Abortive Solicitor Fees

[Tor77]

I have recently sold my house and the purchase that I was buying pulled out before exchange. I have continued on with my sale. The lady that pulled out had changed her mind twice within 3 weeks and then pulled out before exchange.

I have now had an email from my solicitor with an invoice for Abortive Fees, for just under £400.. This does not include the £300 that I have already payed for the search fees.

Where do I stand with this? As I assume that the owner of my potential property should be liable as I did not pull out of the purchase.

Can you please advise if I can refuse this fee, or I am able to take this further?

Thank you

[ULA]

Firstly, what does your terms and condition letter/client care letter with the law firm say in regard to abortive fees in regard to your solicitor's costs? The searches are third party costs that the solicitor would have incurred on your behalf, so these would not be able to be “reclaimed” back.

Unfortunately, unless and until contracts are formally exchanged, either party can back out of the transaction without penalty, unless there is a separate type of pre-contract agreement which has been breached, such as a lock in agreement or an agreement to pay abortive legal fees. If you did not have such a document in place then you would not be able to make a claim against the purchaser for your solicitor’s fees.