Sale Of House..no Lawyer Needed ?

eeja

Would you agree ..in the case of the SALE of registered freehold property no mortgages involved, there is no need whatsoever for the services of a solicitor or conveyancer ?
1. One can get the contract from the buyer's solicitor
2. One can answer the enquirers oneself.
Nothing else needed is there but to take the money.
Right or wrong ?

vickyn_2

Not sure on the actual legalities, you can obviously do your own conveyancing for any sale freehold or leasehold if you know what you are doing. However, to be honest, no matter how confident I felt is it really worth the £350(ish) saving you are going to make as you could find yourself in a real mess otherwise??? Especially if the other party takes advantage of a potential lack of legal know how...

Good luck on your decision either way

Bossyboots

Isn't it the seller's responsibility to provide the contract? I can't see many purchasers being willing to pay for their solicitor to do that.

Who is going to hold the deposit? No solicitor worth their salt will pay the deposit direct to you.

eeja

Yes you are right. The old tradition is for the seller to produce the contract but nowadays everything is on file at the Land Registry and land certificates have become obsolete ; e-conveyancing has almost arrived , so it does not matter who draws up the contract.In the unlikely event the buyer won't oblige, these contracts are available at any law stationary shop for a pound or two. Correct ?
As for the deposit there is no risk as the buyer can enter a caution at the Land Registry stating contracts have been exchanged . Also the buyer's solicitor or the AE could hold the deposit as stakeholder. This brings me to the obvious : Why cannot both parties act for the buyer in such a case ? ...it will speed things up enormously for both parties and again no risk to the seller as he will only sign the transfer of the property once has the cash, ......or it will be done simultaneously. The bottom line here is that with the price agreed there is no conflict of interest between buyer and seller is there so why shouldn't the buyer act for both sides ??

Debt_Free_Chick

I think the only risk is that certain contract terms might be biased towards the buyer. As the seller, you would need to spot these and then propose a compromise term. Essentially, this is what you pay your solicitor to do. If you can do it yourself, then fine. If you can't then you may find you've signed up to a "restrictive" contract and that might present problems somewhere down the line.

Despite how it appears, solicitors do have a role to play in conveyancing. But it's up to each of us to evaluate the value of that role and the fees involved.

I also believe that Law Society rules prevent any individual solicitor from acting for both parties in any legal transaction. How can they negotiate the best deal for the buyer, without compromising the seller's interests - and vice-versa.

At the end of the day, a seller needs to be left with no residual responsibilties/liabilities. Go for it, if you are confident that you will not be compromised.

courtjester

There are plenty of books on self-conveyancing and even a good complete guide from legal publishers Lawpack (their self-help products available in WHSmiths, Tesco or their own website you may wish to take a look at).

However, I agree with earlier comment that trying to save money on conveyancing, even seller-only fees, is barely worth all the effort and risk as well as the possibility of introducing delays where the 'other sides' legal advisors are expecting to deal with a compatriot acting for you.

Far more profitable and lacking in risk is the concept of ditching the agent and undertaking to sell your property yourself through private advertising online or otherwise - no legal risk (agents don't provide any legal work, they just market the property) and massive saving in fees (generally £3-4,000) for doing little more than you would probably have to do even if you use an agent.

Modern internet property advertising has matured and is very effective if you approach it methodically and choose a wel-established professional service for your online listings.