First Time Buyer - Advice please

NeverAgain_2

I think the concern of board members was the solicitors were also acting in some way on behalf of the vendor.

This appears not to be the case, which is good.

There remains the concern the solicitors might go easy on the vendor to preserve their place on the vendor's panel.

They would be stupid to put their professional reputation at risk for the sake of a few conveyancing instructions which may or may not come their way in future.

Given the new information, I would be happy to stick with them.

I'm still not sure why you need a broker, but as you've signed up with one, you may as well continue.

I wouldn't worry about feeling a 'clutz' - there are many choices to be made in the house buying process.

None of the ones you've made are wrong - each buyer approaches his purchase in their own way.

FireWyrm

WeaponX wrote: »

"
As you may be awre, Parkinson Wright are on a panel of Solicitors that Linden Homes recommend to purchasers of their developments. We are receommended as we have knowledge of teh Linden Homes developments which enables us to progress to an exchange of contracts within the timescales set by Linden Homes on confirmation of your reservation with them.

Uh huh. So, we can push it through given Linden Homes unrealistic and downright reckless timescales because we're all pals here....

WeaponX wrote: »

We confirm that Linden Homes will not in any way be able to influence or constrain our professional judgement in relation to any advice that we give to you and we will not compromise, infringe or impair our duty of care that we have with you as our client".

:rotfl:Trust us...we're good for it, honest guv. Incidentally, I've got a pretty white horse with an swirly horn if you want to buy that...its in my back-garden, eating radishes.

Run. Now.

WeaponX wrote: »

So I guess they aren't strictly the developer's solicitors, just the ones that are recommended by them. With the above in mind why should they not represent my best interests?

Precisely because they *are* Lindens *preferred* solicitors. This is the biggest buying venture of your life with the potential to bankrupt you and leave you not only homeless, but broken and your life destroyed. You really want to trust this bunch with that kind of responsibility?

WeaponX wrote: »

G_M your advice seems good, what's your experience in these matters?

I dont know what G_M does exactly, but given his consistently sound advice on this forum for as long as I've been here, I'd follow it to the letter if I was you.

WeaponX

Ok two differing points of view, anyone else has any thoughts on this?

Richard_Webster

I can't comment on the particular firm - that would be quite unfair.

However there is a danger in this kind of situation that a solicitor will say enough by way of advice to allow him to wriggle off the hook if you ever complain, but not enough to ram home the importance of a point.

There is no way I would even provide a pre-contract report if my clients did not have a mortgage offer. If the client still wanted to proceed and it was not clear that house would be ready for occupation long before the mortgage offer had expired I would advise him not to proceed without a backstop provision - see below. If my client wanted to take the risk I would get him to write to me telling me that notwithstanding my advice not to proceed, he still wanted to do so, and understood the risks. I wouldn't leave it to a few vague lines in a report that someone probably might not understand.

The reality is that it is pretty unlikely that the builder will do anything if you don't exchange on 17th January.

Realistically you should gain a little more time to get a mortgage offer and then once you have it in place your solicitors should require the builder to agree that you can walk away and have your deposit returned if the builder hasn't finished the build and can't complete the sale to you by the time the mortgage offer expires. If your solicitors have not suggested that to you then are they really acting in your best interests?

WeaponX

Thanks for the replies guys, I've got details of an independent mortgage advisor and conveyancer which I'll contact tomorrow. Are there any on here that people can recommend?

Also with new builds, i've been reading threads and alot of people are against them. The thing is it's around the Clapham area and houses are way out of my price range to buy, so buying a flat makes sense. I'm just wondering if anyone on here had any views in buying a new build flat in Clapham and how much I can take off the asking price?

WeaponX

I thought I give you guys an update. Ok I've phoned various solicitors and mortgage advisors and alot of good information have come from these sources as well as these boards.

I'm looking to go back to the developers and try and negiotiate a lower offer and a longer extension deal (so that my mortgage offer will be valid a month or two after the estimated legal completion date). The biggest risk as people have highlighted is when the mortgage offer expires, you may get one with a much lower valuation of the property which leaves you with a delta of thousands potentially to fill.

Which brings me to my next point, as I said earlier I signed with their mortgage advisor but I think I have grounds for complaint. The mortgage he sold me expires on the 29th June 2012 whereas the legal completion date is July 2012. When asked what happens with this month delta he repeatedly said 'we can extend the deal closer to the time'. When I asked this question over e-mail he said 'we will review this on a case by case basis'. I wasn't too happy so I phoned a IMA and Santender (the mortgage lender) and they both confirmed that the offer cannot under any circumstance be extended past this date. So with this information do I have grounds of a complaint that their mortgage advisor sold me a mortgage that does not cover me till the legal completion date?

On the next point the ground rent is a £390/year, looking at other flats around that area the ground rent is about £175/year for that area. Why so expensive? I'm looking to try and negiotiate this down as well.

Here is the property: http://www.findaproperty.com/for-sale/property-10561949 What price should I be looking at getting this for? I've tried looking at other flats sold prices (mouseprice.co.uk) but the problem is that you can see the flat and how much is was sold for but you don't know any spec. about the property that sold off, So any help here would be appreciated.

WeaponX

Also another question, I have received quotes from various solicitors, and one does only the local search wheras the other do multiple searches, what is the norm?

Also would appreciate your comments on my above posts especially on how much to take off the asking price.

Caveat_Mortgagor

WeaponX wrote: »

I've tried looking at other flats sold prices (mouseprice.co.uk) but the problem is that you can see the flat and how much is was sold for but you don't know any spec. about the property that sold off, So any help here would be appreciated.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/search.html?yearSelection=20&referrer=SPG&searchLocation=SW11+3UR

Put the postcode of the other comparable flats in here. The sold prices on rightmove also have a link to the most recent listing for that property!