Being your own solicitor

G_M

timmyt wrote: »

don't do it, you expose yourself, and you delay the chain.

DO do it if you are confident you can recognise a straightforward transaction (80%) from a complex one.

Yes, you expose yourself. Taking on any job rather than give it to a professional involves exposure - financial planning, carpentry, car mechanics, conveyancing.

I have never delayed a chain - I tend to speed the chain up. A gross generalisation Timmy (something you generally do :T).

smevans

Thanks for your posts guys on this.

As yet I still have no book so I cant really comment further.

All I can say is the transaction will be just selling a property that is currently mortgaged. I am not buying another one just yet.

Does that make things simpler ?

Pee

I am not sure how you will be able to deal with the mortgage. Solicitors can give undertakings, your undertakings will not be backed up and therefore unlikely to be acceptable.

Evilm

You can get a free conveyancing guide here: http://www.theconveyancingguide.co.uk/enquiry.html

Not used it myself so not sure how in depth it goes.

There is a book mentioned on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Buying-Selling-Conveyancing-Guide/dp/1898217726 Again no guarantees as to how good it is.

However, as others have said, its nice to know what the process entails but another thing completely doing the process yourself.

G_M

You will have to clear (pay off) the mortgage before Completion. That means you cannot use the money you get from the sale to pay off the mortgage. You'll need other funds.

Unless the buyer is not using a solicitor too, and is either incompetant or very trusting, and is willing to give you the cash and trust you to then pay off the mortgage/remove the Charge.

Or unless the solicitor he uses is similarly incompetant - quite possible.

I once sold a (mortgage-free) property where we Exchanged Contracts and Completed same day. With the buyer's solicitor's agreement, the full purchase price was transferred to my bank in the morning. In the afternoon I then went to my bank to meet the buyer, sign the Contract, and hand over the keys/Completion documents. I could, of course, have simply gone to south america with the cash. No contract had been Exchanged, so it would have been a nice 'gift'!

nigem

I have twice sold houses by myself, but have used a solicitor for the buying. I just followed the book (but I cant remember the name-sorry. something like conveyancing made easy) but that was 15 yrs ago. Its straightforward, you know all the answers and its just a case of filling in the forms and answering the questions put by your buyers conveyancer. The best bit is knowing that you can speed up the process, and the worst are waiting ages for the buyers person to respond, and they are awkward because you are not a 'solicitor type'.
I havent done the buying, as its buyer beware and i dont want to overlook anything.
If you sell, you can request the paperwork from the person you used when you bought. Saves lots of time!

PasturesNew

Most lenders (all?) will not release the funds to you, nor let you anywhere near them. That's a problem you can't solve by buying the right book.

Vincenzo

I think it would help the whole house buying and selling process if everyone understood the conveyancing process more, buyers, sellers and estate agents alike.

I would never attempt it myself though, despite the fact that I work in the property services industry. The main reason being I highly value the indemnity insurance carried by conveyancers! I have previously had to make a claim of professional negligence against a conveyancer that acted for me on the purchase of a leasehold property. It transpired that the 'drive' did not actually form part of the demise and I successfully sued for the difference in market value, deemed at the time to by just shy of £10,000.

Had the mistake been mine I would have saved £500 in conveyancing fees to lose £10,000! I have also pulled out of a purchase previously on the advice of my solicitor due to title issues. A decision I may not have taken had I acted alone.

The cost of conveyancing is negligible compared with the cost of the purchase and to have the advice of a professional can be invaluable.

Hippychick

This book is excellent, but not cheap http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conveyancing-Handbook-Frances-Silverman/dp/1853287393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278599484&sr=8-1-spell

If you have a mortgage then you will experience problems i'm afraid as an undertaking will need to be given to the other side to redeem your mortgage. I think you may find it difficult to find a buyer who will have a solicitor who is happy to accept you acting for yourself.