How much are lawyer fees to buy or sell a home?
According to the Law Society of British Columbia,there are no fixed rates set for legal services. There are 4 common methods used by Lawyers to calculate how much it costs to use their services:
- Fixed fee: regardless of the amount of time it takes. This is common for real estate transactions
- Hourly rate: includes phone calls; meetings; research, preparing documents for court, letters, court appearances etc. You will be invoiced on an ongoing basis.
- Contingency fee: a percentage of money you may win in a case
- Retainer: you put money on deposit and the lawyer will ask you for more as time goes on.
You will also see a term called Disbursements on your invoices which are costs spent on your behalf by a lawyer which they are seeking reimbursement for. For example, in a real estate transaction they will obtain a title search and your lawyer will be asking for return of that costs
In addition, legal fees are a taxable service. You will see both GST and PST on your invoice.
You can ask your lawyer for an estimate of their costs to buy or sell a home. And if your are seeking other legal advice, please be sure to ask them how much they charge an hour and for detailed invoices.
Denise
November 30, 2021
Posted by Denise Brown on
Leave A Comment