Price Transparency for Clients
Introduction
Chen Jie Solicitors is a Firm registered with the Law Society of Scotland. Among many legal practice requirements, the Law Society has issued Guidance on what is called Transparent Pricing. This is information to be made available to clients and potential clients about fees, outlays and costs that may be incurred when instructing solicitors. The Guidance is in place for all firms in Scotland that offer legal services to consumers/private clients.
Here on our website we provide some examples of pricing for the range of services in which we practise. These are, as required, only illustrations, not definitive costs. This is because a legal case or transaction is a like a fingerprint – no job is the same as any other job, and the uniqueness of the work is thus matched by the charges for it. Some kinds of work carry a fixed fee, others are calculated by a scale or unit cost varying with the amount of time or other effort that is appropriate for the completion of the case or transaction. Over and above fees, outlays are charges and costs paid out by the Firm on behalf of the client to other companies, offices, organisations – e.g. the sheriff court, the Registers of Scotland, searching companies, local authorities and others. These charges are incurred by the client as a necessary part of the work being done. The Firm makes no margin or profit on these outlays, they are simply passed on to the client at whatever cost is charged by the organisation being paid. We always seek the best deal and economy for the client.
So while we have outlined these examples, and we hope they are helpful in describing the shape or configuration of the charges for your work, you can be almost sure that none of them exactly matches it except by chance in a few limited cases. But this unavoidable mismatch is dealt with by another Law Society of Scotland requirement. All work to be carried out by solicitors in this firm or any other must be preceded by a written estimate or quotation of fees, vat and outlays to be incurred or expended. This costing is part of an obligation to issue clients with Terms of Engagement – a set of information made up of a formal letter and other related documentation.
Clients or potential clients reading this Price Transparency material should contact one of our solicitors for the specific and detailed estimate/quotation of fees as well as discussing the work to be done and any other preliminary matters.
Areas of work
Will
A will is an important document to get right - in content, expression and execution. It is a mistake to think either that a will is not necessary or that it is necessarily straightforward. In Scotland the law of inheritance can be complex and very often not what the ordinary client expects in terms of the rights of family members to a share – or not - of the estate. So this Firm’s work will almost certainly involve discussing and advising on options and risks to achieve even the most basic will. If there are more complex family circumstances, dispositions of assets and/or potential or actual exposure to Inheritance Tax, then the work required may be extensive and thus carry additional fee charge.
For a basic job of consultation, advice, preparation of the single will, completion execution and storage, the fee may be £150 plus VAT. If the will is complex, we may charge higher fees. For details, please consult us.
There are usually no outlays associated with this process.
Power of Attorney (Incapacity)
There are various kinds of Power of Attorney (POA). The most-used is a document that supports a person who is incapacitated mentally and/or physically and cannot carry out his/her normal business and/or personal care – known as the Combined Power of Attorney. It allows a trusted friend or family member or multiplicity of people to do what is needed, armed with full legal rights conferred by “the Adult” as the granter of the POA is known under the Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act. The document is lengthy and complex and must be tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of the Adult. A basic POA may require meeting and consultation with the solicitor, the drafting of the POA document, its completion and execution (i.e. signing and witnessing) – it must also be certified by the solicitor, and then registered with the Public Guardian Scotland (OPG)to take effect.
For a basic single POA, the fee may be £300 plus VAT. There may be an additional fee if a home or hospital visit is required. The outlay is currently £85, charged by and paid to the OPG. If the POA is complex, we may charge higher fees. For details, please consult us.
Guardianship (Incapacity)
Where creation of a Power of Attorney is not possible or is inappropriate, the alternative is for a suitable person – who may be a family member or another - to apply to the Sheriff Court to be appointed Guardian. This is a complex and very detailed court process involving much documentation and formal reporting by various parties, officials and personnel to satisfy the court that the court order is necessary and appropriate. It also involves personal appearance at court by the solicitor to conduct at least one formal hearing in front of the sheriff before the order is permitted and awarded. The exact extent/amount of work cannot be specified in advance as it is dependent on so many different factors unique to each case. The Terms of Engagement letter often requires to include a time and line/hourly/unit rate charge.
