Cyprus Property Forum for Buyers, Sellers & Investors

I had the misfortune of listening to a friend who referred me to a lawyer here to prepare the sales contract for the house I'm buying. The real estate agent told me I had to incur this cost and was responsible for drawing up the sales contract, which I found out later was not true, but it was too late and my lawyer did not inform me of this. When I asked him how much it would cost to prepare the contract, he said don't worry, you were referred by a mutal friend, I will give you a special price. I trusted both him and my friend, which was incredibly stupid I admit, and estimated he would charge me a little under the customary 1,000-1,500 euros that most lawyers charge for this work.

Instead, to my great surprise, I got an invoice for 3,800 euros (2,500 euros just for drawing up the contract and the rest in fees for meetings in his office, trips to the land office, etc, and stamps to register the contract). He is withholding the contract until I pay so I have decided to settle the bill and move on. I would like to know, however, what recourse I have after payment to at least report his excessive fees and unethical behavior (i.e. not telling me that I wasn't responsible for preparing the sales contract as buyer, not returning my calls on multiple occasions, misleading me about his prices, boasting about giving bribes to immigration officials and cheating the government out of its taxes when he bought his own house, and being unprofessional throughout).

I heard about the lawyers' disciplinary committee and the bar association, but I don't want to waste any more time or resources on this and I know lawyers tend to stick together, so I prefer not to go down that route if the process is a joke, as I have heard.

Looking forward to any advice or guidance on this.
Thanks much

Nigel has asked me to respond to respond to your posting. As you appear to be aware, the correct way to complain about this lawyer is through the Cyprus Bar Association. I have represented clients who have gone down this route and they have had their lawyers’ fees reduced by as much as 50%. Therefore I have to say that I do think the procedure can be worthwhile in appropriate cases. I can now see that your total invoice was not just for €2,500 and this improves your argument based on excessive fees.

One thing I would add is that in my opinion it is the buyer’s lawyer who should prepare a purchase contract and if I was representing you on the purchase this is exactly what I would have done. The purchase should be made on the buyer’s terms and this is the reason why it should be the buyer’s lawyer who prepares the purchase contract.