Registering Deeds (Should it cost €700??)

unaffected

Hi,

I don't know much about the sale of property, or the laws in Ireland but I wanted to ask here because this situation doesn't seem right.

Last year my mother decided to downsize her home so she could end her mortgage.She sold her house fine, but this is a question about buying a property. It has taken almost a year to even get through to settling the sale, but all that went through a few months ago.

Long story short, my mothers original solicitor had an agreement with her (As she handled the selling of her original property) and gave her a rough estimate of all the costs associated with the sale, they agreed. Over the course of the year, unfortunately the original solicitor had passed away. This led to months of delays but eventually her active cases were handed over to another solicitor she had never met. Everything eventually went through and she now owns the house as well as settling all the legal fees which she was told up front about. As far as she knew she had settled a final bill inclusive of everything associated with the buying the house. She had even spoke to the new solicitor around this time and he told her he'd get back when he received the deeds. Nothing was mentioned about a cost here, so she had assumed this work was covered in her fees.

Today she was shocked to get a letter from this new solicitor saying they "Have sent the deed of assignment" to be registered which has been paid for. However they then add that once they have received the deeds back it is compulsory to register in the land registry in order to obtain a folio (new title). They then say they want to charge her over €600 for this along with €70 for the submission fees, bringing it to almost €700, which she was not expecting and had never been told about, so she actually cannot afford it at the moment.

Does this seem right that she needs to pay so much just to register the deeds? Especially when she was under the impression she had already paid for it?
Obviously the €70 fees she will have to pay, but is she able to register it herself? Everything I can find online says it normally costs between €40-80 to register deeds.

Any advice is appreciated, Thanks!

myshirt

Nothing wrong here.

If anything the solicitor should charge an extra €300. Think what you have there is quite fair. I'm impressed.

surrender monkey

Hard to say from the op and without being able to see the title but I would guess it's unregistered title.

The 70 Euro would be the fee to register the deed and counterpart in the registry of deeds.

Unregistered titles in all counties must be registered in the Land Registry since 1/6/2011. The fee for this is €500. If there is a mortgage it's a further 175 I think. The solicitor would also request a certified copy folio to be issued when registration is completed that's €40. You can find the land registry fees order online, I can't post links so you will have to google it sorry ! Your solicitor will issue a bill of costs and outlay setting out the fees charged.

There is not a chance your mother could do this work herself unfortunately. There really is no way around it and you are getting a good deal here to be honest

unaffected

Just to clarify, there is no mortgage. She has already paid her final professional fee, and what she was told were final charges. There is nothing mentioned in the letter today about it costing €500 for the land registry, which I'm guessing was already paid (I'll have to check the documents). This fee is an extra service fee for what seems to be sending off a forum in the post (over €600), She has already paid this guy his legal fees for the whole process (what she would have paid her original solicitor). Why wasn't she told/warned about it, so she could have set this money aside? It just doesn't seem very ethical that nothing was mentioned about a bill that costs the best part of a grand, and after she had paid her final solicitors fees? As far as she knows, this was all included and paid for.

surrender monkey

To be honest it's really hard to know what's going on without seeing the title. I just gave a best guess from the info provided in the op. If it's a first reg it isn't just a form to be filled out. The solicitor has a fair bit of work to do to lodge the application. Maybe you could give the solicitor a call and ask them to explain the breakdown of fees and outlay to you. The land registry increased its fees substantially a few years ago and a solicitor can do nothing about these charges.

unaffected

Ok, I've just checked what was paid. A 'professional fee' for ALL work in relation to the property was paid. Stamp Duty, Searches and PRA registraion was already paid. This came to a few thousand.
The main bulk on this new fee (outside of the the €70) is described as a 'Professional fee' and 'outlay of first registration'. This letter also seems to come from a different company, and solicitor, than the one who originally took over? This is really confusing, but we will be ringing them tomorrow.

athtrasna

OP it's against boards rules to post the same thread on multiple fora.

Mod