Please note we do not undertake this work but can put you in touch with someone who does.
Purchase of Residential Property (Conveyancing)
The Firm deals with transactions for clients buying a home, whether it be a flat, house, new-build property land to build upon. The work may involve: communications and advice by the solicitor with the client, correspondence with estate agents and the seller’s solicitor, drawing up a range of documents including a formal legal offer and further missives, examination of title, inspection of searches and reports, drawing of a new title (disposition) and mortgage security where necessary, arranging completion/settlement of the transaction, obtaining and managing the funds from both client and mortgage lender, completion of Anti Money Laundering procedures, submission of LBTT (Scottish Stamp Duty) return and making payment of tax where due to Revenue Scotland, registration of new title (and mortgage security where funding comes from a lender), reporting to client and lender after registration.
Our legal fees for the sale of a residential property are based on the complexity of the transaction. The standard legal fee is from £750 plus VAT to £2000 plus VAT .
Due to the complexity of the funding sources for Chinese clients, we require a separate fee for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Procedures, charged at £200 plus VAT per hour. The required time may vary based on the specifics of the funding.
The AML Procedures fee is non-refundable, even if the transaction does not proceed. If the transaction proceeds, the AML Procedures fees can be offset against subsequent legal fees.
In some cases, we may need to engage third-party services for enhanced due diligence. Any such costs will be communicated to you in advance.
In addition to legal fees, clients should be aware of potential additional costs, including but not limited to Registers of Scotland for registration of the title, registration of the mortgage, Advance Notice for mortgage, local authority searches ,LBTT ( though less if first purchase and more – payment of Additional Dwelling Supplement/ADS - if buying a second property). LBTT and title registration dues change on sliding scales according to the price of the property so the foregoing illustration is not applicable to properties of different prices.
Sale of Residential Property (Conveyancing)
The Firm deals with transactions for clients selling a home, whether it be a flat, house, or land to build upon. The work may involve communication and advice by the solicitor with the client, correspondence with estate agents and the purchaser’s solicitor, drawing up a range of documents including a formal legal acceptance of the buyer’s offer and further missives, provision of title, ordering of searches and reports, revising of a new title (disposition) and discharging mortgage security where necessary, arranging completion/settlement of the transaction, managing the funds from buyer’s lawyer and redeeming outstanding mortgage to the lender, registration of discharge where necessary, reporting to and settling with the client.
Our legal fees for the sale of a residential property are based on the complexity of the transaction. The standard legal fee is from £750 plus VAT to £2000 plus VAT .
In addition to legal fees, clients should be aware of potential additional costs, including but not limited to registration of the mortgage discharge, Advance Notice for title, title, property and mining searches.
Remortgage of residential property (Conveyancing)
The Firm deals with transactions for clients who are remortgaging a home. The work may involve communication and advice by the solicitor with the client, examination of title, drawing up a range of documents, including a new mortgage security and a discharge of the old mortgage, ordering and inspection of searches and reports, obtaining and managing funds from the new mortgage lender, redeeming outstanding mortgage to the old lender, registration of discharge arranging completion/settlement of the transaction, registration of new mortgage security, reporting to client and lender after registration.
The fixed fee for this work may be £500 plus VAT.
In addition to legal fees, clients should be aware of potential additional costs, including but not limited to registration of the mortgage discharge, registration of the new mortgage security, Advance Notice for the security, title, property and mining searches.
Discharge of security
For those lucky enough to have paid off their mortgage, there is an exercise to update title deeds known as discharge of security. Security is the correct Scottish legal word for mortgage. The mortgage lender has a charge over the client’s title while the loan remains under repayment, and this can be removed once full redemption has been made and the bank or lender no longer has a claim over the property.
