FTBs need advice

pops5588

Me and my OH have just put in an offer on a house, we have had a meeting with our mortgage broker and our offer in principle is on the way. But we need a solicitor. Do we get one now, or when a house situation is more concrete? If we need to get one now, how on earth do we even begin to go about finding a solicitor?

Apologies if we are being dim and naive, just a lot to get our heads around!

JimmyTheWig

Ideally you should be in a position to instruct a solicitor (i.e. give their name and number to the estate agent) when an offer is accepted.
In reality, a delay of a couple of days in doing this isn't a problem.

The estate agents will have someone they can recommend to you. The estate agents will get commission from the solicitor if you use them. They may choose to suggest you use the solicitor who gives them the most commission, rather than the one who does the best job. But at least it's a starting point if you have no-one else to ask.

The best way is to ask people you know (family, friends, people at work) who they have used in the past and if they were any good or not.
Alternatively it should be easy enough to find some in the area you are buying on google. You might be able to find reviews for them in this way, too.

R_P_W

Ring a few local ones and get quotes. Then pick one

lawriejones1

Ask friends and trusted colleagues for a personal recommendation...

hamster2013

no harm in having one now
DO NOT USE ONLINE CONVEYANCING..... they are horrible to deal with
my seller used one and... delayed the whole process by 1 month! because of unavailability - file being changed internally through 3 different solicitors, documents being lost and duplicates having to be provided...etc

get a solicitor that is local if you need to meet face to face for id checks - they all do it, otherwise you will need to get your passport copies authenticated (post office do that for a few quids - £6 or £12 i think something like that)

to get a quote, you will need to have a rough idea of the type of property - the year of construction, and the price
give an estimate, and you can get a quote based on that.
obviously, they will give a more detailed quote once you provide with full details including address

expect to send an advance of around £250 - that allows them to start the searches as soon as you instruct them without waiting.
usually, expect to pay around £1200 total to the solicitors including all searches. land registry ..etc .
that is what I have paid at least

it does not include the stamp duty which will depend on your purchase price.

depending on which bank you are going for with your mortgage, make sure you use the right solicitor - for example HSBC have criteria's required for the solicitor to enact on their behalf - otherwise you will end up losing time and cost more.


should take no more than 1 working day to sort out a solicitor - to provide the EA with the details and get the ball rolling

what will take long is the searches and the queries between solicitors .... expect that to take anything between 2 weeks to X months!!

start prep'ing your seller if offer is accepted with all the potential queries, i.e : is there double glazing - if yes, do they have certificate - if not, order it off fensa right now.
did they get a boiler installed? if yes, do they have building reg for it - if not, inform that they will need to draw out a policy that will cost anything between 100-300
order the land registry documents online - costs £3, and see if there is any covenants there - if yes, start to inform your seller your solicitor will need to see those to guide you and the bank better...
any extensions done, if yes, get the completion certificates ready at hand.... etc


these are typically the delays that were caused for my purchase, where the sellers solicitor took sometimes 1 week to get back with simple query answers.

pops5588

Smashing stuff, thank you everyone.

Mind you put the offer in two days ago and haven't heard anything so no one seems to be in a particular hurry....