Apologies as I know this question has been asked before, what is the standardish % charge for a solicitor here for conveyancing ? ( we buying only, nothing to sell) and is there a minimum charge ie; it has to worth their while, so if a property is 10k 1.5% will not cover the costs, as a pose to 1.5% of 100k which makes them a profit margin ? I ask the last bit as we have had an offer accepted on a ruin for 30k.

Many thanks

Basically, AFAIK it doesnt work like that over here in PT. You engage an advogado (lawyer/solicitor) to do whatever you engage him/her for - eg advising on property purchase so pre-purchase agreements, chasing deeds, permits, entailments etc and accompanying you to the official signing and paying in front of the Notary. The lawyer should also be able to advise you of what you pay to whom and how, eg tax, notary fees (based on property value) and estate agent fees. You might also engage the same lawyer to draw up wills ... etc. If you buy a property direct from the owners without using a lawyer, then you are on your own at the notary office. The notary has set fees and is basically a government agent for the sale so has no interest in haggling for more expensive property sales, it is just routine for them. Note that you would be expected to understand all that is going on at the notary office so if your Portuguese is not up to it you need a trusted translator (well-chosen lawyer can provide this for you too!). You pay your lawyer a fee that is agreed with them when you first meet with the lawyer - about 600 euros might be considered a suitable fee but depends a lot on where and who you engage. Usually first meeting with the lawyer is to get general advice and feel the lay of the land and to decide what you want the lawyer to do for you, and hence the scope of the fee they would charge you. A 30K ruin might well turn out to be as complicated to check on ownership, rights of way, etc etc, as a newly built 500K villa ...

Thanks for that Archer, the estate agent is taking us to see the lawyer Monday morning, one that she has recommended, I am not suggesting thats its a poor recommendation, or that there is an ulterior motive for the recommendation, I assume its based on a long standing working relationship ( hopefully thats isnt my naivety there ) so it helps to kind of understand the system as much as possible, so I can try to 'keep up at the back' so to speak ! ................... I kinda didnt expect it to be simple :-)

I'm going to use a lawyer recommended by somene who has used her so that I know what the service is like. Does the purchaser have t pay the estate agent fees?

Seller pays estate agents fees

I wouldn't use a lawyer recommended by the estate agent, maybe I'm a bit cautious but the agent doesn't have the buyers interests at heart.... And if an estate agent tells me that its raining outside I'd pop my head out the window to check... 👀

Wow! Would you do same thing in UK? To use lawyer recommended by estate agent !!! Madness.
Weird how people are prepared to forget all the life lessons once they depart UK. Throw caution to the wind at your own peril.

1% seems to be pretty standard on circa 300k and up properties. No data on low cost/ruins, as has been said elsewhere may involve as much (or more) work as 300k property but they don't seem to reduce for more expensive properties, so?

Best idea ask 3 or 4 for quote.

I would also not want to use estate agent's recommendation just out of an abundance of caution.

You can look for a notary who speaks English: https://www.notarios.pt/OrdemNotario...o_Idiomas2.htm

I would and I have. Estate agents have a good idea which lawyers are efficient and which introduce entirely unnecessary delays

In reality, having problems due to a useless lawyer is much more likely than having problems due to a crooked lawyer

From what I've heard from others buying semi-derelict property, there's far more work than a standard purchase and it's on an hourly rate. Typical problems being establishing boundaries, often no habitation certificate and some fall foul of re-zoning for fire regulations. As suggested above, find an independent lawyer, not one used by the estate agent.

Thanks for your input folks, all useful............ and trust me when it comes to money and business I always start from a (very) sceptical position, had my fingers burnt in the UK once on a business deal.......and that lesson has definitely not been forgotten, you can potentially get your fingers burnt in whichever country your in I suppose......but my money stays in my 'arse pocket' until I am sure its as watertight as it seems..............and up to this point it hasnt happened since.

I used the same local solicitor back in the UK on every house purchase that I ever made over nigh on 30 years and he never let me down once, then he retired whick kinda buggered that up :-)

At the end of the day I try and work on the theory that if you keep the personnel involved to a minimum then you have got one less horse to whip, if you get my drift, you know when the plasterer blames the electrician and the electrician blames the plumber and the decorator blames the kitchen fitter and they all blame the architect ! which is why I used to do everything myself in the UK (and threw away the architects plans on day one usually)

I will see what this kid has to say tomorrow and report back, even if your just remotely curious :-)

Just go see the Lawyer to get in introduction and ask about fees etc then you'll have an idea of what they'll do and their cost, then go see a few unconnected Lawyers in a similar area and ask the same. If possible do the askings on email with similar questions to each. Ruin buying I found started with an estimate of various things then each bit of work was itemized and added up to form the final bill, additional things to be done could be added in and they didn't bother to charge for some things like getting water and electricity connected.

Oh ! .................. and as an aside...........the solicitor that sorted the paperwork for every house purchase/sale that we ever made in the UK bar the very last one as he had retired (and there was quite a few over the years) guess who recommended him to me ? the estate agent that sold me my first house , but that was back in the day when local services existed and not faceless corporate call centres based 100's of miles away, a local born estate agent, and a local born solicitor (pardon the 'league of gentleman' kind of 'localness' please :-) so lets not write them all off eh, and just be cautious ? but this has now gone slightly off topic, based on the original question of cost, but hey ho.

Anyway .................. Alan PT, you where spot on my friend this guy was 'billy whizz' when we got to the meeting the footprint of the land was not as described, and the offer was being based on the dimensions described at the viewing............... his response (after us meeting him for about 10 minutes) ............. and I quote ' well, andrew will not be signing anything today will he until you have resolved this with the local camara'

Like you said my friend, a decent estate agent knows who to 'dot the i's and cross the t's ' efficiently. Dutch guy.............. just as an aside.

Thanks for sharing, that made me laugh

It might not be exactly what you were expecting/hoping for at the start of the day, but it sounds like you got a good result there!

A bit of Dutch directness is always amusing to observe as well