Is this expensive ? Solicitors fees when pulling out of sale.

[kelly14]

We was selling our house and buying a new one, after many months and lots of time wasting, surveys etc , the seller of the house we were purchasing pulled out at the last minute.

We have been looking for a new house for months and months but to no avail and our EA was really of no help so we decided to pull out of our sale at the weekend and wait a while before we put back on market as felt we were just holding up the chain and it was a lot of pressure.

Today we got the solicitors bill, which I can't help but think is really high approx £1675.
This was the explanation ;

"You have been provided with an invoice for the abortive cost incurred in connection with the sale, which amounted to £849.00. in addition, there was a further sum payable in respect of the abortive cost of the purchase, totalling £826.15. this included the cost of the searches carried out on your behalf .

Does this seem high or this usual sort of costs incurred?

I guess that they will have done almost all the work, so their fees would be almost all of what they quoted you originally. If they have done searches, drawing up contracts etc etc.

What was your original estimated bill? Depending on how far along the process you got, it will be some proportion of that.

Original bill for the purchase and sale was 2577 ( not including any stamp duty)

And yes at one point we was about to exchange/ complete ( not sure on terminology) but then house we were buying pulled plugged.

That's fair enough if most think it's about right. It's paid now anyway just wanted to make sure. Thank you

Sounds about right. They did a high proportion of the work before you cancelled, so that's what you're paying for.

Read your t&c/terms of business which you'll have signed at the start. This should indicate the fees charged for an abortive transaction. Don't be afraid to query or even ask for a reduction.

That sounds reasonable considering they'd almost completed the work from their end.