Solicitor Fees Payable

C

candyman

Registered User
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Hi all,
Quick question. 3 months ago I bought an apt off the plans, gave a €5,000 deposit to secure it and 3 weeks later paid the full deposit. In order to fully close on the deposit, I needed to find a solicitor to handle the paperwork. I found one and closed the deposit. Solicitor fee is in the range of €2,500.

Now the apt wont be ready till the end of the year but since we closed I have found several cheaper better solicitors (mainly through AAM :)) so my question is to what extent am I in debt to the solicitor that closed my deposit deal?

I am thinking of switching to a cheaper solicitor to actually close the deal at the end of the year and am trying to work out which option would be better.

Regards.
 
Why did you need to pay €2,500 to 'close' on the deposit? The only solicitors fees that are normally payable are on final closing (or at least those are the only ones I am aware of). Does this €2,500 not cover closing as well, i.e. is it some form of prepayment?
 
You cant change the solicitor at this stage. You obviously didnt shop around before signing the contracts.
 
Yes he can change solicitor at this stage but he will have to pay for any work done to date before a new solicitor can take over the file.
And is the 2500.00 the fee only or does it include vat and outlays?
It may or may not be worth changing

mf
 
If your looking for a cheaper solicitor Id recommend Dermot Deane. He is cheap and efficient. Dont expect much conversation though.
 
CCOVICH said:
Why did you need to pay €2,500 to 'close' on the deposit? The only solicitors fees that are normally payable are on final closing (or at least those are the only ones I am aware of). Does this €2,500 not cover closing as well, i.e. is it some form of prepayment?
Click to expand...

Sorry for any confusion here. I have not paid my solicitor a penny to date. I engaged his services to handle the signing of contracts at the time, that is it so far.

mf1 said:
And is the 2500.00 the fee only or does it include vat and outlays?
It may or may not be worth changing

mf
Click to expand...

€2500 is the approx total including VAT and outlays.


I guess this comes down to how much my current solicitor charges me for work done to date + the cost of getting a new 'cheaper' solicitor to handle the actual sale when it comes around.
In hindsight, I didnt shop around a whole lot due to time constraints.
I'd imagine I'm probably better off with my current solicitor as he would probably screw me at this stage if I jumped ship on him.
 
Even the cheaper options for solicitor dont include VAT and outlays and these often come to well over 1k. So you haven't been charged all that much really. Probably around 1.2k plus Vat and outlays.
 
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