Q Having had an offer accepted on a house, I had the searches done and the property surveyed. This work came to a total of £576. The vendors then rejected my offer.
Now the solicitor has sent me a bill for £174 for reading the contract. I was not informed this work was being done. I asked for a detailed bill and they were unable to provide one, saying this is a normal abortive bill. Do I really have to pay?
PW
A The rules on buying and selling houses are very formal and offer little protection to the buyer if the vendor changes his mind about selling the property. Effectively the vendor can withdraw from the sale at any time before contracts are exchanged. Whatever you may think of his conduct he is entitled to do so. And if, as in your case, the sale does fall through you cannot put in a claim for your expenses such as solicitors' and surveyors' fees.
However, your solicitor should not charge you for work you did not authorise. Moreover, if you agreed a fixed price for the searches in advance, then you should not be charged more than the agreed amount.
If you asked your solicitor to do the searches, but did not agree a fixed price, then you may have implied authorisation to read contracts.
However, the amount charged must be reasonable. Get a breakdown of costs and find out what other solicitors would charge for this work and pay only what you think is a reasonable amount.