For a basic discharge of security the fee may be £250 plus VAT.
The outlay is a charge of £80 payable to the Registers of Scotland.
Separation (settlement out of court)
When a marriage or domestic partnership breaks down there may be a range of legal matters to consider and settle. These may include property sale/transfer, sharing of financial assets and pensions, residence of and contact with children, financial maintenance - even who gets the dog. This kind of work more than most others cannot be costed exactly in advance as each case is as different is as each family is from another. These matters, if the negotiation between ex-partners via solicitors is successful is captured in a legally binding Minute of Agreement (contract) signed by both parties and registered. The Terms of Engagement letter often requires to include a time and line/hourly/unit rate charge.
A possible outcome is a fee, based on the time and line rate, of £1,500 plus VAT.
Outlays may include a share of the registration dues of the Minute of Agreement: £44 if paying for both extracts (copies); £20 if for one only. Where a pension share is required, a pension share implementation fee payment to the Pension Administrators/Trustees of £750.
General advice and business
As general practice solicitors this Firm takes on a range of clients and cases/transactions. Sometimes the work is preliminary advice, or assistance with a minor or brief legal issue requiring correspondence with other parties or solicitors, and/or creating of legal documentation. There really is no limit to the range of needs of clients when it comes to legal services and processes.
Our initial consultation fee is £200 plus VAT per hour. In addition, we also provide free legal consultation services every second Tuesday of the month. For details, please make an appointment using the contact information on the homepage.
For notarising/certifying documents a fee may be £80 plus VAT per document.
No outlays.
For advising on and corresponding with a neighbour who is encroaching on a boundary the fee may be based on an hourly rate of £200 plus VAT per hour. No outlays.
For advising on planning for retirement, property and wealth management, succession/inheritance planning, care costs and related matters, the fee may be based on an hourly rate of £200 per hour.
No outlays.
Executry (deceased person)
Executry is the name used by lawyers for the work required in winding up the estate of someone who has died. It is another area where it is difficult, and often impossible, to give accurate levels of fee in advance. The Terms of Engagement often require to include a time-and-line/hourly/unit rate charge. It also makes a difference to the amount of work whether or not there is available a valid will signed by the deceased – more work and other costs are likely if there is no will. The work may involve meetings and consultations between the family/executor and the solicitor, collating and valuing the assets and liabilities of the estate, corresponding with financial and other institutions (e.g. banks, building societies, share registrars, employers/pension administrators, DWP, HMRC, council tax departments, factors, mortgage lenders and more), drawing court documents and forms for Confirmation (Scottish equivalent of Probate), dealing with the Sheriff Court processing the forms, ingathering the financial estate (i.e. collecting in all the money), accounting to the executor and distributing the bequests and shares of estate among beneficiaries.
There may also be a home/heritable property to sell or settle. That work is not included in this example as it is a conveyancing process (see Sale of Property above), nor is calculating and dealing with Inheritance Tax, which affects only a limited number of estates and generates considerable work.
The fee for executry work in winding up a particular estate may be in one case £2,500 plus VAT. In a complex, or high value estate where inheritance tax is payable, the fee may exceed £10,000 plus VAT.
Outlays may include Court Confirmation dues of £261 plus £8 for each individual asset certificate if needed.
Purchase/Sale/Lease of Commercial Property (Conveyancing)
We deal with many kinds of different commercial property transactions for clients - purchasers,
sellers, landlords and tenants - dealing with the purchase, sale or lease of many types of
commercial property - retail, office, agricultural, workshop, manufacturing/light industrial.
There are many different variables with commercial property as some transactions also involve
security work (if a loan is involved), licensing, stock purchase, transfer of goodwill or transfer
of employment. The result is that there are few similarities from one transaction to another. In
certain cases, a fixed fee might be agreed in advance but that would in turn be based on a
charging rate of £180 per hour. You should always have an initial discussion with one of our
partners about the particular property & the scope of work likely to be required, so that it might
be determined at the beginning whether a fixed fee is appropriate.
