Are these Solicitors fleecing their customers? (England)
A probate solicitor in a big firm is working for me and part of the complex remit is to sell a tenanted property. Overall I've been happy with their services, but I've now been quoted £1,800 for advice from their property disputes team on the nature of the tenancy as it could be other than shorthold.
It took me only a few minutes to find the relevant gov.uk webpage which confirmed my parents' agent had the tenants sign the correct documents at the start of their tenancy to make it shorthold.
As an executor I have a responsibility for the beneficiaries to spend money wisely, and I find this quote to be very high. If the firm had a minimum fee of say, 1 hour, for a few minutes work then that would be expensive, but to charge for 4+ hours work for a simple query just seems excessive.
I've asked several times for a break down so I can approve the expenditure, but not received any explanation. In which case it looks like the firm has set a fee to what they hope they can get away with. Can anyone assist with why the fee is so high or is it them just fleecing their clients? Should I hold out for a reduction reflecting the work done, or just pay this as a cost of using this firm?