Transfer Fees when Buying a House

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Uraeus

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Good day Folks,

I have been given a proforma account from my attorney, and they asking me to pay fees,
and they look a little off from what I have seen using online facilities as well as documentation from the law society.

How binding are the "recommended" fees from an attorney, i.e. what stops an attorney from charging an extra R2k if they wanted to :sick:?
Me being the buying had no choice in what attorneys were used, what stops the attorneys from charging anything they want?

I already had an instant with the transfer attorney where, instead of using the purchase price to calculate the transfer costs, they used the
estimated property price which was in the region of R400k over the purchase price. They didn't seem too apologetic about me picking that up.

Can I report them to the law society, if so what help would that do?

If anyone has some suggestions please do advise!
 
DarkDenim said:
As far as I know the buyer nominates the transfer attorney.
Click to expand...

My bad. Being a first time buyer, they were the ones recommended in the offer to purchase, I didn't know any better being my first time :/
"hey attorney..what do you charge? Oh wait you gotta website.. E & OE"
 
So there is nothing to stop an attorney/anyone for that from doing a bunch of work and charging you a fat bill in the end?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Nope, the seller does. Not much you can do if you're buying, other than pay up.
Click to expand...

It is not set in stone, you can actually nominate an attorney for the transaction in the option to purchase agreement, it is then up to the seller to accept it or not.
Get a quote form the attorney nominated for this transaction, include this quote price in the agreement, e.g attorney XYZ quoterd R XXX anything over this amount if for the sellers account.

Once again seller then has the option of rejecting it or not, remember you as buyer actually has a huge advantage at the moment, the option to purchase is a contract and can be negotiated, you really do not just have to sign what is put before you.
 
all you can do is try get them to lower it, or don't buy.
 
Uraeus said:
Good day Folks,

I have been given a proforma account from my attorney, and they asking me to pay fees,
and they look a little off from what I have seen using online facilities as well as documentation from the law society.

How binding are the "recommended" fees from an attorney, i.e. what stops an attorney from charging an extra R2k if they wanted to :sick:?
Me being the buying had no choice in what attorneys were used, what stops the attorneys from charging anything they want?

I already had an instant with the transfer attorney where, instead of using the purchase price to calculate the transfer costs, they used the
estimated property price which was in the region of R400k over the purchase price. They didn't seem too apologetic about me picking that up.

Can I report them to the law society, if so what help would that do?

If anyone has some suggestions please do advise!
Click to expand...

Ask them 2 reduce the fees. tell them that u cant afford it
 
solo7 said:
all you can do is try get them to lower it, or don't buy.
Click to expand...

Funny, once an OTP has been accepted it's incredibly difficult to get out of the contract... The only way an OTP can be gotten out of is if the seller rejects it, the bank says no to loan etc...
 
solo7 said:
all you can do is try get them to lower it, or don't buy.
Click to expand...
I have asked them to check their fees twice, they are insistent on not adjusting it.

ice_cubes said:
Ask them 2 reduce the fees. tell them that u cant afford it
Click to expand...
Argument to that is, that then I'l just have to pay it off, and in full with interest. No can do.

Scooby_Doo said:
Not really, when i got my place i said i want to use my attorney or they must match his price. They couldn't match it and said we could use ours.
Click to expand...
I dont have any attorney buddies unfortunately :/

I have contacted other attorney firms to request what they would charge and if it is in line with that set out by the law society. I.e. if your purchase price is say R800,000
they will charge you R10,500 (ex vat) as an attorney fee, if purchase price is R900,000 they will charge you R11,500 etc etc. What happens in the former case they want to charge
you R12,000 or R15,000? Do you have any standing? What is the law society meant to regulate, are the fees just a ball park what they can charge?
 
Dont let them screw you around. Especially as a buyer in the current market. You are the scarce commodity, not the seller. If your not happy with the price tell the seller you want another one or your not buying. Its your money, look after it. Attorneys can screw around if not checked up on. And ask for proofs of all submissions and works done, our took 4 months to register a property.....my brother bought his house 3 months after ours and they registered almost at the same time, under the same municipality.
 
Afaik the max fee is prescribed by the law society. They can charge less, but probably won't.

Usually if they are also the appointed bond attorney, they are more open to negotiation...
 
if you are going via a bank for bond purposes - the banks have a panel from which to choose from; and they tend to be more reasonable & competetive as to remain on the panel.
 
This is odd indeed..

Tsk tsk for attorneys..

I decided to contact another one of their branches and request an account from them with the same purchase price etc,
and they happily sent me one.

I then compared that to the one the attorneys want me to pay at my branch,
and lo and behold, the account breakdown was different.

I then sent the accounts to them and asked as to why their branch account is different.
I then got a call from the attorney to say that they have "checked their systems" and it
appears that only my account has been affected by faulty software. They blamed it on the
computers not restarting or refreshing.

Hmm..now here is where I get pretty annoyed.. faulty software with my account, caused me to be billed for
an additional R15k extra, and it is like water off a ducks back to them.

Please advise as to how they can charge R500+ per hour in fees for being a professional,
then they can make errors like this?

Is this really acceptable? Can I take this to a lawyer?
 
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