same solicitor for seller and buyer?

BitterAndTwisted

Its in the EA's interests to go along with the conveyancer they suggest. They aren't always the best and aren't always the best-priced. Why would your sister be interested in putting commission into the EA's pocket if she's not certain of getting the best service at the best possible price?

JQ.

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.

That is definately not right and I would be off to find myself a new solicitor sharpish. How on earth can the conveyancer provide independant advice to either party? That is a total conflict.

Does the conveyancer sit in their office and have arguments with themselves?

timmyt

sunshaeen wrote: »

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

wrong advice.

one solicitor is never allowed to act for a buyer and seller (who are not related) but an office can with two solicitors in it, but only if both clients are established clients of the firm and both consent and there is no conflict of interest.

if they are not both established then one of them can decide (but the solicitor must not refer them) to use another office of the same firm, again if they conent and there is no conflict.

I cannot say if legal executives are unedr the saame obligations, or licensed conveyancers, but I would never avise anyone to use any other legal professional than a solicitor. no one is as well trained in law.

sunshaeen

previous post thats what i said TWO different conveyancers

shimano

Don't bother, you cannot be sure Chinese walls exist in most places. Go find another.

princeofpounds

So a couple of days ago we had a thread with an EA giving financial advice, and now it seems they are branching out into legal too.

*sigh*

Flat_Eric

As other posters have mentioned the same firm can act but it must be two separate solicitors/legal executives/licensed conveyancers. The rules on this are a little involved though and it might be worth you having a look at the Solicitors Regulation Authority Website or giving them a ring.

If the same solicitor was acting for both buyer and seller, how on earth would the seller/buyer be represented fairly ? If there was something onerous with the property, would the buyer be informed or would the solicitor (acting with her seller head on) just keep quiet ?

Richard_Webster

I can't really see how the same person can fairly represent both.

There are often grey areas where a buyer's solicitor will have to explain things to his client not serious enough normally to be a show stopper but in some circumstances might cause problems in the future.

Solicitor might suggest things that could be done to improve the position and explain how likely the sellers would be to agree such things. A genuinely independent solicitor can quite fearlessly say to this client something like "We could ask them this but it would cost them £XXX so I don't think they would agree - do you want me to try?" If it was the same person or even the same firm the buyer client would suspect that such advice was not genuinely independent.

Often in this sort of case a buyer's solicitor will try to get some concession to protect the buyer. If acting for both sides how does he ask himself whether to advise his other client to agree or not agree to this?

He might not succeed in getting the desired concession but then at least his client would know he had tried and would then make a risk assessment as to whether the issue was likely to be of any significance. Often the risk is about whether something is likely to happen. A solicitor may say in his experience it is unlikely, and give reasons, but he can never give guarantees - the client has to make that assessment.

There is also a severe problem with unusually risk averse clients. For instance, if you get a Homebuyer's Report these days the surveyor has to flag up in the most serious category the need for a recent electrical wiring certificate. Very few owner occupiers bother to get electricians in to check their wiring every 5 years as a matter of routine - it simply doesn't happen in the real world. So if a buyer client of mine asked me to make sure that the seller produced a wiring certificate I would ask the seller's solicitors if their client would do this. Seller says he won't - I tell my clients and when they complain I explain that most people don't have them, so the sellers can't see why they should. If the client insists, despite my advice, I can keep going back repeating the request, and contrary to my advice thoroughly winding the seller up.. Imagine how I would proceed if I was acting for both sides.

The unreasonable client might still complain that we don't put his [totally over the top and unreasonable] request to the seller's solicitors, but imagine the soup we would be in if acting for both sides. No thank you!