Remortgaging costs

[nothernexposure]

Hi all, hoping someone can help. I organised a new mortgage deal thro a broker earlier this year. I've just received a letter from the solicitor the broker uses quoting £649 in fees!!! Does this sound right, it's a straightforward transfer from 1 mortgage provider to another. I'm going to ring them tomorrow to but it sounds like a huge amount of money, particularly after all the fees to remortgage! Help!!!!

Didn't the broker tell you the fees before choosing the mortgage?

Yep very standard. They should have flagged to you, there is always solicitors fees to update various paperwork.

I recently paid £500 ish and thought I’d got a good deal (got quotes) so don’t think the price is far off.

Sounds like the going rate to me

I’m currently remortgaging.. it’s costing me £250 (a firm in Preston) and the mortgage company are giving me a £250 welcome gift so won’t cost me anything..

I didn’t have to pay solicitor fees when I swapped the mortgage. Solicitor says it’s all done online these days. Banks register their interest on the land registry. They don’t even hold the deeds anymore and sent them over to me.

Scotland so may be different elsewhere.

Sounds about right, was £550 last time for us.

I work for a mortgage broker and we charge £495 per case.

We have to disclose this at the outset and on the mortgage illustration that should have been provided to you at the start.

It will also be listed on the mortgage offer from the lender once you receive this.

Not all brokers charge fees, my old firm didn't but if you've got a good rate then often its worth it.

Thanks everyone. I probably wasnt clear but this isn't the brokers fees (I've already paid those, plus the mortgage application fee, plus the valuation fee..). This is a solicitors fee for acting for me. It might gave been mentioned by the broker but it was back in July and these days I cant remember what happened 5 mins ago. £649 seems like a load of money when the property is already in my name, no searches etc.

I think it is normal for there to be solicitors fees with remortgage but some building societies pay them.for you and others don't. Seems a normal figure to me.

When we last did our remortgage direct we had the choice of free legal or £500 cash back so seems about right.

Has the solicitor broken down what they've done for that money?

solicitor fee is totally normal. Our last remortgage had free legals - absolute shit show of a company and I would rather have paid £649 than deal with the stress of that.

They’ll do that on the completion statement, but you can ask them before obviously

Second this. You get what you pay for seems to be particularly true with conveyancers