DIY Conveyancing - Seller's solicitor won't accept my money

societys_child · 26 January 2017 at 9:34PM

DaftyDuck wrote: »

From limited experience, it's less the closed shop, more that dealing with an amateur tends to mean more work for the other solicitor, more unshared legal and financial responsibility, and more likelihood of monumental c0ck-ups. The financial probity side of things is also obviously a concern.
I still maintain for the most part, 'keeping it in family' is (or was) their primary concern.

We see on this site a number of disasters caused by poor solicitors, and rather more by cheap on-line conveyancing sweatshops. Imagine the increased likelihood of such chaos from the hands of mere amateurs (G_M excluded, of course).
The only "mere amateurs" I know who conducted their own conveyancing were well ahead of the game and often complained of the ineptitude of the solicitors they had to deal with!

Would you like to be the fixed-fee solicitor who had to empty that stable-full of horse manure - and keep your own client happy?
See previous^ answer

It's academic now anyway, ML adds a new obstacle and they can insist they'll only deal other solicitors.

G_M · 26 January 2017 at 9:51PM

I have DIY'd in the past - but not recently. And we all know that money-laundering checks are tighter these days.

Pointless and stupid of course. The Russian !!!!! bosses and most serious UK criminals are well versed in money-laundering and have off-shore company aconts etc etc. The people hit by the new rules are us ordinary folk forced to jump through pointless hoops......

In this case there are x options:

* pull out, find a new property and hope it works ext time
* persuade your seller to put pressure on his solicitor and change his mind (unlikely)
* pay the seller'ssoliitor to do money -laundering checks (again unlikely. He'll claim conflict of interest...)
* find a solicitor prepared to do the money-laundering checks for you to satisfy the seller's solicitor
* give up and use a conveyancing solicitor

I think it would be a real shame if this became the normal reaction and DIY conveyancing was buried.

edit: my is the word m a f i a censored....?

Bossypants · 26 January 2017 at 10:42PM

My father did it once back in the early 90's and encountered a similar attitude from the other party's solicitor (I forget whether he was buying or selling). He insisted and the other side grudgingly relented. The transaction went through without issue, but he says it was a lot more faff than it looked - not difficult, just a bitty and annoying process - and he wouldn't do it again unless he had to.

One thing which might be worth considering is that certain bodies you might need to deal with (local council, Land Registry) have separate processes for professionals and members of the public. For the Land Registry especially, I believe that solicitors have access to their online submissions portal, whereas you would need to submit applications for changes through the post. That's not a reason you couldn't still do it yourself, just something to bear in mind when making the decision.

teddysmum · 27 January 2017 at 3:22PM

I sold my father's bungalow in the early 1990s (pre-tightening up on rules) as a DIY, using a library book to draft the documents.

The buyers' solicitor was quite happy with this, just asking me to alter a sentence and add that there had been a no comeback deal, where the buyers were given a small discount, after a small leak damaged a wall that the buyers were going to demolish anyway. (The latter was in my favour as it meant the buyers could not demand any more money should the damage be worse than suspected.)

diy_er · 24 November 2017 at 7:40PM

No

Hi Guys,

I have just read the entire thread...

I've joined cos i got the same issue, namely solicitor needs the funds to go through another solicitor, because of ML.

The sellers solicitor have told me really i need to get the solicitor to do the conveyancing - why? ... he says its complex and they didn't go to law school for years for no reason!

Yet i can tell you over the years through family and friends how many incompetent solicitors we've encountered!

I'm a cash buyer ...'just' (if i hire a solicitor i will have to get a loan) the property is freehold, surely you can do the conveyancing yourself and just get funds ML checked by an solicitor?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Thrugelmir · 24 November 2017 at 8:16PM

Yes

diy_er wrote: »

if i hire a solicitor i will have to get a loan

Seriously. For such a small sum of money......

alchemist.1 · 24 November 2017 at 8:41PM

Yes

It will be interesting whether a solicitor would be prepared to deal with ML checks and taking on the responsibility for nominal sum passing through their accounts.

Ending up with criminal proceedings and ruining your career because someone wants to pay a fixed fee of less than 200.00 or so probably isnt worth it.

diy_er · 24 November 2017 at 9:19PM

No

@Thrugelmir

£1,500 + may small to you...:question:

But when I'm paying every single penny of my savings for this house, it would be nice to save a grand or so, besides i HATE solicitors they think they are ABOVE ordinary folk...!

NOT to brag... to do the conveyancing should be easy for me why?

Couple of years ago i wanted a patent for a very simple idea, you can imagine what these patent lawyers wanted!

Long story short, 2 weeks all in my spare time did the whole thing myself drawings/wording including submission and it got APPROVED!

Good job i never paid a bean to these rip-off patent lawyers (all they sell is FEAR) ...because no company was interested in the idea, so i binned it!:eek:

But heyhoo a great experience - plus i have another feather in me cap!

davidmcn · 24 November 2017 at 10:13PM

diy_er wrote: »

@Thrugelmir

£1,500 + may small to you...:question:

But when I'm paying every single penny of my savings for this house, it would be nice to save a grand or so, besides i HATE solicitors they think they are ABOVE ordinary folk...!

NOT to brag... to do the conveyancing should be easy for me why?

Couple of years ago i wanted a patent for a very simple idea, you can imagine what these patent lawyers wanted!

Long story short, 2 weeks all in my spare time did the whole thing myself drawings/wording including submission and it got APPROVED!

Good job i never paid a bean to these rip-off patent lawyers (all they sell is FEAR) ...because no company was interested in the idea, so i binned it!:eek:

But heyhoo a great experience - plus i have another feather in me cap!

Well, I expect someone as cunning as you will be able to solve this minor problem without needing anybody else's advice!

G_M · 24 November 2017 at 11:06PM

diy_er wrote: »

I've joined cos i got the same issue, namely solicitor needs the funds to go through another solicitor, because of ML.
I'm not surprised - this seems to be the norm now.

The sellers solicitor have told me really i need to get the solicitor to do the conveyancing - why? ... he says its complex and they didn't go to law school for years for no reason!
Ignore.

....

I'm a cash buyer ...'just' (if i hire a solicitor i will have to get a loan)
I agree with others about your finances. Buying always throws up unexpected costs so you need a contingency fund.

But I disagree with others - if you can (safely) save £1K, why not?

the property is freehold, (tick) surely you can do the conveyancing yourself and just get funds ML checked by an solicitor?

I would have thought you could pay to get the money laundering checks done.

Just as you can ay a solicitor to do the ID check when submitting a TR1 (transfer form) yourself to the Land Registry.

So ring round a few local solicitors, explain, and get a quote if you can. Obvious really - I don't see how anyone here can help.......

As for te DIY conveyancing, I assume/hope

* it's a registered property
* there are no awkward conveyances or Deeds mentioned in the registered Title (which you've looked at of course), with awkward covenants

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DIY Conveyancing - Seller's solicitor won't accept my money

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