Solicitor Charges if Decision Not to Buy

DarraghR

Hi everyone. I am about to purchase my first home and the seller has agreed on our bid. Tomorrow I am hoping to take on a solicitor for the first time as the sellers estate agent requires contact details to proceed.

One of my biggest concerns is if the house has any issues after surveyor and we decide not to proceed. I see from quotations back that they can take up to €700 once documents from the seller have been sent over and looked through. This would leave a dent in funds for finding another property afterwards.

Can anyone give the exact stages or steps around this part of the process? Also what to look out for when dealing or hiring a solicitor

Henry Ford III

It's not unreasonable to expect to be paid for any work done.

I assume you'd pay an engineer/surveyor for their services regardless if you progress the purchase or not?

EagerBeaverton

DarraghR wrote: »

Hi everyone. I am about to purchase my first home and the seller has agreed on our bid. Tomorrow I am hoping to take on a solicitor for the first time as the sellers estate agent requires contact details to proceed.

One of my biggest concerns is if the house has any issues after surveyor and we decide not to proceed. I see from quotations back that they can take up to €700 once documents from the seller have been sent over and looked through. This would leave a dent in funds for finding another property afterwards.

Can anyone give the exact stages or steps around this part of the process? Also what to look out for when dealing or hiring a solicitor

Solicitors get a bad rap but I've a friend who does conveyancing and when they run into this situation it's frustrating for them too as the sale can fall through and it's out of their control.

As the previous poster said, there is actually a lot of work going on that you don't see with conveyancing. If they don't do their due diligence by checking through all documentation and records to ensure all is in order they are liable for any errors.

My friend has had clients who, after pulling out of buying a house, then sent formal complaints to their firm about being billed for the hours that were spent reviewing documentation. There seems to be a perception that if the sale doesn't go ahead then the solicitor hasn't done any work, but that isn't true.

You're best bet would be to be upfront and make it clear from the beginning that you may not purchase the property if the survey comes back negatively, so is it possible to agree an hourly rate that you will pay if the sale doesn't go ahead and the full fee if the sale does go ahead. That way you only pay for the solicitors time that they dedicated to your sale. That's what my friend does if the sale falls through, they send only a bill for the hours spent working for each client.

Dolbhad

I agree with all of the above posters. If work is done, the relevant people should be paid. You wouldn’t refuse to pay an engineer if you didn’t like the report. You could ask the solicitor not to review anything until the report is in but you will be slowing things down. And the report might be fine but could be an issue with the legal title so could end up in the same boat. I double a solicitor would charge the full fee but may take part. Our solicitor took a deposit upfront and said that’s why, if we don’t go ahead, they bill for the work done. If the sale proceeds they deduct the deposit from the bill.

spaceHopper

Get the engineer to look over the house first then get a solicitor

DarraghR

Thanks for all the quick responses and very helpful information guys.

I would never think that the solicitor should not get paid for any of their work and time spent investigating. It seems only fair for all parties to get some kind of value overall.

After having a nice chat with the solicitor we choose he made us feel at ease by putting himself in our shoes. Long story short he will be contacting us before proceeding with and billable work to confirm we wish to proceed.

The problem with getting the engineer to look over the house first before hiring a solicitor is that would cost the guts of €300+. We have already had the valuation completed today so this might show any signs of problems at the early stages.

We will be viewing the property again tomorrow so if anyone has any tips in regards to questions for the estate agent representing the seller please fire away.

Once again thanks for all the information and feedback it really helps with the process.

chops018

DarraghR wrote: »

Thanks for all the quick responses and very helpful information guys.

I would never think that the solicitor should not get paid for any of their work and time spent investigating. It seems only fair for all parties to get some kind of value overall.

After having a nice chat with the solicitor we choose he made us feel at ease by putting himself in our shoes. Long story short he will be contacting us before proceeding with and billable work to confirm we wish to proceed.

The problem with getting the engineer to look over the house first before hiring a solicitor is that would cost the guts of €300+. We have already had the valuation completed today so this might show any signs of problems at the early stages.

We will be viewing the property again tomorrow so if anyone has any tips in regards to questions for the estate agent representing the seller please fire away.

Once again thanks for all the information and feedback it really helps with the process.

The valuation won't really show anything. The engineer's report is extremely important. Get this done before telling the Solicitor to start work their end if you're concerned at all about any structural defects etc. which might cause you to pull out of the sale. It's outlay well spent. In saying that, engineers will put loads of little things in their reports e.g. if skirtings etc need changing (these aren't major and shouldn't deter you from the purchase), it's only if major defects come up on the report you should walk.

Dolbhad

I echo the above. Valuation report is just about value. It won’t tell you any issues. You undoubtedly will have upfront expenses and may not decide to go ahead.

Our solicitor always use to say your not buying a box of cereal. It’s the biggest purchase you will buy. We paid extra for additional engineer reports and drains testing as issues had shown up. We wanted to to investigate to know what the issue was, the cost and were we willing to proceed. Was the bones of a €1k for all that by worth every penny.

We had previously went sale agreed on a house, had engineer view it and he pretty much said run, don’t walk from the house unless we had serious cash to deal with the problems. I rather have paid him than bought that house!

So really not the legal cost that will catch you. Best of luck though and hope it works out.