Why does a 'fixed fee' quote say the price can be changed at any time?

[CharminglyOdd]

DP is buying a house. For various reasons (including English not being his first language) I'm heavily involved with the paperwork. I was advised to check the solicitor was fixed fee, which has been confirmed. The solicitor did an initial search on the property and it may become complex (it may not, we won't know until the searches begin). They come highly recommended but are not no sale, no fee.

I am reading the confirmation letter following us asking them to act for us and we have not paid any money yet. Under the heading 'fixed fee' it says "if the matter becomes protracted... we may need to review our charges". My concerns are threefold: 1) is this usual even though it states 'fixed fee' and 2) do fixed fee quotes often change mid-process (by which point it would be too late for us as buyers) and 3) does that mean a large amount can be charged?

They were the more competitive quote but I am worried that, after being straight with them about the possible issue (could hardly avoid it as it came up immediately they searched) that this has been added in case of difficulties. I understand they are a business and don't want to make a loss but I equally am worried that DP will lose money that we could have avoided.

Thanks to anyone who can help :)

The "fixed fee" quote will be based on the assumption that your house purchase is straightforward and there are no major (and out of the ordinary) issues during the process which will need to be resolved. If any unexpected issues do arise which require significantly more time to be spent on the purchase than is usually the case, the solicitor might end up doing a significant amount of work for free without the caveat in your letter - which ime is fairly standard.

If you are worried, you could ask the solicitor to list for you the assumptions on which the "fixed fee" quote is based. Alternatively, you could make clear that you want them to inform you if something arises which means they expect their fees to be higher than the "fixed fee". Usually the fixed fee will stand - it's only an issue if there is a major problem - one example would be if you discover there is a problem with the right to access the property which needs to be resolved via a court process. If there is a potential issue which you have already identified I would seek their agreement in writing that resolving it will form part of the fixed fee.

The legal ombudsman has published today some advice about this and other stuff on their website today. Well worth a read.

www.legalombudsman.org.uk/downloads/documents/publications/Consumer-guide-costs-BW.pdf

Some interesting examples of the types of complaints they deal with and their outcomes are given here:

www.legalombudsman.org.uk/decisions/ombudsman_decisions.html

Thank you both very much. That was very useful and I definitely felt a bit more comfortable sending her an email asking about the terms of the fixed fee situation.