Grant of Easement - Solicitors Costs

[WelshWitch42]

We are one of four self-build plot owners who have decided to pool together to cut down on common costs by sharing some service connections. To significantly reduce the cost of connection to the main sewer, three of the plots drainage will connect to the new main sewer connection in the fourth. This has all been open and amicable and we were all aware that a legal right of access would need to be drawn up.

The slight hiccup that has arisen is with the drawing up of the grant of easement of drainage. The fourth plot owner insists on using their solicitor, who has quoted the best part of �2,500 for the work.

My partner and I feel that charging us each over �600 is outrageous, especially compared to what you would expect to pay for a normal conveyancing.

Does anyone have any experience of the costs involved in a grant of easement? Given that everyone is in agreement and it should be all straightforward, does this cost seem excessive?

[Eve]

It does seem a lot, I'd ask for a breakdown of how the charges have been estimated ie is it on a time basis based on the solicitor's individual charge out rate.

For example if it is say a partner at a large commercial firm, their charge out rates are likely to be significantly higher than say a assistant solicitor at a smaller firm. It may be a partner anticipating say 10 hours work at �250.00 per hour (just an example - these figures are unlikely).

What work is involved, ie drafting, who do they have to liaise with (eg mains provider), what disbursements are involved (as these could be additional costs!).

I'd suggest getting a quote from other firms (make sure they are capable of doing the work though, not someone who thinks they can have a go - to a certain extent you do get what you pay for).

It really does depend on how complex the document is to be. I wouldn't charge anywhere near that much unless it was incredibly complex or a large amount of additional work was involved.

There are guidelines on what solicitors should charge, it may also be an idea for them to advise whether their charges are in line with their professional guidelines.

Hope this helps :)

[MustafaTickl]

It is a completely outrageous charge and you should have nothing to do with it.
Just give the matter a little thought - there are two stages to what you propose (1) the installation, and (2) later repairs and maintainance when possibly some or all of the properties have changed hands. As you are all agreed you do not need an easement for (1), just get on an do it. With regard to (2) the wording for an easement for this is standard and has been around since Noah was a boy. If you do not have a document with it in I will stick a copy on here, it is simple enough. All you then need to do is to phone your local District Land Registry office who will guide you through the process of Registering an Agreed Easement against each title. In fact it involves only a simple LR Form for each property plus a fee of, I think (I am not in my office) around �40 for each application. All done, nothing else to it !! There is a myth that Wat Tyler forded the Thames at Watford and led his troops across with the cry "On to London and to hang all lawyers". If only he had succeeded !!!

[WelshWitch42]

Thanks for your help.

We have now negotiated the figure down to just over half of the original quote. It still seems a bit much for a simple task, but at least we can proceed quickly now.