Complaining about a solicitor

MayoEfc

Hi,
We bought our house in 1999

We paid our solicitor about 800 punts to register the land we'd bought , sorry I'm only guessing it was punts back then.

We didn't move in till last May but visited about 7 or 8 times a year.

A few months ago we got a surveyor to do some plans for a porch.

The fella came back with the plans and told us that the Land we bought back with the house hadn't been registered with the land registery.

All them years we thought it was done and the solicitor even told us,he'd done it.

The solicitor has now retired so we went to his partners office as he is still practising.

We had to pay 150 € to get the land in our name. This doesn't seem fair. When I tried to complain to the solicitor they just said it's one of those thing!!

Can I do anything about this please ?

Many thanks

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Was that 800 for the handling of the purchase of the house or just the land registry? It's fairly cheap for the purchase and expensive for just land registry. Land registry fees start at about €130.


https://www.lawsociety.ie/Pages/Public-Make-a-Complaint-CMS/

Paulw

You need to make a complaint to the Law Society.

L1011

Vicente Bumpy Valor wrote: »

Was that 800 for the handling of the purchase of the house or just the land registry? It's fairly cheap for the purchase and expensive for just land registry. Land registry fees start at about €130.

£800, 15 years ago - would have been about right for the entire lot.

You can complain to the Law Society but if he's retired there's not much they can do.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MYOB wrote: »

£800, 15 years ago - would have been about right for the entire lot.

You can complain to the Law Society but if he's retired there's not much they can do.

I paid £1475 in 1984 for all aspects of a house and land purchase.

L1011

Vicente Bumpy Valor wrote: »

I paid £1475 in 1984 for all aspects of a house and land purchase.

How much of that was stamp duty though? FTBs had a hefty exemption and otherwise lower rates in 1999.

MayoEfc

Hi,
It was for the purchase of the house too.

I just don't really understand why they didn't just say ok, sorry about that , then register for us.

Why did we have to pay €150:00?

I have found the law society website so I think I will email them..

Thank you everyone for replying

L1011

The Land Registry charges fees which, presumably, they didn't want to cover the cost of paying despite having charged you for the equivalent fees (which were a lot lower) in 1999.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MYOB wrote: »

How much of that was stamp duty though? FTBs had a hefty exemption and otherwise lower rates in 1999.

No stamp duty was applicable. I know what I paid for. Solicitor is a good family friend. Purchase of land and house 1984 all itemised. It was much cheaper than others I know paid at the time.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

OP do you have the itemised bill from the solicitor? Without it you can't prove he charged for the Land Registry portion of the conveyancy.

mrsbyrne

MayoEfc wrote: »

Hi,
It was for the purchase of the house too.

I just don't really understand why they didn't just say ok, sorry about that , then register for us.

Why did we have to pay €150:00?

I have found the law society website so I think I will email them..

Thank you everyone for replying

Came across just this situation recently.House was never registered 20 years ago. The solicitiors firm just sorted it out themselves, the owners didnt have to pay anything. Report it to the law society.

L1011

Vicente Bumpy Valor wrote: »

No stamp duty was applicable. I know what I paid for. Solicitor is a good family friend. Purchase of land and house 1984 all itemised. It was much cheaper than others I know paid at the time.

Well, prices have fallen hugely since then, then; as you'd easily find it for less than the equivalent €1900 exclusive of stamp duty now.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Are you in the business?

I called a solicitor friend (not the one I used, as he is deceased) who told me current averages are

Land Registry if previously registered. 525 average
Searches 100 on a straight forward transaction
Solicitor fees. 1175 typically

That's 1800 which was 1417 punt.

I had separate house and land searches and registry so not much price difference nowadays.

He said it has become somewhat cheaper in some city areas where solicitors are even doing €999 deals.

Remember the OP was in 1999 and I stand by the statement that 800 was cheap at that time and I would be surprised if it included the registry fees. But the OP can confirm that by checking the bill, which he would need to do before contacting the Law Society.

Anyways, that's all by the way.

L1011

I've priced up recently. All local cheaper than that. Its pretty common for an obvious cartel to form in an area and all solicitors to charge identical fees for their element of it. Regardless, €1800 is still cheaper in cash terms let alone real terms than your 1984 figure. I suspect that unless fees were higher across the board in 1984 that you got ripped, badly.

I would surprised if the £800 wasn't either all in or all in excluding stamp duty if stamp duty was applicable. Land registry fees jumped hugely in late 2012, for starters.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MYOB wrote: »

I've priced up recently. All local cheaper than that. Its pretty common for an obvious cartel to form in an area and all solicitors to charge identical fees for their element of it. Regardless, €1800 is still cheaper in cash terms let alone real terms than your 1984 figure. I suspect that unless fees were higher across the board in 1984 that you got ripped, badly.

I would surprised if the £800 wasn't either all in or all in excluding stamp duty if stamp duty was applicable. Land registry fees jumped hugely in late 2012, for starters.

Think what you like. I know my price was good in 1984 as I know what several others paid at the time and they were quite taken aback by our reduced charge. But you seem to know what it was like in 1984 better than I do.
I can't find what I paid in 1971 for another purchase but it was massive as a % of the purchase price - and no stamp duty in those days.

L1011

Vicente Bumpy Valor wrote: »

Think what you like. I know my price was good in 1984 as I know what several others paid at the time and they were quite taken aback by our reduced charge. But you seem to know what it was like in 1984 better than I do.
I can't find what I paid in 1971 for another purchase but it was massive as a % of the purchase price - and no stamp duty in those days.

Well in that case, fees have fallen significantly across the board since 1984 as the (still high) 2014 price you got is still lower than your 1984 one.

However, solicitors fees and land registry fees have gone up significantly in recent years which is why I find £800 entirely plausible for everything in 1999.

MayoEfc

Hi Srameen
We didn't ever get a bill. We asked on numerous occasions for a bill but never got one.

We got a letter from this solicitor a few months ago , in the letter he says oh I'm retiring but would like to keep your wills. He sent this letter to a few of my friends too. I want my will in a safe in an office not in a cupboard in this fellas house lol

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

This gets worse. Don't tell me you don't have a certified copy of your wills yourselves. Get the wills off the retired solicitor immediately.

MayoEfc

Hi Srameen,

We have our wills now. We are going yo lodge them with our new solicitor once we've made copies of them

Thanks