Private sale

bikebarbie

Hi there,
can anyone tell me what are the pros and cons of using the same solicitor (buyers and sellers) for a private sale of a property if any

Thanks

cattie

The same solicitor cannot be used by both vendor & buyer, so you would need to use different solicitor's working in the practice.

It isn't advisable for vendor & buyer to use the same practice. When you have your own independent solicitor you are more in control & if the other persons solicitor is dragging their heels for any reason you can get yours to chase them up.

With solicitors in the same practice they could be chummy & have a more plodding approach to the whole buying & selling process. This was my experience the one & only time I used the same firm as my vendors & I've always used an totally independent practice ever since.

cabbage

Hi

I would disagree with the last post.

Often many of the delays in buying and selling a house can be down to the transfer of documents and questions being passed from vendor to the buyer's solicitors and vice versa. At least if you use the same firm of solicitors you are saving at least 1 day every time documents are exchanged. I have seen documents going missing quite frequently or them saying they have been sent when they haven't.

You will also save time on completion day as the money will be already with the solicitors and they just need to do an internal transfer. Many many times I have seen that the money is being slowed passed along the chain and the poor buyer at the end is lucky if he can complete the same day as the others. You will also saveTelegraphic Transfer fees (if you are the buyer) as the money doesn't need to go anywhere to get to the seller's account with the solicitor.

I used to work as a legal secretary and have found that using the same firm actually speeds up the process and documents cannot get lost.

Each solicitor will work for his/her own client either the buyer or the seller. There are strict guidelines set down by the Law Society on this issue and penalties including being struck off so this ensures that nothing untoward will happen if you decide to go ahead and use just one firm.

So to sum up - Its your choice, its no riskier than using 2 separate firms of solicitors and may save you time and money. Only you can decide

cabbage

Sorry, I didn't address the "plodding" issue in the previous post from Cattie.

Many solicitors charge a set fee plus disbursements (ie stamp duty, searches etc) for buying and selling a house so if you have been quoted a set fee rather than by the hour, the solicitors will have nothing to gain by dragging out the whole process, indeed it will be more cost effective for them if they complete the sale as fast as they can.

Obviously if you have a quote which is based on a number of hours x hourly rate then that puts a whole different slant on it.

bikebarbie

thanks a lot your answers are very helpful. Regards

maryj's

Great info were going the private rout too, and asked the same sort of question. Have you found a buyer yet? We put our on with two online agents ourpropertymove.co.uk and The house website, had 4 viewings this weekend but waiting for an offer from one couple. Who did you use?