Solicitors Fees

KtodaT

Hi All,

I have seen some varying opinions on Solicitors Fees here.
The solicitor has been recommended to me by my Mam, which is of course a plus. She does seem to be on the expensive side though.
Myself and my partner are buying our first home.

Professional Fee (recommended fee 1%) less voluntary abatement €1,500.00

Miscellaneous Outlay in respect of telephone, postage, stationery,
photocopying, fax etc € 130.00

Commissioners Fees on Declarations x 2 with exhibits € 25.00

The Professional Fee and Miscellaneous Outlays attract VAT
at 23 per cent (payable to government agency)

Estimated Outlays payable to third parties
Search Fees € 80.00 to €120.00

Land Registry Fees for registration of your title (if over €200,000) € 915.00
and for registration of Mortgage and for copy Folio
Stamp Duty (based on a Purchase Price of 250,000) € 2,500.00

Orwellmerchant

Are you trying to ask for other people insights and experiences here?

KtodaT

Yes - this does seem to be on the expensive side.. as I said.
However, I am not very experienced or anything so looking for other opinions

mirrorwall14

We paid 4500k for ours. Worth every penny. Zero issues despite several arising and deal done in 8 weeks.

Mike3549

Solicitor fees are only 1500 + vat which is reasonable, all other charges such as stamp duty and land registry has absolutely nothing to do with solicitor.

KtodaT

Mike3549 wrote: »

Solicitor fees are only 1500 + vat which is reasonable, all other charges such as stamp duty and land registry has absolutely nothing to do with solicitor.

Yes I was thinking that however it brings the total to over €2500.

I think we will probably go with her as my Mam has been using her years, and the price doesn't seem to be totally extortionate. I just wanted reassurance we weren't being totally ripped off as I saw some folks had used solicitors for €900 !

ILikeBoats

We only paid 900 for the professional fees. Our solicitor was great.

Not Being Pedantic But

KtodaT wrote: »

Yes I was thinking that however it brings the total to over €2500.

I think we will probably go with her as my Mam has been using her years, and the price doesn't seem to be totally extortionate. I just wanted reassurance we weren't being totally ripped off as I saw some folks had used solicitors for €900 !

From personal experience with Solicitors, It's definately better to engage with one with whom you have anecdotal, legacy relationships with. It's worth spending an extra few quid TBH for trust and peace of mind.

It's costing me more as a vendor currently than it was as a purchaser and there is far less work and potential liability involved from the Solicitor's perspective.

Good luck and enjoy- it's an exciting time!!

Mike3549

We paid 850 + Vat but that was 3 years ago, solicitor was ok. But lately everybody is talking about 1500 figure

wicklowwander

ILikeBoats wrote: »

We only paid 900 for the professional fees. Our solicitor was great.

ILikeBoats - would you be able to PM the details of your solicitor? Thank you

Cheezeweasel

The solicitor fees for my house was (note that the stamp duty was based on a house value of €340k):
[font=arial, sans-serif]Purchase:[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Professional Fee                                              €800  [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]VAT @ 23%                                                   €184[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]3^rd Party Outlay:-        [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Searches                                                           €150[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Copy Folio                                                       €40[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Mortgage Registration Fee                             €175  [/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Land Registry Transfer Registration Fee         € 400[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Stamp Duty @ 1%                                           € 334[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]Total                                                                €2,083[/font]

Earleybird

KtodaT wrote: »

Yes I was thinking that however it brings the total to over €2500.

I think we will probably go with her as my Mam has been using her years, and the price doesn't seem to be totally extortionate. I just wanted reassurance we weren't being totally ripped off as I saw some folks had used solicitors for €900 !

That's a fairly competitive price to be honest, you could probably go lower by shopping around but that's not to say you would receive the same level of service. A family history with the solicitor is well worth any saving you could find elsewhere. I'd personally be a little nervous at a quote of €900. Best of luck with tge purchase.

KtodaT

Cheers y'all for the messages! We have just been to KBC and now the waiting game commences.

I've got a temp open-ended contract with HSE though (taken on during moratorium), been here 2 years so fingers crossed that doesn't stand in our way!

paddy19

"Professional Fee (recommended fee 1%)."

This really cheeses me off.
Recommended by who?

The amount of work required for a solicitor is not related to the cost of the property.
Does a property costing 400k automatically take twice the work of a 200k?

900 seemed to be a reasonable number a few years back.
It has now magically ballooned to 1,500.

The other BS I hate is this you get what you pay for.
No you don't, you get whatever the solicitor thinks that they can get away with.

The chancers are more likely to rip you off than an efficient professional.

What pre tell is this BS about. "Miscellaneous Outlay in respect of telephone, postage, stationery,
photocopying, fax etc € 130.00".

I don't want letters, phone calls or faxes I want everything via email so I have documented everything just in case there is confusion.

Email is your friend, start by documenting the agreed set fee then use it religiously.

If you get a call from your beloved legal eagle, document it via email.

Don't ever ring your solicitor it just leads to confusion.

If the proverbial hits the fan you will get "but I understood during that call that......" yada, yada.

All this may seem over the top but trust me you'll get a way better service when there is zero room for confusion.

