Changing lawyer

Hi -

We are in the process of changing lawyer as we stupidly went with the one suggested by the estate agent.  So far we have paid half of their fee up front and for this they appear to have sorted the initial contract, a smaller additional arrangement for a subsequent garage space in the apartment block and arranged nie for both of us. When we instructued them of our desire to move lawyers they asked us to pay 500 euros and when we asked for a breakdown of what the charges were for, we received a copy of an account with one sum of money on it and an explanation it was for  "phone calls, e-mails, paperwork etc".

Our new lawyer does not want to get involved and advised us that legal fees must be charged in accordance with the Local Law Bar rates and we have a right to make a formal complaint if their level of service is not equal to the fees charged or if they are excessive.

Has anyone got any experience they can share? or advice on what we should do?  Can they refuse to  pass on the documents to our new lawyer if we don't pay? 

Thanks in advance, Nicola

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Hi Nicola.

Get in touch with Maria who posts on this forum.

She's a lawyer & helps us all freely. She'll advise.

 Email her on mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es     or    marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es

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Nicola,

The local Law Bar rates are just indicative, I mean, your lawyers can charge you more than that. You can change your lawyer if you wish, but i would suggest to try to sort this out friendly with the lawyers you mentioned.

And they have to pass on the documentation to your new advisors.

Regards,

Lucy.

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Nicola,

I feel your old Lawyer is "Trying" it on? If youve paid half of the legal fees already then there can be little arguement about additional costs unless youve instructed them to do other work in addition to the routine purchase contract? Your fees should include basic expenses and answering emails.

I would just ask your new Lawyer to arrange to collect your file as we did when we sacked our own useless solicitor. I agree it's not for him to get involved with your previous lawyers Fee Account. Keep pushing and if necessary threaten to report them to the Authorities!!!

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Thanks for the advice.  After several e-mails, we're still no further and the solicitor is now saying that we owe them the remaining money because most of the work has been done - it appears they are playing games with us so that we'll settle for the 500 euros!  We definitely haven't asked them to do anything out of the ordinary, in fact we hardly heard from them.

We have definitely passed a point of no return in our relationship with them and I don't wish to pay them another euro.  I understand that threatening the authorities doesn't mean much in Spain, especially when they have our documents and they know we're getting close to completion.

The only positive I can take from this is that they clearly aren't an ethical law firm and I shouldn't be trusting them with my hard earned euros.

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NIcola:

Have your new lawyer asking them for your documentation. They are obligued to inmediate release nas can be reported to the Bar Assosication.

Best wishes,

Maria

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