What do we do now?

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

There is absolutely no substitute for getting involved yourself.
Do you think a busy clerk at a firm of solicitors, working conveyor belt style, is even going to remember your case in a weeks time?
Talk to the neighbours.
Check the council for the local plan and any file they have on your intended property.
Check the other prices in the street.
Invest 6 GBP, perhaps more depending on what you find, to get your own copy of the Land Registry documents (or is this automatically in the HIP these days?)
If you or a friend have knowledge of building techniques, do your own survey - A Library book will give you a chapter by chapter check list.
Failing this survey your surveyor if you can - they will tell you verbally things that do not appear in the bland report. You might even get a valuation for free!

Are you suggesting that a FTB does their own conveyancing?

Yes but how long in the present market do you wait for (say) a FTB to flaff about (not) getting a mortgage. I would think that one of those little adverts saying an offer of 99999.99 has been received for 9 Acacia avenue, should cover the seller if there was any thought of protest from the beneficiaries.

As a purchaser of two "probate" properties, I found them lovely easy purchases compared with the "emotional" difficulties involved if the owners are still alive.
Similarly as an "amateur" executor for two estates, I had to sell two properties.
I was very aware of the estate agents rubbing their hands, ready for what they saw as nice easy "put through" business from an out of town seller.
(Sold both of them privately and got a significantly better price than the Estate agents said I would make).



"Are you suggesting that a FTB does their own conveyancing?"

I know two different FTB couples who did, largely using a book called "The Conveyancing Fraud". However now that the system has been computerised, I would doubt that the FTB has the resources or the ability to get a system up to speed to compete with a firm of conveyancers BUT I would recommend that the FTB gets a modern version, similar to the above mentioned book, so they fully understand the process. It is knowledge that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.

Mary

As long as they do not emigrate to Scotland :-)

You are under no obligation to accept the EA's recommended solicitors but sometimes they do have very good working relationships which are worth considering.

Ring around, speak to the people who would actually be conveyancing for you, ask whether they are a solicitor or a conveyancer, the latter may be a legal secretary who has persued formal qualifications in conveyancey and would probably be acting under a solicitor but doing the majority of the work.

Ask how many slaes/purchases they have going through, how best can you contact them, what hours do they work, will you have a named contact or will there be only a switchboard facility where you have to leave a message?

There is nothing like personal recommendation, how about asking someone you work with or who your partner works with, maybe ask another family member.

I would steer clear (out of personal experience) of using an internet only conveyancey service, might be ceaper but you get what you pay for my experience, plus no one person ever seemed to be in carge of my purchase, which made things confusing.

Good luck with the move!

We've just moved and used the EA's recommended solicitors who gave us a no-win-no-fee deal. Our first purchase/sale fell through so we were really glad that we had this. What we liked though was that we could go and look at our case online and check how far things we going, what contracts/surveys etc had been requested and sent and recieved. Their fees were comparable with local solicitors and we had a case handler who we could ring and speak to when ever we wanted. Overall I thought they were very good.

My tips for picking a good solicitor if you don't know the area.
1. Pick a solicitor's firm that only does conveyancing. They have to be good at it or they'd be out of business. Note I mean a specialist conveyancing solicitor, not just a conveyancing firm.
2. Look at other agent's websites for the solicitors they recommend. Agents generally recommend reasonably good solicitors, and if you pick one from another agent, there's not even a hint of conflict of interest.
3. Phone the solicitor's office and ask them to email you a quote. The quality of the reception staff reflect the standards of the firm as a whole, and if they baulk at the suggestion of using email, things are going to be a whole lot slower with them.

If you can use email, you can complete within about 2 weeks with a good local solicitor (you will need to make at least one visit to their offices). However, there is no upper limit on how long it takes.

Don't forget to organise your surveys!