The auld fella informed me he was sent a letter before the work was carried out. Appropriate paragraph:
'The law requires solicitors, as soon as is practicable after taking instructions, to set out the basis on which the solicitor intends charging, where the provisions of particulars of the actual charges or an estimate of such charges is not in the circumstances possible or practicable, as is the position in this case.
We enclose for your information, an explanatory pamphlet concerning legal charges, published by the law society of Ireland, the governing body for solicitors in Ireland. This gives you the relevant information, including the basis of our charges.’
So the solicitor is making out he can’t give a fair estimate based on the level of work to be carried out being an unknown? That’s a fair old cop out to me. There is nothing relating to an overall estimate nor an hourly rate.
Ah it’s not really. And I’m no defender of solicitors. Sure they wouldn’t have a clue what rabbit hole they could end up in with something like the situation your dad was in. There could have been 50 different title issues popped up, your the worst in the world then if you come back a mile outside the estimate.
I’d have been involved in loads of legal transactions over the years and vast majority of them throw up some niggly issues. Mainly because the previous solicitor took a shortcut! My sister is sale agreed on a house with 14 months now and 11 of those have been spent trying to resolve a litany of title and planning issues on the house
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Pertinent para:
If time is the basis of charge, time records must be maintained and must be available for inspection in the event of a dispute. The hourly rate should be given.
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Thanks Art
No bodder