Any solicitor on here?

[IanMcL]

I am selling my house and advised the agent that I would act for myself.

I am content to let the buyers solicitor handle the money.

I have sild an unregistered and a registered property before and handled the purchase of a property.

Today the agent advises "Buyets solicitor refuses to deal and said lenders solicitor won't deal either".

My response was bog off or show me in law where I cannot act for myself?

Just asking if this is just the usual, initial try on or whether there has actually, very recently been a change of law.

Thanks

[StuffyClaret]

Not legal requirement but the buyer and the lender have the right to refuse to deal with you

[IanMcL]

Not legal requirement but the buyer and the lender have the right to refuse to deal with you

Thanks. Their loss then! It isn't the buyer. It is their solicitor. They also said the lender would have a problem - although I would have no dealings with them at all! They lend to the buyer and deal with their solicitor, whose job is also straightforward. Make sure the money comes in and hand it over once the ownership is clear and there are no hidden snags.

[GetIntoEm]

Is there a reason you want to act for yourself?
If it's straight forward and it's to save money there are cheap online ones

[Big Vinny K]

That’s correct there is no legal requirement to use a solicitor if you are selling or buying a house.

As said the issue with selling is that firstly the buyers solicitor could refuse to deal with someone who is not using a solicitor but that in itself is a little out of order given it’s not against the law. But the bigger issue is if the person buying needs a mortgage. I am not aware of any lenders who do not insist on dealing with a solicitor….and (within reason) the lenders are fully entitled to include this in their terms of mortgage offer.

Given most of the big and mainstream lenders tend to have pretty similar terms and conditions for mortgages even if one of the smaller lenders did not include this requirement it’s unlikely that the person buying is using one of these.

[fatboy47]

I've purchased a couple of small properties in the past (12 years ago) without recourse to a solicitor..ie self- conveyancing.

I was fairly surprised by the simplicity of this.

In the circumstances I'd consider approaching the vendor privately to see if he was open to the idea of a private arrangement where you could split the estate agents cut... given that he refuses to do buisness on your terms.

Sorry!...misread the OP.

[IanMcL]

Thank you everyone.
All gone quiet at their end after sending agent off with firm message!

I will see what happens next.

[IanMcL]

I've purchased a couple of small properties in the past (12 years ago) without recourse to a solicitor..ie self- conveyancing.

I was fairly surprised by the simplicity of this.

Me too. When I first did it for my parents in law, I bought and sold, Inc an advert in the paper, to sell, for £100.

I got books from the library for conveyancing. Some I found really difficult to understand. One was brilliant.

When I pondered this time, I wondered if it was put of date. Hence the Q on here. I purchased a copy online for £3.87 including the postage. It was updates and printed in 2022, so I was quietly optimistic!

It is very easy to read and straightforward in how it states what is required.

House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing
Joseph Bradshaw

[ceborame]

If I was buying a property and the vendor was handling their own conveyancing, then I couldn't back out quickly enough

[Inchy]

My father in law sold his house and bought his new house doing all the usual solicitor work himself.

This was in the 80s so must have been a bit of effort pre google. I think like yourself he went to the library and taught himself. He’s that type of bloke, makes me look useless

I don’t know if it was a done thing back then


I was looking at moving in 2022. Had a solicitor, accepted an offer on my house, and I was looking at houses to buy. Then liz Truss f*caked everything up and overnight interest rates went through the roof making moving on those new rates impractical.

My buyers pulled out. Never moved house and was still charged 800 quid by the solicitors for very minimal work. It’s a right swizz

[IanMcL]

If I was buying a property and the vendor was handling their own conveyancing, then I couldn't back out quickly enough

Why not? Vendor owns property. You want it. Handover
Money and you get deeds and empty house. Sorted.

[ceborame]

Because the only reason I can think of as to why you would do this is to save money ? A few hundred quid maybe ?

Are you taking all the light bulbs as well ?

[Foshiznik]

Could you not do the searches, registry, etc. yourself and get a solicitor to do the legal bits like drafting/reviewing the contract as a compromise if the seller and/or more importantly the lenders solicitors won’t budge?

[JR1882]

Yeah ultimately they can refuse to deal with whoever they like.

