Solicitor charging extra for management pack review on sale, is this standard?

Buying & Selling
1

Our solicitor handling the sale of our flat has come back with an additional charge of £180 plus VAT for “reviewing the management pack” before sending it to the buyer’s solicitor. This was not mentioned in the original quote we accepted.

The management company sent the pack directly to our solicitor last week. It includes the usual stuff, accounts, insurance certificate, ground rent demands, LPE1 form etc.

A few questions:

  1. Is it normal for the seller’s solicitor to charge separately for this, or should it be covered under the standard conveyancing fee?
  2. If it is standard, is £180 reasonable or on the high side?
  3. Can I just ask the management company to send the pack directly to the buyer’s solicitor instead and skip this fee entirely?

I get that they need to check it, but this feels like one of those costs that gets tacked on after you have already committed. Am I misunderstanding something?

2

Check your terms of engagement letter. Most firms list management pack review as an additional cost, its in the small print. £180 is normal, some charge more. You cant just redirect the pack to the buyers solicitor because your solicitor still needs to confirm the contents to the buyer side as part of the protocol. Thats just how leasehold sales work.

3

@rb471956 you were right. Dug out the terms of engagement letter and it is in there, page four, clause 7.3, “additional disbursements may include review of leasehold or management documentation at £180 plus VAT.” I missed it completely when I signed.

Annoying but not much I can do about it now. Just one more thing to add to the ever growing list of costs nobody mentions upfront.