Oh dear - feeling a bit dim!

Emma18

We are feeling a bit daft - not having bought and sold a property for over 10 years.....!

We instructed a solicitor for the purchase of our proposed new house and received pricing quotes etc - all fine and signed up, sent off docs and money etc....

A week later we receive a letter about using them for the sale of our current property - with a separate estimate of costs of over £1000!

Oh.....we assumed that the original estimate of costs covered the purchase and any matters involved with the sale of ours.....though, to be entirely honest, at my possible embarrassment......we thought our buyers would be paying for that side of things through their solicitor....

Are we really dumb!

paddyrg

Solicitors are not impartial arbitrators, but represent sides in a transaction. As you have 2 transactions, you need representation on 2 sides. You could, however, ask them for a deal, see what they say?

Emma18

Thanks paddyrg - are we at liberty to use a different solicitor to sell our current property.....we reckon we could get it cheaper, but will it just make it more complicated and slow if we have two different people to deal with.....?

hcb42

I would go with only one (unless moving from say Scotland to England, when you will need two)

get a quote for buying and selling, but last thing you need is a communication hiccup and you are committed to buy, but the sale falls though...one solicitor - less hassle for you.

JingleJangle

I have always used the same solicitor, far less hassle. Why add another layer of communication into the mix?

Emma18

I think we will just stick with the same solicitors for your reasons above - much less hassle.

The price for selling our property is about 50% less than the price for purchasing the new one. Does that sound about right in proportion-wise? It does seem that there is much less for them to do dealing with the sale of our current property.....

PasturesNew

I don't think I've ever heard of anybody using two separate solicitors to sell/buy - it's usual to only have one. "Are you buying, selling, or both?" is usually one of the first questions they ask though before quoting. Selling is easier than buying; when selling you just really want the money .... if you're buying then the solicitor's main job is also to ensure the sellers own the property and there's nothing peculiar/bad that turns up in searches/deeds etc, so they have more (important) stuff to do on your behalf when buying.

paddyrg

Oh hassle grounds, probably use the same company, but if you have lower quotes elsewhere, ask your solicitors if they want to meet you somewhere on price. Don't be afraid to ask.