Conduct and serviceSolicitors must avoid 'costs ambush'The practice rules relating to costs information are designed to ensure that clients know, as far as is possible, the extent of their potential financial liability so that they are not taken by surprise when asked for payment and are able to budget appropriately.It is disappointing that there are firms which, for reasons best known to themselves, persist in adopting practices which seem designed to enable them to charge costs on a surreptitious basis.This was the case with XYZ & Co.

The firm was telephoned by Mr A for a quotation for a purchase of a domestic property.

He was given an oral quotation which he accepted.

XYZ & Co followed this up with a letter confirming the quotation.

At the end of the letter were a number of notes, one of them indicating that if the client also required a mortgage, additional costs would be payable.

But it gave no indication of how much these might be and did not invite the client to contact the solicitors to find out.Significantly, it became clear that the solicitors, when asked for quotations, did not bother to ask callers if they needed a mortgage or tell them that if they did, the quotation would need to be revised.In fact, the sentence 'hidden' at the end of the initial letter was the only indication of the hidden costs 'trap' lying in wait for the unfortunate Mr A until, shortly before completion, XYZ & Co wrote to him asking for the money it needed to complete, including a sum for costs which turned out to be almost double what he had been led to expect.Hardly surprising, then, that Mr A and other clients like him were not slow to register complaints.Yet some firms apparently persist in doing this.

Not only does the practice create unbillable work dealing with complaints raised as a result, but it leads to an inevitable order being made by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors for the costs to be reduced and the excess repaid to the client.But another shock now awaits the unwary.

Persistent breaches of the Costs Information and Client Care Code are a breach of the revised Rule 15 and can be made the subject of disciplinary proceedings as well as the normal sanctions for service inadequacy.

Those who persist in operating 'costs ambushes' are warned.X Every case before the compliance and supervision committee is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents.