buying house ..pay solicitor with cheque??

little_glen

HI:
this is the first time we buyiny the house. we have huge deposite to pay toward to the house. my solicitor tell me to pay the deposite onto to his name and give hime cheque . is it right ??? i need advise asap .....thank you

AFK_Matrix

You can pay him by cheque and it should only be a 10% deposit that your paying at exchange. If you are paying by cheque though it needs 5 days to clear so you have to do it 5 days or more before exchange.

If you have less than 5 days till exchange then you have to do a CHAPS transfer from your bank to the solicitors bank.

little_glen

hi:
thank you for answer my question.
he ask me to pay him in cheque. he ask me to pay whole of deposite not 10 % . we actually want to want to sign contract and complete at same time... but he tell as just to sign the contract. i did try to ask him question but he seem so difficult to tell me anything....

AFK_Matrix

Well if your doing the exchange of contracts and completion on the same day then thats the reason he wants the whole deposit, as you can't complete without all of the deposit in the solicitors hands. Cheque will save you some money but as I said it will take 5 days to get into the solicitors account. With the CHAPS it takes a couple of hours but you pay £25 for the privilege.

GDB2222

little_glen wrote: »

hi:
thank you for answer my question.
he ask me to pay him in cheque. he ask me to pay whole of deposite not 10 % . we actually want to want to sign contract and complete at same time... but he tell as just to sign the contract. i did try to ask him question but he seem so difficult to tell me anything....

Did he give you a very low price for doing the job? If so, I'm afraid that he can't afford to spend much time on the phone to you.

G_M

If you Exchange/Complete at the same time, how do you expect him to pay the seller if you don't give him all the money? That will include his fees, disbursements AND the Stamp Duty Tax too. Etc

Cheque - 5 days to pay (allow 7 just in case)
CHAPS - same day but costs you £15 - £25 - you'll need his CHAPS bank details
BACS - 3 working days - free - you'll need his BACS bank details
Faster Payments - free - same day - not all banks offer this so check both YOUR bank and HIS bank. Some banks have limits (eg £10,000 per day) so check this too ( you could do 2 transfers on consecutive days) - you'll need his BACS bank details

You'll also need to sign the contract in advance. This does NOT mean you have Exchanged contracts but he has to have your signed contract on his desk otherwise later he CAN'T Exchange/Complete for you (which he'll by telephone with the other solicitor)

LandyAndy

I paid my deposit and the remainder of my funds to my solicitor using banker's drafts. He accepted that as paid when deposited. Some banks will charge but Halifax provided mine free (their counter cheques are banker's drafts).

tyllwyd

little_glen wrote: »

... we actually want to want to sign contract and complete at same time... but he tell as just to sign the contract. i did try to ask him question but he seem so difficult to tell me anything....

It is quite usual to sign the contract well before the day when you complete. What happens is that you sign your contract but it is not dated. The other people in your chain will do the same. On the day when you exchange contracts, all the solicitors contact each other and the contracts are dated - at that point you have committed to buy the house, but you don't own it until the sale is completed. It is possible to exchange and complete on the same day, but usually the completion date will be set for a week or two later.

sonastin

The way it works is this:
You give the solicitor the money he needs to complete the transaction (purchase monies, fees, stamp duty, etc) and a signed contract. He also needs to have a copy of the mortgage offer on his desk if you're buying with a mortgage.
He then exchanges contracts, hands over (usually) 10% of the purchase price to the sellers solicitor and you are legally bound to purchase the property.
He then requests mortgage funds ahead of completion day and when time comes to complete, he passes the balance of the purchase price to the sellers solicitor and you get the keys from the seller or the estate agent and the property is yours.
Solicitors then pays estate agent (if you are selling), stamp duty, registers the property in your name, etc to finish off the legalities of the transaction.

If exchange and completion are close together, he might request mortgage funds before exchange as it can take time for them to be transferred. If you are exchanging a long time before completion, you could only pay him 10% upfront (to pass to the seller) and give anything else you're paying towards the purchase nearer to completion. The solicitor is not likely to accept this arrangement because when he exchanges contracts on your behalf, he wants to be certain you can definitely afford to pay for this house. The only way he can be certain is if the money is sitting in his client account.

BTW, any money you give to him goes into a client account. So if he goes bust between you handing over your money and the purchase going through, your money is protected and can't be claimed by his creditors.

kingstreet

The solicitor wants the cheque made payable to him personally? Or his firm?

Is he a sole trader? Have you checked out his status as a solicitor with the Law Society;-

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/home.law

Be careful to ensure the person you are dealing with is who he says he is.

GDB2222

kingstreet wrote: »

The solicitor wants the cheque made payable to him personally? Or his firm?

That may well be the same thing if he is sole trader. I trade as GDB2222 & Co, but I am thinking of dropping the & Co, as it's just me nowadays and everyone knows that.