Own Home Scheme Pros and Cons

Playboy999

We received the contracts, mortgage deed etc from the Solicitors on Friday!!!!! Hopefully when they receieve them back at some point this week we should be able to exchange!!!!:j

Playboy999

Ama wrote: »

Thanks Ladybird. How much was your overall costs?

We paid Optima just over £700. We managed to get out of paying £295 for the searches as they were just recently done in the HIP.

ladybird3

I had to pay for the searches which was annoying-the flat had been on the market so long that everything had expired-meh!
You're nearly there playboy999!

sideslipmike

thanks Mary4kids,

thanks for your advice, have been trying to get number of EA but he aint playing the game, however my wife bumped into him today in town and she explained that P4P are working as fast as they can and they`ll get back to us, as and when, and he seemed okay with this and said he`ll just avoid phonecalls from the seller???(the seller is a housing relocation company just thought i might add that in, and its them that are being impatient, and are not happy with this goverment scheme)

Got are fingers crossed we`ll hear something from P4P by next week and all goes well aaahhhhhhh haha

mandy_s_2

Playboy999 wrote: »

We paid Optima just over £700. We managed to get out of paying £295 for the searches as they were just recently done in the HIP.

Did you pay the £295 up front and then have it deducted off your bill at the end?

I sent them a cheque for £295 when I sent the first lot of forms back to Optima (maybe I read the letter wrong but I thought I had to pay it as an initial payment before they did anything).

Anyway 4 weeks in from the offer acceptance and the estate agent still hadnt heard anything from optima so I chased them up and they said they probably wouldnt have to do some of the searches as they were only recently done, so I assume they should deduct that off at the end? (Funny how they were quick enough to bank the cheque but did nothing til I chased)

Survey is being done today, so nervous, hope it is ok!! Waited so long just to get to this stage.

tek-monkey

Is it normal to get money upfront? My solicitor said not to pay her til completion? If it ever happens!

Playboy999

mandy_s wrote: »

Did you pay the £295 up front and then have it deducted off your bill at the end?

I sent them a cheque for £295 when I sent the first lot of forms back to Optima (maybe I read the letter wrong but I thought I had to pay it as an initial payment before they did anything).

Anyway 4 weeks in from the offer acceptance and the estate agent still hadnt heard anything from optima so I chased them up and they said they probably wouldnt have to do some of the searches as they were only recently done, so I assume they should deduct that off at the end? (Funny how they were quick enough to bank the cheque but did nothing til I chased)

Survey is being done today, so nervous, hope it is ok!! Waited so long just to get to this stage.

Yes, we also paid £295 up front. It was then diducted off the final bill.

nig0609

went with local solicitor, they wanted 350 upfront to cover items they have to pay for (searches etc), so they are partly covered in case the sale falls through and i refuse to pay. it was taken off the final bill.

total bill was about 1300, hip was a year old so had to pay for the searches, were extra letters etc as leasehold with council.

Ama

Thank you all for your replies. I have had two quotes; one is detailed and the other is a basic one and I get the feeling I will be hit with other hidden charges at some stage. The detailed one adds up to £1,640 inclusive of all searches. The fees have been broken down into two parts; £695 plus VAT for dealing with the mortgate and £150 plus VAT for dealings with ownhome.

Does this sound reasonable?

tek-monkey

Does it depend on the cost of the house? My solicitor quoted me £865 all in, and that was including an extra £50 to deal with ownhome. My property is £132k, and my solicitors standard fee (before searches etc.) is £499.