Solicitors Fees

And I wonder why the title is horrendous in many cases.


Is this a cryptic way of blaming solicitors?

There are hundreds of things that can be wrong with a title which have nothing to do with solicitors. Boundary problems, planning problems, burdens, judgements, no title at all, someone has died etc etc.
 
I also agree that if you pay for a service, the service should be carried out in a timely manner and in a complete and professional way. But it simply doesn't always happen.

My own area (financial services) is sadly littered with stories of mis-selling. I've had a formal apology from a medical consultant over the poor treatment of a relative in the past. Some solicitors do their jobs better than others. In an ideal world, none of these should happen. But they do. Which is why I advised rosey to get a personal recommendation rather than focusing solely on best price.
 
Is this a cryptic way of blaming solicitors?

There are hundreds of things that can be wrong with a title which have nothing to do with solicitors. Boundary problems, planning problems, burdens, judgements, no title at all, someone has died etc etc.

I'm not being cryptic, you must have plenty of experience of title problems which could be laid solely at the door of the previous solicitor. Surely there is nothing wrong with me pointing that out without upsetting all the solicitors on AAM who assume that I am bashing them. There are also of course issues that have nothing to do with how the previous conveyance was handled.

As LD says there are professionals and professionals, you Vanilla are one of the best. Your advice is always extremely professional and helpful to the many people you've advised on here. Personally I don't think shoddy conveyancing work in such an important area of people's lives should be tolerated but I lay that firmly at the door of self regulation which is a debate for another day.
 
Bronte- you are not 'upsetting' anyone and I don't think we need to assume anything about solicitors being bashed in your post as you are admitting that freely.

I merely pointed out that there are a myriad of things that can go wrong with title. There are also countless other things that can go wrong in a sale which have nothing to do with title and much to do with personalities of vendors and purchasers.

In my experience I have come across very very few titles where something was wrong which was a solicitors fault. Where this does happen, rarely, it is usually something that can be rectified easily. Not to mention that if there is negligence on the part of a solicitor the client is covered by their indemnity insurance, the compensation fund and the complaints section of the law society, the disclipinary tribunal and of course, by direct application of the courts. So if something had to go wrong you can see why people would prefer to blame their solicitor.
 
What are your thoughts on a solicitor charging a % based on the final sale price of the house they are assisting with the sale of. This can get very expensive very quickly. Is it common practice to charge 1% of sale price?
 
I paid €1250 plus VAT and outlays which ended up being just over €2.5k and for all the work the solicitor did for me it was a complete bargain, she ended up working at a loss. This was for buying a house only.

My main advice would be to choose somebody who is recommended and is near to your work/ home. So handy for last minute signing of documents, running back and forward. To have to do everything by post, just holds everything up, especially when you are in the process of moving. Also someone you have a bit of rapport with and can be honest and open and it's not all formal.

Very few sales at the moment are straightforward, mine was particularly complicated, despite seeing extremely straightforward when I was quoted, so it is worth paying a bit more for someone who will do a bit extra when problems arise....and believe me, they will!