Hi all, need some advice here.

I am about to sell a property through a RE agent.
The agent wanted to charge 3% commission and ask me to bear for the 6% GST on the commission as well. Is this the normal practice?

Dear Dario,

I have recently sold an apartment (>10 years old) which is fully settled. In order to speed things up, I opted to use seller's lawyer. Today lawyer called up saying that there was a spelling mistake on my name during the submission for the title search. He billed me RM300 + 6% service tax. Am I supposed to bear for this cost?

The lawyer also charged me the following items.
Disbursements:
1) RM42 for Affirmation and stamping on statutory declaration
2) RM50 for Travelling, courier, printing etc
3) RM50 for Miscellaneous

Which of the above ought not be charged?
Many thanks.

Sorry my bad...should be sold an apartment and use the buyer's lawyer.

According to the lawyer, the officer at land office keyed in wrongly, resulted in spelling mistake during title search. Meaning that, it was not correctly done. Hence it need to re-submit and search again. And a "rectification land search of RM300 is charged". He even challenged that "if you want to save, you can also do it yourself". I was dumbfounded. In the first place, I didnt ask for any title to be searched. And then suddenly this mistake popped up and I'm supposed to pay for it? Come on...
Earlier I had told the lawyer that I will be filling the CKHT myself. Maybe because of that, he tried to find ways to charge me (for the supposedly RM300 on CKHT filling)

For the disbursements on SD, I was informed that it is to check whether I am a bankruptcy or not, as "required by the bank". The charges is RM4 for "affirmation" and RM10 for "stamping" (this 2 add up = RM14). 3 copies, so total is RM42. I was flabbergasted. Why charge me when this is required by bank??

Even for disbursements item #2 and #3 are debatable. Since I'm using the same lawyer (whereby can save on travelling & courier cost) and will be signing on the same set of documents (save on printing), why double charge (both buyer and seller)? And I would guess the "miscellaneous" fee is also being imposed to the buyer.

Appreciate if you can comment on the above. Thanks.

Dear Dario,

Thanks for your reply.

In case if I refuse to pay all the above, will the deal still go through?
Will the lawyer act inappropriately, for example changing certain conditions in the S&P which will not favor me, as the seller?

What if I choose another lawyer at this juncture? (though this option is a bit tough since there is basically no charges can be applied on)

What are my options now?

1. The lawyer claimed that they did the "work" by submitting to land office for the title search.

2. & 3. SPA has not signed yet. (in comparison, I think the buyer will be more anxious to get this deal done than me )

Of course I wouldn't want to see this deal falling apart. Just that the lawyer has to charge more responsibly and reasonably.