Is there anything WE can do?

Bunnyinthelights

Morning all,
I wonder if you can help,
My husband and I have just bought a house and we were wondering if there is any of the searches etc. that we can do ourselves to save some money on the solicitors fees etc?

Thanks for your help and time,
Bunny

lynzpower

The first thing you can do, is to educate yourself and make some clear choices about which searches you want done. You can, and people DO, choose not to have a search or survey. However, this depends on your lendewr whether they will allow you not to have a survey of some kind.

In terms of searches, they are NOT compulsory, but they are usual. Thats not to say they are all needed. Eg, did I really need a mining search in east -central london? Not really. I paid for it tho and had it as I knew no better.

In terms of conveyancing the whole process can be undertaken yourself, however its infinately more difficult if you have chains to deal with. I thought about doing my own conveyancing, and peeps on here advised against it, i do regret that as a) I would have been able to do it b) it wouold have saved money, c) I wouldve felt more in control. In any case I did a LOT of chasing myself- however there was no chain either side ( we moving to rented - otherside 1st time buyers) theres a Which? Pack I believe which tells you all you need to know. It CAN however mean that some sols wont deal with you, althugh I have limited experiecne of this, mainly hearsay.

Have a look at your estimate/ quote. If its fixed ie 450 all in, then it wouldnt make much difference if you did it youself. If they charge per search, find out what the searches cost each, what the labour costs and do the maths yourself. It all depends how confident you feel TBH

courtjester

Lawpack are the specialists in DIY legal kits.

They are mostly known for their make-your-own-will kit, but also do a DIY conveyancing kit and have loads of books on the subject.

They sell the kits in WHSmiths, or from their own website: https://www.lawpack.co.uk

lynzpower

Ah thats right- its lawpack! Not which- cheers CJ, knew youd know

prudryden

Wouldn't it be great to do a Mining survey and find that you have an oil reservoir in your back garden?

Bunnyinthelights

Thanks for all the information,
I will pass it on to my hubby.
Bunny

maryjane01

we have a small river behind our house in London, we talked to the next door neighbour who had lived there 50 years instead of doing a flood risk type search (I don't know exactly what the name of the search was). They said once in the 50 years it had risen and just reached the back of the garden. That was good enough for us not to bother with the search.

courtjester

lynzpower wrote:

Ah thats right- its lawpack! Not which- cheers CJ, knew youd know

Cheers Lynz; that is not to say that WHICH? don't have some good information on their site too !!

I notice actually that Lawpack also now offer online conveyancing, which *would* be a good thing (they are a very longstanding reputable company), but on searching through the details more closely, it seems their conveyancing service is provided by Hammonds Direct - oh dear, I've not heard good things about the HD /Legalmove service on this board.

Maybe best to stick to their DIY kits then...

olly300

I had a solicitor quote me for a mining search in London and other searches. I decided not to use that solicitor because I had done some research myself into what was around the land my property was build on and he was trying to imply that I needed all the searches.

Go to http://www.homecheck.co.uk and put in your postcode. If it throws up anything like a risk of flooding, industrial contamination then do some further research. I was watching Real Story on Wednesday and they were showing horror stories from people who had brought houses that where on contaminated land or where build on mine shafts.

You can complete your stamp duty form yourself it is not that hard especially if you are moving to a freehold property. Most solicitors seem to charge around £50 to fill it in for you and if they complete it with wrong information you are actually legally liable not them. You just need to get all the information about the vendor and their solicitor which you can get from the estate agent or the vendor. You can get a copy of the form SDLT1 and SDLT 6, the notes to complete it, from HM Revenue and Customs on 0845 302 1472. Make sure you photocopy it first and complete the photocopy before copying it to the form as you need to keep a copy anyway. It also must be completed in black ink. If you have a query you on a question you can phone HM Revenue and Customs up.

ashli_2

Thanks for that link Olly. I have just checked out the house I am buying and it looks like I need all of those searches :eek:

ETA: at least the area isn't contaminated with radon! :rotfl: