same solicitor for seller and buyer?

Elizabetta

Hi
My sister in the process of selling a house. The estate agent recommended a person to do the conveyancing (not sure if she is a qualified solicitor or just does conveyancing). Anyway, they also recommended that the prospective purchaser should use the same conveyancer as "it would save time". I advised my sister to ask the conveyancer if it is ethical for her to represent both sides, and she was told that it is perfectly ethical so long as both parties were made aware at the outset and were happy to proceed.
Would like to hear if anyone has any knowledge about this issue.

Many thanks

poppysarah

You should be represented in housing buying and selling by someone who solely looks after your interests...

sunshaeen

yes you can use the same solicitors office but get two different conveyancers to do it for you if both parties are happy to do so then there is no problem and may well be quicker- i worked in both estate agency and conveyancing in the past and know it can work. Do what you are comfortable with

Elizabetta

Thank you Poppy Sarah. That was my feeling. I suppose my question was really is it just advisable to have different solicitors, or is it actually unethical for the same person to represent both parties?

DVardysShadow

poppysarah wrote: »

You should be represented in housing buying and selling by someone who solely looks after your interests...

Agree. And anyone who is prepared to act for both sides without spelling out the potential downsides is not someone I would want to represent me... But you probably get the better of it as seller.

SmlSave

It's perfectly fine to use the same firm as your buyer/seller but you'd have to have different solicitors. It also has to be checked that there's not a conflict of interest.

The only thing that it will speed up is the fact that there's no need for sending docs via post.

Elizabetta

Thank you DVardysShadow. The downsides were definitely not explained. Should this practice be reported to whoever regulates conveyancers, or even just to the Senior partner in the practice?

Pee

Does your sister want to use the same firm? If not, she can soon find someone else. I'm sure the agents would recommend a second choice, or any of your friends and neighbours.

Elizabetta

Thanks Pee
This is her first experience of selling and she had no idea there was anything unusual about it. So the same conveyancer (not just two different people in the the same firm) is acting for both parties and they are about to exchange contracts.

poppysarah

I would not feel happy about that.

If something comes back and bites her in a years time that he should have pointed out but didn't because he was working for the seller then it'll be horrible.

RAS

Elizabetta wrote: »

Thanks Pee
This is her first experience of selling and she had no idea there was anything unusual about it. So the same conveyancer (not just two different people in the the same firm) is acting for both parties and they are about to exchange contracts.

Sorry, I would just never do that!

Added to which there was a cracking case recently on here of what was supposed to be back to back selling (dodgy enough) and turned out to probably be pure fraud.

Had the seller not been signed up to mouseprice she would have never known.