For certain types of very straightforward commercial leasing where no site inspection is
necessary, a fixed fee of £1500 plus VAT might be possible but this should be
regarded as a minimum.
Outlays for commercial purchases and sales are similar to those which apply to residential
property but additional searches are sometimes necessary and the purchaser is often forced
by the sellers into paying for some of these. LBTT is charged at different rates from residential
transactions.
Immigration Services
For routine instructions we price for our services on a fixed fee basis as shown below (the fees quoted are exclusive of VAT and disbursements).
- Applications for naturalisation or registration under the BNA 1981 £2,000
- Applications under the Sponsored Skilled Workers and Intra Company Transfer frameworks £2,000 - £ 2,500
- Applications under the EU Settlement Scheme £ 650 - £ 2000
- Student Visas £1,500 - £3,000
- Internship Visas £1,200
- Visit Visas £ 850
- Dependent relative and family reunion applications £2,800
- UK Ancestry Visas £2,000
- Applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain and equivalent status £2,300-5,000
- Spouses and partners' applications including fiancé(e)s or proposed Civil Partners £3,000
- Initial and extension applications under Tier 1 Points Based System £4500 -£7,500
A list of the factors which would cause an immigration application to fall outside of this fixed price proposal are noted below. Any instruction which would not be covered by these fixed price proposals would be identified on instruction and we would agree with you a fee estimate for your instruction.
For clients wishing to engage with us across a portfolio of immigration or employment work more generally we would recommend contacting us directly to discuss your requirements as we are likely to be able to adjust the scope and pricing of our offer to reflect your specific needs and budget.
There are a number of factors which would cause an instruction to become more complex and therefore fall outside of these fixed fee proposals. Those factors would be:
- applications following the outcome of the initial application including administrative review, appeal or judicial review
- applications for accompanying, eligible dependants not made at the same time as the primary application
- ad hoc, strategic advice for prospective Immigration applications
- applications where a previous application has been refused
In respect of routine immigration applications the largest third party disbursements would be the application fee itself. These fees are set by UK government and are published on the government website.
In addition in some cases it may be necessary to incur additional costs in respect of notary, translation or courier fees. If we believe these services are necessary we will notify you of the additional charges this will incur.
Criminal proceedings
The Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) can prosecute criminal cases under the solemn and summary procedure.
Solemn procedure
If you have been charged with an offence under solemn procedure and wish to plead not guilty, those cases can proceed to trial before a jury. It is difficult to give an accurate level of fee in advance. Our letter of engagement often sets out an hourly rate. The work involved might include appearing on your behalf at Court at the outset of the case, corresponding with the COPFS, obtaining details of evidence against you, providing advice on the evidence disclosed to us, preparing for an attending the first procedural hearing, preparing for trial and conducting the trial. Depending on the nature of the charge and the volume of evidence disclosed, some cases can be quite complex and each case if of course unique.
The fee for conducting a straightforward solemn case to its conclusion may be £5,000 plus VAT.
In a complex, or lengthy case, the fee may exceed £10,000 plus VAT.
There may be outlays payable if we need to instruct an expert witness. We will discuss the requirement for that with you and obtain quotations before instructing an expert witness.
Summary procedure
Summary procedure is used for less serious offences and these cases may ultimately lead to a trial before a Sheriff or a lay Justice. If you wish to plead not guilty, we may issue a letter of engagement setting out our hourly rate. In very straightforward cases, we may be able to quote you a fixed fee for the anticipated work required.
The fee for conducting a straightforward summary case to conclusion may be £1,000 plus VAT.
In a complex or lengthy case, the fee may exceed £5,000 plus VAT.
If you wish to enter a guilty plea, we will endeavour to provide you with a fixed fee to reflect your circumstances. We will agree a fee with you at our first meeting and when we have full details of the offence.