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If you lose a buyer, can all solicitor's costs be paid on the next sale?

8 replies

PastKnives · 31/12/2023 11:43

We put a second home on the market in September and were lucky enough to accept just below the asking price from the first viewer. As part of the deal and to speed up the sale we also agreed to pay costs of £2000 for her to extend her lease to 999 years.

Well, she pulled out on the last day of business before the Christmas break, giving very vague reasons but apparently she’s also building a home in Portugal, and we think the costs must have spiralled there.

Our conveyancing and lease extension costs are now almost £5000! As they’ve been closed I haven’t had a chance to discuss this yet with them, but we just don’t have that sort of money to pay my solicitor until we sell the apartment.

The next sale will be much quicker for them as we’ve already completed the forms, so I wondered if it was possible to negotiate with them to pay all costs on the subsequent sale. If not, can we go with another solicitor and then pay the original back when the sale goes through?

We’ve also lost our long term tenant because we had to serve notice (he’d love to come back but has just signed another contract) so our only option now is to spend what little money we have furnishing the flat for AirBnB, so we can continue with viewings

Thanks for reading what’s become a rather long thread!

OP posts:
Motheranddaughter · 31/12/2023 11:48

I am not sure why you would want to go with another solicitor
We would not handover the file until all costs were paid
If you stayed with us we would probably allow the costs to be carried over

PastKnives · 31/12/2023 11:50

@Motheranddaughter that's reassuring to learn - are you a conveyancing solicitor?

OP posts:
PastKnives · 31/12/2023 11:54

They've been my parent's solicitor since 1999, but both parents died last year and their solicitor, who's a partner and founder, is retired, so not sure if our long relationship would count.

The property is not an inheritance though.

OP posts:
wombats78 · 31/12/2023 11:55

I've been selling a flat for nearly a year and the solicitors haven't charged yet. I'm a bit surprised, obviously think I'm good for the cash!

Swapped buyers a while back as the first guy went through the whole process and then changed his mind.

TheDayBeforeYouCame · 31/12/2023 12:04

We had 2 sales fall through and our solicitor just rolled the costs. However when we took the property off the market temporarily to do some work and change agents they billed us for their cash disbursements but will roll the remaining bill into the next sale. I thought that was very reasonable as I’d expected to pay the full amount.

Motheranddaughter · 31/12/2023 12:11

No but I am a partner in a solicitor firm

DrySherry · 31/12/2023 17:12

I'm suprised to read that someone with two homes (one which has been providing an income until very recently) hasn't even got 5k spare to pay conveyancing costs. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but really ?

PamelaParis · 31/12/2023 17:14

DrySherry · 31/12/2023 17:12

I'm suprised to read that someone with two homes (one which has been providing an income until very recently) hasn't even got 5k spare to pay conveyancing costs. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but really ?

This. Are your diamond shoes a bit too tight OP?

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