Will solicitor charge me for an email? How much is it likely to be?

[cornerchair]

I bought my first house last spring. I have received a letter from a local builder offering me a section of land adjacent to my house for free, provided I pay the relevant legal fees. I would like to email the solicitor I used for my house purchase for advice before I decide what to do, but I'm worried about how much I will be charged for doing so. I've been putting off contacting them because I am rather broke at the minute!

If he’s giving you advice he’ll likely charge you. Not sure what the going rate is.
Some solicitors give a free half hour consultation. Maybe phone around ?
Do you have free legal advice linked to any of your insurance policies … car, house and contents or even your breakdown insurance ? Or with Union membership if you’re a member of one ?

For a letter it used to be £80 in our practice (I’ve left). Email unsure, just ask.

My solicitor used to charge £40 just to read my emails.

What advice do you need? Its unlikely they'll give advice for free.

Your initial email to the solicitor should give an outline of the situation and advice you need; the solicitor should then provide a fee estimate to provide the advice, prior to undertaking any work. That way you’ll know whether you can afford it.

'provided I pay the relevant legal fees.'

but

' I am rather broke at the minute!'

if you can't afford ' advice ' from your own solicitor how on earth are you going to afford unknown amount of legal fees for someone else ?

They will have set fees, whether that’s for the time involved or for a transaction, so if you get in touch and ask them for a quote and fees list that will give you a good idea. I would suggest a phone call rather than email then you can have a better conversation.

However in terms of the fee for the transaction itself the builder will expect you to pay your own costs, their legal fees, and disbursements (like the Land Registry fees) so it won’t be cheap. If you’re broke I suspect it might be too much (unless you can get a bit more on your mortgage?).

I think you could probably ask the builder what restrictions there are on the land.
Eg if it can't be enclosed as part of your garden, it's likely not be worth paying for! Im guessing it's free for a reason.

Why do they want to give you land for free?

/ misses point of thread

They will have a fee list.

we did something like this, paid small amount for land but paid fees.

issue is, or was, both purchaser and seller had to be separately represented and thus we had two lots of fees to pay. I did agree them in advance.

Check your home insurance for a free legal helpline. Nearly every home insurer offers one, even if you haven't taken out specific legal cover.

I am a lawyer.

it’s never a matter of “just writing an e-mail”.

You would need to provide all details of the proposed transaction to your solicitor. They will need to consider the details and will probably not be able to tell you anything without doing relevant searches on the title, etc. they will then need to consider the results, and then advise you of the implications - e.g. any restrictions, any obligations, if you need a valuation for stamp duty purposes, etc.

1 unit of time to read an email means their hourly rate divided by 10. However, as this is effectively an initial enquiry on a new potential instruction, I wouldn’t expect them to charge you at all, since we have to have an engagement letter or other agreement as to charging in place (I am also a solicitor) to charge.

It is unusual for a builder to offer land subject only to the costs of the transaction. I agree you need professional advice.

First find out what fees will be

Isn't that normally to do with legal help for potential claims against you? I don't think that would cover conveyancing advice.

Nope. Not the free helpline. I called mine about my mother's will and some complications with the estate. They were fantastic, and pretty much saved my sanity. They said I could call as many times as I liked, and I think I ended up talking to them on four or five occasions. All qualified solicitors, and very empathetic and thorough.

I'm now evangelical about passing that information on, because I had no idea until someone told me, and it honestly relieved my stress hugely, without choosing me a penny.

Obviously if you need them to act on your behalf (rather than just advise) it'll be different.

Was that related to a potential dispute?

It was initially to clarify the law around the situation. At the time my mum's (malicious and slightly mad) executor (not a family member) had no clue and was causing a huge amount of distress through totally misunderstanding the role and the position of some properties within the estate (or not).

During that first call, just having someone legally qualified confirming that my understanding was correct, and that the executor was entirely in the wrong, was enormously helpful. But from then on the helpline continued to be available to give me advice about how to handle things, what documentation I needed, and when and how to instruct a solicitor if needed (plus more, but the details of a very unusual situation could be outing).

ask your solicitor for a quote on what acting for you on this would cost.

“hi X

ive received a letter from (builders) to purchase the land adjacent to my home. Can you please provide a quote for:

1. assisting me by investigating the title and obtaining searched; and
2. the cost to them follow through and complete on the transfer.

the builder has said they will transfer the land for free, subject to me paying their legal fees.”

they will be able to send you a quote. I’d also consider asking for quotes from surveyors if it’s any sort of size land (like a field next door) because you don’t want to inherit issues. If it’s a small strip, that won’t be needed given your minerals searches etc will likely give you the same result last year.

You may not get past stage 1 once you’ve done surveys and a title check etc. but that’s a risk you take, investigating and incurring professional fees then deciding it’s a burden and not wanting to buy it.

how big a piece of land is it and does it benefit your house in anyway? I’d say investigate the potential there but if it’s a 1M strip, probably not worth the investment in fees.

A solicitor won’t charge you for a quote - send them the letter and ask for a quote on the above and if they have an initial view on moving ahead or not having helped you purchase.

Might be worth asking a few local estate agents round to value your home and give their view on the value added for this land. I assume not owning it didn’t make you purchasing your house complicated, so it’s not essential you own it or off putting to a buyer.

anyway, just my thoughts!