Solicitor chasing 'debt'

[Keepyourconversationsboring]

Firs time poster, appreciate any similar experiences 😀
Completed our first house sale in July. All very straightforward, all fees settled upon completion. Today receive a very apologetic letter from the solicitor claiming a recent audit has left us with a £200 outstanding fee to be paid on our file. There were lots of 'our apologies', 'our error, 'our oversight', 'our discrepancies' within said letter. There's no question this is their mistake, it's there in black and white. However, equally not keen to go to war with a law firm over £200. Would I be unreasonable to respond with a 'your mess, you sort it' type response? Or suggest meeting them in the middle? Bear in mind this has been sent 8 months after completion. What would you do?

Pay their outstanding fees but challenge the incorrect land registry fee. They should have known better to get the correct forms and if they get it wrong then you should not be out of pocket for their mistake. They need to pay for that.

As others have said I’d ask them to break it down for you, then as it’s their error, very politely offer them £100 in full and final settlement. I think it’s actually quite poor of them tbh.

"They can't just decide after the bill has been paid that "Oops, we should have charged you more"."

I work in a solicitor's office and regularly do the billing. If fees had been miscalculated, then to be blunt that is their lookout. putting an extra bill in 8 months down the line is not acceptable. As for the Land Registry fees, they would have been noted on your file at the time the disbursement was incurred, how has it taken them 8 months for this to come to light??
Knowing how files are billed, i would say they have tried to "close" your file, but this disbursement and fee error has now come to light.

If you want to be fair i would offer to pay the land registry fee, but as for their fees, £100 is not a huge amount, and i would hazard a guess that compared what they actually charged you writing off £100 is not a big deal in scheme of things.

just out of interest, was the bill lower than the fees estimated in your engagement letter?

You presumably accepted that you would have to pay full fees when you first instructed them?

Francis is mistaken about the meaning of "full and final settlement" - this is a bit of a popular myth. You can't impose full and final settlement on someone without their agreement, and if you are paying less than is due, you need to show that there has been some consideration for this.

For example, a friend of mine was in a rear-end shunt. The person who caused the accident fully accepted that he was at fault, and when friend sent him a copy of the invoice for repairing the car, he sent a cheque with a letter saying that this payment was in full and final settlement of the claim, and that by cashing the cheque she accepted that. However, it turned out she had a hidden injury which came to light shortly afterwards that had quite serious consequences. She was advised that the other driver's letter was legally meaningless and ultimately a court fully agreed.

If you were happy with their work, agree that you owe the additional amount and are not broke I would just pay it. I tend to worry about attracting bad karma though.
Are you likely to want to use the firm again? If it’s the only decent solicitors in a ten mile radius I wouldn’t be burning any bridges with them.

I sold my house when my marriage ended, months later I got a cheque in the post for £450 from the solicitors, they had miscalculated what they owed me. 8 years later I got a letter from the mortgage company with a cheque for £1900, they had overcharged me for the final settlement.

I wouldn't be paying the £100 that is their fees. Imagine someone came and fitted you a new kitchen, you paid and then 8 months later they come round saying 'oh sorry, you owe me another hundred quid' - you'd tell them to get lost! Don't be scared of them just because they are a solicitor, you would think they would know how to calculate a bill correctly and if they didn't then that's their problem.

I probably wouldn't be rushing to pay the land registry thing either to be honest, again if they didn't pay (and bill you for) the correct fees then it's their fault.

While being polite and with a sense of finality, I would offer to pay the £100 for the land registry and suggest that's a very fair arrangement.

I had something similar with a property sale that transpired about 9 months after completion. I agreed that I had been overpaid but complained about their error (which I couldn't reasonably have detected) and suggested that we split the cost. They agreed. It seemed fair.

Yes, £100 is for inaccurate Land Registry fee, the other £100 is for a miscalculation on their own fees

Sounds like a genuine cock up, why woudnt you pay? Surely its the decent thing. If the shoe was on the other foot would you just right it off, or would you hope they would be decent and pay?

If you owe it you are legally obliged to pay it no matter whose mistake it was.