Legal fees for selling a house

mf1 said:
I am a solicitor and I am sitting here in my office surrounded by "clear cut and non problematic sale" files. Not. Not a single, solitary one. Every one has an issue and my job is to identify it , address it , fix it and move on.
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It is amazing how so many files have problems if there has already been a conveyance.
 
Bronte said:
You've no reason to say any such thing.
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Well Sir, seeing as this miscellaneous card is never shown face up, I have as much reason to say it, as you have to refute it. There are good solicitors out there who are reasonable with their costs in so far as one can actually say that, but there are massive numbers of solicitors who really stick it to clients and I mean really stick it to them.
 
mf1 said:
Most of my clients are repeat clients and they'd rather pay me to do the work than to trawl around for the cheapest possible price. Doing that quick trawl, I can see fees as low as €695 plus VAT.
Personally, I don't see how anyone can operate an office or offer any sort of proper professional service based on that sort of fee.
But there's the deal: use the cheapest possible solicitor's office or pay, what I would call, a realistic price for a proper service.
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mf1 said:
I get clients inviting me to "match" the cheapest quote as if, in some way, they are doing me a favour.
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Hi mf1,
I guess that quote of €695 is from here: https://www.directlaw.ie/fees/
I've no connection to them but they did a mortgage switch for me recently and I was very happy with the service. They were also very efficient (with very knowledgeable support staff, which may be their key to keeping costs down) and thorough, and I'd no issues with them (or the other two solicitors I've used in the last few years for similar conveyancing/switching work).
Maybe I'm lucky and my deeds and house are straightforward - I don't know.

However, my experience has been that the argument of someone getting what they pay for when looking for a solicitor doesn't hold true.

I think all customers are in some sense doing their service providers a favour by choosing that provider to benefit from their business over other possible providers but maybe solicitors don't view their customers that way. Isn't it preferable to get a chance to convince a customer (through explaining your superior level of service or by reducing your fees) to continue to retain your services, than them simply leaving you for a cheaper solicitor without telling you about it?

Thanks,
Concrete
 
For a mortgage switch there is no need for anything other than the cheapest quote. All the documentation has already been checked.
 
"but maybe solicitors don't view their customers that way. "

Some clients you'll fight to keep - others you're happy to see go.


Bronte said:
For a mortgage switch there is no need for anything other than the cheapest quote. All the documentation has already been checked.
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I'm afraid that is just too simplistic.

No solicitor picks up a file (be it from an earlier transaction or from another solicitor) and assumes that everything is in order, that nothing has changed since the earlier transaction and that all the steps in between have been taken and completed.

But I do feel as if I'm beating my head against a brick wall so I'm going to stop that pain and go back to the files on my desk...............

mf
 
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