Interested Observer

KtodaT wrote: »

Yes - this does seem to be on the expensive side.. as I said.
However, I am not very experienced or anything so looking for other opinions

The registry fees and all that are fees set by the state. The solicitor really has nothing to do with those. 1630+VAT for the actual solicitors fees seems reasonable.

PGE1970

So the solicitor, on a property being bought for €250k, is charging you 1%+ VAT (€3,075.00) but giving a you an abatement (discount?) of €1500 making it a total fee of €1575 (€1280+VAT).

Is this correct? That seems very reasonable. Remember the other fees are levied by Leo Varadkar and not the solicitor.

Meanwhile, those criticising solicitors fees of €1200 will, presumably, pay an auctioneer €3750 + marketing costs (the standard 1.5% in my neck of the woods) if they sold the same €250k house!!???

CreativeSen

PGE1970 wrote: »

Is this correct? That seems very reasonable. Remember the other fees are levied by Leo Varadkar and not the solicitor.

:rolleyes:

We paid €1,900 (including VAT) for the solicitor. The solicitor also took care of all other fees, levied by successive governments over multiple decades amounted to a total €1,178.

The fees includeded Searches, Planning Searches and various Land Registry Fees. The solicitor also sorted the Property Tax payment for the remainder of 2017 and all of 2018 which was a total of €477 as well as Stamp Duty.

PGE1970

CreativeSen wrote: »

:rolleyes:

We paid €1,900 (including VAT) for the solicitor. The solicitor also took care of all other fees, levied by successive governments over multiple decades amounted to a total €1,178.

The fees includeded Searches, Planning Searches and various Land Registry Fees. The solicitor also sorted the Property Tax payment for the remainder of 2017 and all of 2018 which was a total of €477 as well as Stamp Duty.

It wasn't a pot shot at Leo!! Rather then just to make a point that other fees are "statutory" fees which is a point that you correctly and properly make.

Ps - I actually like Leo but I'm largely non political!

exaisle

There's nothing to stop you making an all-in offer on the basis that it's your first house. Offer her €1,000 inclusive of vat and tell her that's what youve been quoted elsewhere.

The thing about haggling is that if you make a low offer, you can always increase it....

(The €1000 inclusive of VAT is just on her fees and outlays. You'll have to pay Land Registry and Stamp Duty as quoted.)

paddy19

"The registry fees and all that are fees set by the state. The solicitor really has nothing to do with those. 1630+VAT for the actual solicitors fees seems reasonable."

I said nothing about the registry fees. I was talking about the solicitors fees.

I note the solicitors fee has now gone from 800 (cheezeweasel above) to 1500 to your 1630.

What makes 1,650 reasonable?

Who came down from high and made made you the arbitrator of this reasonable number?

Is 1,650 reasonable in a 20 house development where the work is basically the same for all 20 Houses?

BS, are you a solicitor by any chance?

paddy19

"Meanwhile, those criticising solicitors fees of €1200 will, presumably, pay an auctioneer €3750 + marketing costs (the standard 1.5% in my neck of the woods) if they sold the same €250k house!!???"

Logic is a bit assways here. I'm equally critical of the auctioneering bandits % fee.
Just because the auctioneers are trying to get away with same BS is no reason to accept it from the beloved folk of the legal profession.

None of these fees are set in stone.
First rule of negotiation is you have to ask.
These days with massive demand and all auctioneers using the same web sites you can really shop around.

These days I'd sell it myself rather than give some auctioneering yahoo 3,750.

paddy19

Slightly off topic:

https://www.daft.ie/discussions.daft?dcn%5Bdiscussion_id%5D=208023

Using Daft as my estate agent, I was able to sell my house privately after three months at a price higher than a local estate agent said what the market value was. Daft cost me EUR200 compared to an estate agent commission of EUR1500. Thank you Daft.
If anyone has any questions about the private selling process, I am happy to answer.

CreativeSen

paddy19 wrote: »

Using Daft as my estate agent, I was able to sell my house privately after three months at a price higher than a local estate agent said what the market value was. Daft cost me EUR200 compared to an estate agent commission of EUR1500. Thank you Daft.
If anyone has any questions about the private selling process, I am happy to answer.

Not everyone is lucky enough or blessed to have the time but that is really impressive! Well done!

paddy19 wrote: »

First rule of negotiation is you have to ask.
These days with massive demand and all auctioneers using the same web sites you can really shop around.

I agree completely. I was given a referral for a solicitor and they quoted 2.5k including VAT. I called around to 5 other solicitors and prices varied between 1.1k and 2.2k.

I went back to the original solicitor and made the case. They are an excellent firm, great reputation and will be around for many years as opposed to the 1 man in his dining room on the cheaper end. They dropped to 1.9k, by no means the cheapest but within my tolerance. I was not just shopping for the cheapest, i was also shopping for the best. I am very happy with the service and quality.

paddy19

Thats my point CreativeSen people need to negotiate rather than accept these so called "reasonable" % figures that are been pushed here.

Selling it yourself gives you an option to negotiate the % figure quoted by the auctioneer.

In a demanding market I'm not sure how much time is required.
A couple of open days and closed bid process with a reserve would be worth three and half grand to me but obviously others
like our legal friends would scoff at such a pittance.