Has anyone drawn up their own contracts?

mdoherty

I've read that one way to get the edge on other sellers is not to use an estate agent and sell your house DIY style. I read too that there are contract forms to download off the internet which apparantly are kosher and bypasses nasty solicitor fees. The whole idea of course is so you can sell your house cheaper than the competition.

Has anyone done their own legal work?

princessamy86

Not really sure how this would give you an "edge" over other sellers. You can definitely do your own legal work, however it can get quite complicated and if you make a mistake then it can be very costly/end up being illegal! I'd be very wary of doing it this way, although I'm sure people have done it. Bear in mind your buyers will most likely have a solicitor who will be going through anything you draw up with a fine tooth comb.

davejuk_2

There are plenty of sites offering good quality tenancy agreements. I've used Property Hawk in the past (the forum won't let me post the URL).

It depends on the type of tenant, how well they read the contract. Students will sign anything that's put in front of them. I've seen contracts that were just photocopies of the "license to occupy" that they had from living in university halls!

confused31_2

go for it, i have no doubt you will probably do has good a job has any local estate agent, and at a fraction of the cost.

chickmug

mdoherty wrote: »

I've read that one way to get the edge on other sellers is not to use an estate agent and sell your house DIY style. I read too that there are contract forms to download off the internet which apparantly are kosher and bypasses nasty solicitor fees. The whole idea of course is so you can sell your house cheaper than the competition.

Has anyone done their own legal work?

Not sure why it would give you the edge. If I were handling a sale for a seller I would be most wary of someone selling themselves and even more wary if they proposed to do their own legal work.

I have come across a number of people who proposed doing their own legal work but the vast majority gave up and appointed a solicitor as soon as things arose which were not so straight forward.

In fact it could be doubtful if you started forming a chain that people above, or below, would want to carry on unless you had professionals seeing it through.

Those that sell themselves usually do not have the experience to work out what should be done and when which could cost the sale or purchase. I have numerous examples of failed sales where the people involved needed to turn to EA's and solicitors. Not very money saving though.

Sorry but these are the facts.

Robert_Sterling_3

I prefer to stick to what I am good at.

Richard_Webster

We have been through this one before.

Unfortunately although the seller may save some money, from the buyer's point of view it is a pain. This is because of the extra work his solicitor will have to do. If a solicitor deals with another solcitor or licensed conveyancer then that legal representative will have verified his client's identity and warrants that he has authority from the real seller to act on the sale. This means that when a buyer's solicitor sends money to a seller's solicitor to complete he can rely on getting documents signed by the real sellers.

If the seller acts for himself then the solicitor might have to travel to the seller in order firstly to exchange contracts (because he would need to do it physically as there would be no professional undertakings that he could rely on, and also to verify ID and secondly to complete as he would have to ensure that the transfer deed actually was signed by the seller and would not hand over any funds until he saw the physical document.

If I were acting for a buyer in that kind of position I would tell him that I would have to charge a great deal more. I would advise him to seek a price reduction from the seller or require the seller to spend his own time and money to visit my office to carry out exchange and completion.

Also, a solicitor would need to act for any mortgage lender whose mortgage was being paid off as a result of the sale and therefore the saving in this way would not be great.