Trends in Residential Conveyancing
Charging for overheads
Some firms charge a client separately for items, such as postage and photocopying, which would ordinarily form part of the firm's overheads. Such charges would normally be incorporated in a firm's hourly rate or within any fixed quote for conveyancing.
The types of charges we have seen recently are:
- £20 plus vat for each telephone call or email that is made or received over and above a set limit
- £45 plus VAT for each consultation at the office
- £50 plus VAT for giving legal advice on mortgage conditions
- Mortgage Administration Fee of £217.20
- £125 plus VAT for advising in joint purchases
- £29 plus Vat for "office administration charges" including postage, photocopying and telephone expenses. (Please note that 8.8.5 of the Conveyancing Handbook states that these are part of the solicitor's overheads and must not be added as a expense.)
Some of these additional charges are almost presented to the client as being optional extras when it is clear at the beginning that these costs are going to be incurred. We consider that presenting costs in this way cannot be clear for clients.
