Fees
This section of our website deals with the costs associated with certain types of legal work we do for clients. This is in accordance with the price transparency guidance issued by the Law Society of Scotland. The legal fee charges is only part of the overall cost of most transactions and we believe it’s important to properly explain those costs to our clients. We hope the publication of the costs involved in the various different types of work we carry out will help you to budget for the work you wish us to do for you.
We are pleased to set out the legal fees we charge for the following types of work:
The cost of buying a house
The fee we charge when you buy a house is only part of the overall cost. There are a number of additional costs involved which you have to pay over and above our fee and we collect those and pass them on to the third parties who charge them. Where appropriate, we will provide links to third party websites where you can get further information. Follow this link to get a comprehensive breakdown of all that’s involved.
The cost of selling a house
As with the situation when you buy a house, the fee we charge for selling a house is only part of the overall cost. There are a number of additional costs which you have to pay and over which we have no control. We will detail these costs and show you where you can get further information on these. Follow the link below to properly calculate the cost of selling your house.
The cost of re-mortgaging a house
Re-mortgages involve parts of the work involved in a sale transaction and parts of the work required in a purchase transaction. When you re-mortgage your property, you replace one mortgage with another. As with any sale or purchase of property, in addition to the fee we charge, there are third party costs you will have to meet. We will detail those costs and show you where you can get further information on these. We believe this will enable you to accurately calculate the cost of your re-mortgage
The cost of equity release
Equity release is where you unlock the capital tied up in your house. This allows you to raise cash from your property. We will work with your Equity Release company who will take a security over your property. We also have to ensure that the equity release agreement is fair and complies with the current legislation and regulation. Not only will there be our fee for the work we do, but there will be additional costs you have to pay over which we have no control. We will detail those costs and show you where you can get further information. This will enable you to accurately calculate the cost of the equity release work.
The cost of making a Will
We prepare many Wills for clients each year. Your Will sets out your wishes about what happens to your estate after you die. You decide who should receive your estate after you pass away. Your will can help ensure that your unmarried partner can participate in your estate.
The cost of making a Power of Attorney
A Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust to look after your affairs if you are unable to do that yourself. Your attorney can make the kind of decisions you would normally make but no longer can.
The cost of dealing with Estates
When someone dies, it’s very important that their assets are collected and distributed and their debts are paid. Every estate is different. Until we know the full extent of the work involved, it is difficult to provide a cost budget. However, if we take a typical fee we charge for this type of work, we are able to give you an indication of the possible cost.
The cost of Separation, Divorce, Contact, Residence and Interdict
When you’re facing separation or divorce or have issues with contact or residence with children, we fully appreciate just how stressful this can be. We believe that a negotiated and agreed settlement is preferrable but, in some instances, resorting to court proceedings is the only option. Given the nature of this type of work, it’s very difficult to provide specific costs as every case is different. We will look at a range of costs for this type of work and indicate what a typical case will cost.
The cost of debt recovery
When we raise proceedings for debt recovery, part of that plan will be to recover as much as possible. That includes judicial expenses. You should, however, note that judicial expenses won’t meet the total costs of your case. In addition, there is different costs involved if your case is defenced and whilst it’s difficult to apply a fixed cost to this type of work, we’ll provide you with cost information for typical cases of this nature.
The cost of employment matters
Employment matters can range from advice on settlement agreements through to proceedings before an employment tribunal. There may also be time involved in negotiation on behalf of the employer or the employee. Every case is different and that means providing a fixed figure is problematic. We will, however, provide you with some examples of typical fees in this area of law.
The cost of general business
We are frequently asked for advice and receive instructions to act in cases that don’t fit into any specific type of work. Such things might be title problems, disputes in relation to estates, neighbour disputes or insolvency advice. In such circumstances, our fee is based on an hourly rate and we explain how this is applied.
Please note that we also provide a range of legal services for our commercial clients which are not affected by the price transparency guidance. We are, however, happy to outline our costs to our clients in those areas of law and will, of course, provide confirmation of those costs in our Terms of Engagement letter.
Are the legal fees fixed?
Where we can, we will offer a fixed price fee. Where we are unable to offer a fixed fee services, we will explain our fee charging basis.
As you read through the information on legal fees, if you have any questions at all about these, please get in touch with us. Please remember that the legal fees published on our website are an indication of the fees we charge for different types of work. However, every case is different and the final fee charged will be based on your own particular circumstances as well as the circumstances of the case. If there are issues, we will explain these to you.
When you confirm you wish us to represent you, we will issue our Terms of Business to you. That will set out our terms of business and will also confirm the fee charging basis and the likely costs of the type of work you’ve engaged us for.
Is the legal fee the only thing I’ll have to pay?
In most cases, the legal fee is only one element of the overall cost of doing the work for you. There are likely to be additional costs, made up of expenses or outlays. We will clearly explain these to you.
We also point out that legal fees are subject to VAT. We will give you an indication of our fee which is both exclusive and inclusive of VAT. The actual cost you have to pay will be the fee plus the VAT (currently 20%). We then account to the Government for the VAT element of the cost.
If you have any questions about our fees or if you would like further information specific to your own case, please get in touch.
