DIY Conveyancing for a Purchase at Auction

Degenerate

I'm going to be bidding on a property in an auction, and having had several quotes come out over £300 + disbursements, I started to look into the subject of DIY conveyancing. Whilst I can see the benefit of professional conveyancing in most circumstances, it seems to me that given the following, it could be a waste of money:

- I'm buying not selling (no liability to a purchasor)
- There is no chain
- There is no mortgage to arrange
- The seller has no mortgage to pay off
- The property is freehold
- The property is registered
- The property is a house
- The searches are already done (and no cause for concern)
- There are no restrictive covenants (I've seen the title deeds)
- I'm commited to buy the property as soon as the gavel falls anyway.

That last one is particularly pertinent. It seems to me that most of what a conveyancer does for a buyer is about checking everything out before they commit themselves. When buying at auction contracts are exchanged on the day, and the buyer is commited before the conveyancer is engaged.

What does this leave?

- Sign TP1 Deed of Transfer (mostly completed by the seller from the look of it) + pay fee
- Submit SDLT return + pay fee
- CHAPS transfer the consideration to the seller on completion date.

Have I missed anything out, or will I be paying £300+ for someone to fill out two forms (one of which is already mostly completed), and initiate a CHAPS transfer?

G_M

With an auction property the important legal work should be done pre-auction. That's where you may most need a solicitor.

However if you feel you rae competant to spot any issues before the gavel falls, then I agree, post auction, things are relatively straigh forward.

Degenerate

Degenerate wrote: »

- Sign TP1 Deed of Transfer (mostly completed by the seller from the look of it) + pay fee
- Submit SDLT return + pay fee
- CHAPS transfer the consideration to the seller on completion date.

Have I missed anything out, or will I be paying £300+ for someone to fill out two forms (one of which is already mostly completed), and initiate a CHAPS transfer?

Correction: looking again, there is no fee to pay when submitting a SDLT return, the £90 disbursement I was looking at was what they charge for completing the form. So basically the £300 is just for the easy TP1 form and the CHAPS transfer (but still adding the bank's fee as a disbursement, of course.)

Is this money for old rope or am I overlooking something?

Degenerate

G_M wrote: »

With an auction property the important legal work should be done pre-auction. That's where you may most need a solicitor.

However if you feel you rae competant to spot any issues before the gavel falls, then I agree, post auction, things are relatively straigh forward.

Well, I've seen the Local Authority search, it's a straight run of "no"s to all the questions. The Water search produces nothing of concern either.

The conveyancing quotes also mention a Land Registry search. Can anyone confirm what this is? Is this redundant as I have already seen the register of title and title plan?

Also, what is the purpose of a bankruptcy search and how might it be relevant to an auction transaction?

The property in question is being sold by a court-appointed attorney on behalf of an elderly person who has lost their mental capacity.

G_M

If you are serious about doing the conveyancing yourself, don't rely on a few haphazard questions asked on an internet forum.

Find out what's involved, what the various searches/checks etc do and mean, and make sure you cover off all the potential pitfalls.... not just the ones that happen to occur o you.

observations_from_a_hill

What do you have to lose? Alternatively, would you think £300 as a one-off insurance premium worthwhile to secure nothing is wrong with the title? Chose for yourself.

Degenerate

observations_from_a_hill wrote: »

What do you have to lose? Alternatively, would you think £300 as a one-off insurance premium worthwhile to secure nothing is wrong with the title? Chose for yourself.

What could be wrong with the title, bearing in mind it's a registered property?

There is one single entry in the charges register and it's nothing to be concerned about. It relates to the erection of a boundary fence, dating back over a century to before the land was divided for houses. The register specifically mentions that the location of the aforesaid boundary is outside of the property in question. So the covenant wouldn't have affected the property, even if it hadn't been made moot by further development and council adoption of the road long ago.

observations_from_a_hill

Then why bother to ask? If you're happy, do it.

taxiphil

I'd say do it yourself, but just to be extra sure you're ticking all the boxes, you won't go far wrong spending 8 quid on Joseph Bradshaw's book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1906971803

Degenerate

observations_from_a_hill wrote: »

Then why bother to ask? If you're happy, do it.

There's no harm in throwing the question out there for someone to point out some pitfall I might have overlooked.

Regarding not knowing what a Land Registry search is, obviously it's a search for information at the Land Registry. My question is whether this is could produce anything other than the register of title and title plans I already have?

Ditto for a bankruptcy search - I can see the point in most cases, but given the circumstances of the sale it seems moot.

Both searches are only £4 each anyway, so it's not a money thing I just want to know if there is any point doing them.

It just seems to me that in this particular case there is little reason not to do it myself and very little to justify a conveyancer's fees. Having researched the pitfalls of DIY conveyance, I would certainly engage a professional to deal with chains, mortgage finance etc.

observations_from_a_hill

What's the date of the OCE's?