVERCHARGED you by €150 that you would have just written it off as an error, then ignore the letter.

If however you would be straight on the phone and looking for your €150 back after you noticed the error, then pay the man his money.

You cannot live your life both ways in my opinion, its dishonest to do so.

Well put.

maidhc

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I'm more concerned that he's just discovered it after two years. Two years is a long time to suddenly revisit a file. Why did he check that one, or is there something going on in his office that means he has had to review his old, presumably closed files?

Probably a lack of work!

NUTLEY BOY

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I'm more concerned that he's just discovered it after two years. Two years is a long time to suddenly revisit a file. Why did he check that one, or is there something going on in his office that means he has had to review his old, presumably closed files?

It is perfectly possible for a mistake like this to show up on an audit. Mind you I would like to know what kind of an audit !

If it is an outlays/stamp duty item then it sounds legitimate. That said I think he has a brass neck to ask for the money as it does convey a poor impression of the solicitor. If he was half decent he would write it off to his own error, keep the client happy and not embarrass himself.

I am not too sure that I would want this guy holding my deeds. If the fees were disputed does that solicitor actually have a proper lien on the deeds and, if so, on what basis ?

Personally, if he wanted the money and it was a legitimate charge (e.g. duty) I would pay it, take my deeds if they are releasable ( i.e if there is no other reason why he should hold them in his custody) and make sure never to instruct him again in anything.

Victor

One of the papers had a story over the weekned where one of the solicitors involved in the shenanigans over the last year forgot to bill his clients. Fair dues to him. He sold your house to 8 different banks, but didn't charge you for it.