Conveyancing fee

Contracts for legal work on the sale of a Housing Authority development are expected to be awarded despite a Law Society attempt to make law firms bid no less than $3,500 per flat.

It was feared the tendering process would have to be repeated after the society's move, which resulted in more than half the tenders being put in at $3,500.

But a source said yesterday it appeared the bidding would go ahead because some proposals suggested a legal fee of around $1,500 per flat.

At Monday's tendering meeting, however, authority members will try to work out how to avoid a repetition of the incident.

Apart from the $1,500 per unit bids, some of the 79 firms participating in the tender offered a conveyancing fee of around $2,000. None of the proposed prices was higher than $3,500.