Solicitor now trying to increase price after he’s started the work - can I bail without charge?

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Myself and my partner went to see a solicitor as my partner has invested into my property and we went to the solicitor for our new mortgage which starts in May 2026. We also asked for a declaration of trust to be written for our tenants in common agreement (unequal shares of the property).
We went to see said solicitor twice and outlined what we would like in the declaration of trust. He gave us a quote initially and this remained unchanged at the end of the second appointment.
He has since sent us an email with the first draft of the declaration of trust but is now stating the price for the declaration of trust has increased by another £250+VAT so £300 as it is going to take him longer than originally expected? I feel he should have approached us to inform of the new quote to see if we wanted to go ahead before starting any drafts as we now feel backed into a corner and he will charge us for the work he has done if we back out now? He hasn’t done any work yet in regard’s to the conveyancing & new mortgage.
We are in a difficult financial position as we have just had a baby and things are a little tight so this couldn’t have come at a worse time. Do we have a right to back out as he hasn’t stuck to his original quote?
Thanks in advance :)

Double check if it was a quote or an estimate.

to confirm, it was originally £50 now £300? That does seem quite an escalation….

Solicitors rarely give fixed quotes. We charge on a time spent basis and your client engagement letter will have set this out. He has give you an estimate and then told you that it looks like the estimate will be exceeded. You will be responsible for paying for the work done to date if you now end the contract.

for most lawyers £250 plus vat will be about an hours work ( quite possibly less) so it isn’t like he’s saying he needs to spend hours more on it.