Do I need to pay this legal bill?

[DiagonalSea]

My husband and I bought a house last October and now my solicitor has said he missed some things out on the completion statement and wants to be paid. It is over £1500 and they are not things we realised were outstanding e.g some fees, a proportion of the management fee for the estate etc. Do we need to pay this given that we paid everything we thought was owing in good faith and it's almost a year ago? It wouldn't be easy to find the money either.

Have you got the original quote and bill and checked that it was initially included on the quote and not included in the final bill?

Thanks Funky. Not things like the management fee which was apparently advised late by the management company. The extra fee apparently relates to additional work from the original quote but I can't find any correspondence where this was previously mentioned.

My partner is saying that the completion statement is just that, a statement of completion of which you paid in full.

Unless it was written within the statement that certain things would be billed later he thinks you have the right to contest the bill. There will a solicitor within the company that deals with complaints. I would be looking to see if they are part of an ombudsman scheme and be raising the issue with them.

Thank you New Era (and your partner). That is so reassuring. There was nothing in the completion statement that other charges would be billed later and we genuinely believed that we were paying everything that was due. This is why this new invoice has been such a shock - also because it's such a big amount and has been such a long time. Will definitely push back then.

IN general yes you have to pay. I bet the solicitors' terms say you pay all these expenses - these are not charges made up by or kept by the solicitor but genuine expenses incurred. It is possible you were misled about these but I doubt it would go your way if it went to court. It is very common that more expenses come in after and that is usually paid by the customer. It is only for your convenience that the solicitor pays for you things like estate agent costs etc. There is no reason they should be so kind as to do that. If the solicitor did not pay then the estate agent can sue you anyway so not paying the solicitor is not going to remove the primary debt which falls on you.

Greengrow you have misread the OPs post. Nobody has mentioned anything about estate agents fees. And no, it is not very common for additional expenses relating to a house sale to arrive after completion. Otherwise it wouldn't be completion would it?

I k now it's not estate agents' fees but there are loads of things on completion statements and they are expenses the client pays. No one has ever suggested some how the solicitor is legally liable to pay them from stamp duty to any kind of agent fee. These are not fees solicitors' make up and pocket. They are an expense your lawyer kindly pays for you. if they are missed off the statement either by solicitor mistake or because the bill comes in later the client needs to pay them. I think it's cut and dried.

If the worst comes to the worst can you do a repayment plan of like £5 a week, as it's technically their fault.

First port of call is ring the ombudsman I think, assuming they are part of a scheme, as it is your assertion that you do not owe the money not do not have the means to pay the money.

I also wouldn't be acknowledging I owe the money with the solicitor. If you start setting up payment plans or getting into dialogue about this bill and how to pay it you are accepting you owe the money.

You need to pay things like the management fees. Whether yoy are liable for any extra work done by the solicitor depends on the nature of the original agreement with the firm. You really need to check that carefully, and also ask the solicitors about the basis on which they are charging you.