Solicitor to sell a house is in the region of £1000, I’d say that’s worth it for the protection, even if you’re capable of handling it yourself. It’s fine selling the house as you’re rid of it then but if I was buying I’d want only solicitors handling it or I’d pull out in all honesty.

Estate agents however charge far more and really aren’t necessary at all, assuming you can find a buyer & can get a good deal for yourself, in fact I’ve done 2 private sales and they have been very easy indeed without them getting involved.

[IanMcL]

Could you not do the searches, registry, etc. yourself and get a solicitor to do the legal bits like drafting/reviewing the contract as a compromise if the seller and/or more importantly the lenders solicitors won’t budge?

It's all standard contracts. They do searches. Just ripping off for doing virtually nothing. Quotes I had started at £1500!

[fatboy47]

Because the only reason I can think of as to why you would do this is to save money ? A few hundred quid maybe ?

Are you taking all the light bulbs as well ?

Big -timer alert.

[timshorts]

Well let's see.

The solicitor can't exchange a contract with you, because you can't provide a solicitors undertaking or enter into the recognised formulae.

You can't use the law societies completion by post arrangements as you can't provide (as above).

You have already set off about 100 red flags for id, money laundering, risk etc etc.

If there is anybody in the chain that might be borrowing money, then passing their money on into the hands of somebody that is unregulated is out of the question.

Unless the property that you are selling is a trailer park home, and there is nobody else in the chain then the solicitor is quite right to refuse.

[IanMcL]

Because the only reason I can think of as to why you would do this is to save money ? A few hundred quid maybe ?

Are you taking all the light bulbs as well ?

They wanted £1500 plus another £300 (which included their discount!!!) for an unregistered house.

[IanMcL]

Well let's see.

The solicitor can't exchange a contract with you, because you can't provide a solicitors undertaking or enter into the recognised formulae.

You can't use the law societies completion by post arrangements as you can't provide (as above).

You have already set off about 100 red flags for id, money laundering, risk etc etc.

If there is anybody in the chain that might be borrowing money, then passing their money on into the hands of somebody that is unregulated is out of the question.

Unless the property that you are selling is a trailer park home, and there is nobody else in the chain then the solicitor is quite right to refuse.

Well...there is no chain. Their solicitor can act as stakeholder, so their funds are not at risk. I have my deeds. All good.

[timshorts]

Well...there is no chain. Their solicitor can act as stakeholder, so their funds are not at risk. I have my deeds. All good.

And those few lines just sum up why you shouldn't be doing it.

And rather more to the point why the buying solicitor won't do it.

[Burnleyareback2]

I’d be dodging estate agent fees but paying for the best conveyancer - good luck, think your going to need it!


Just seen your last message- get some advice from a professional ASAP- if not then please let us know how this pans out…

[timshorts]

Anyway, given that you and I normally agree on most matters (up to this point), the following might help a bit:-

1. You don't necessarily need a solicitor. A licensed conveyancer will do.

2. I'm not sure where this property or you are, but bear in mind that compulsory registration hit different parts of the country at different times. Hence, a solicitor working in Eastbourne rarely comes across an unregistered title as compulsory registration came in in 1926. In, say. Blaenau Gwent it was 1985, so solicitors in that area will come across it more regularly.

3. I'm guessing that your costs estimate either comes from a bucketshop, in which case they will probably have lots of pretty young things that are very put off by having to deal with something that they don't understand (unregistered land) or you led off in the manner of your opening post here, in which case, you would get an estimate inflated by "this one is going to be a pain in the backside, we don't want the hassle, so give him a high estimate". It should not normally be as high as you have estimated - unless there is something that you haven't told us - such as how it is that the land is unregistered in the first place. I'm assuming that either you are a lot older than I thought that you were, or there is some assent or gift that has occurred in the 80's or 90's.

4. Your posts also suggest that anybody that does take the job on for the buyer will probably have to double their estimate for their client for the risk factor and because you seem to think that they will do your job for you. It's rather like having purple bricks involved with your chain, but 5 times worse.

[Foshiznik]

It's all standard contracts. They do searches. Just ripping off for doing virtually nothing. Quotes I had started at £1500!

I’ve literally just moved into my first home. Cost me £1,080 for the full conveyancing including registry and searches fees.

[IanMcL]

I’ve literally just moved into my first home. Cost me £1,080 for the full conveyancing including registry and searches fees.

Not the rip off south of England!