Is €366 an hour excessive for legal work

I'm hoping someone out there can help me.

I note there is a similar post to my query here. However in that case the solicitor was doing stuff in the high court. My case is slightly different as we are not doing this.

Two years ago. I bought a new apartment whose roof has leaked 6 times since I bought it. The builder has on 5 occasions tried to repair it, and is now on the 6th attempt. On the last occasion there was serious damage internally to the apartment. The builder has sent out an engineer who again is assessing what needs to be done here and at the moment are trying to repair things again.

I have started to ask for legal advice on this matter. At this stage the solicitor has suggested that he can read the contract and send a letter to the builder advising him of his obligations. As regards the legal fees. My solicitor has quoted me €366 including VAT per hour. Is this excessive? If I was taking legal proceedings and going to court I could possibly understand this, but unlike the other poster I am not

My concern is that if I accept this, that for example I will face a bill of 1,076 for 1 hour to compose a letter and 2 hour to read my contracts or possibly higher. This would seem excessive to me Is it would anyone know? Would I be likely to be charged this amount for that work or is the solicitor just giving me the worst case scenario.

On the previous occasion the builder got an engineers report on which they acted upon, but as I said earlier the roof has leaked again. This time I am getting an independent engineers report on the damage. This is costing me €400. So obviously the bill are starting to mount up and €366 an hour I could do without.

Would anyone know if I can I claim the cost of the professional fees from the builder.

Most recently there is cosmetic damage, is the builder liable to fix this.

The reason I ask is that last time there was damage to the carpet it cost me €300 in home contents excess.

Engineers are competent to comment on structure or services in terms of building.
I know of none who deal with the weathering envelope of the superstructure, unless its a specialist curtain wall job, or repairing settlement cracking in an external masonry wall, for example - but I may stand corrected on this.

They'll advise on roofs that have blown off, but that's a structural issue involving wind uplift forces, wall plates, ties, purlins and fixing bolts - nothing to do with the deterioration of the membrane for example.

The effectiveness an engineer and this particular builder can be judged by their track record to date - 6 leaks in two years.

Please do yourself a favour and retain an architect to advise you on this, who will; -

• inspect when the opening up has occurred
• assess the trace of the leak
• conduct background research on the builder and the roof type
• inspect the Opinions of Compliance issued for this building by the developer's architect
• review the supplier's /manufacturer's guarantee / commissioning certificate for the roofing system,
• spot a pup if it turns out to be ponding asphalt without wedge pieces laid on timber with no separating layer, no solar protection and no flashing at upstands and
• issue a competently presented and comprehensive report detailing the non-compliance with the building regulations that will form the basis of any legal action you may have to take.

Otherwise you're going to be paying a solicitor a lot of money to write letters about technical matters he knows little about.
With an architect's Report to draw on he can use this to establish the terms of your claim as well as the proposed remedy.
Your house contents insurer may also need to be brought up to speed on all these goings on sooner or later.
In advance of any appointment ask around the development and see if anyone else has suffered leaks.

As regards the solicitor you have spoken with, he has already shown his level of experience.
His strategy appears inappropriate for this situation because the builder is not ignoring the problem.
The builder does not need to be reminded of his obligations, he appears to be discharging them, or trying to.
What both you and the builder need is competent technical advice on the source(s) of the leak and how to remedy it/them.

FWIW

ONQ

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Bachelor Boy - I've worked in this area for years and I'm very surprised that your block policy insurer & contents insurer aren't working together to determine liability and recovering appropriate costs themselves - whether it be the builder, developer or roofing contractor (either nominated or sub-contracted). That's normally the procedure in these cases

€366 and hour for a good solicitor may not be expensive! It all depends, I have worked with solicitors who have charged much more but was happy to pay as I felt they knew what they were at and got straight to it and did not take many hours to complete the task.

I am not trying to say that the more they charge the better they are!

But to me your case seems straightforward and the amount does seem a little bit on the high side.