Instructing a solicitor - house purchase

welshwizard1927

My fianc!e and I had an offer accepted on a property last week. We have submitted the formal mortgage application on Saturday, and mindful of the bank holiday weekend, we don't anticipate any progress this week. It's a 95% LTV, so we're not anticipating an easy ride.

At what stage should I instruct solicitors? We have a firm in mind and have obtained a quote from them but don't want to hand over any cash until we know the mortgage application is going smoothly.

ValHaller

You need to instruct solicitors fairly quickly, otherwise your vendor will become twitchy - it looks like it could be a long time till your lender will do the survey, which is the other comfort item for the vendor. You risk your vendor issuing ultimatums and putting the property back on the market if there is no visible sign that you are getting on with things.

You have no realistic alternative but to instruct a solicitor and hand some money over, but you could instruct them in writing, to incur no expense until the mortgage offer comes through.

monty-doggy

Who is organising the survey? If its the lender, you could wait until after survey. You cold ask your solicitor if they do an insurance against it falling through, usually £50 ish but if the sale doesn't go ahead you won't lose any cash other than the £50.

TDPIX

Who's your mortgage lender? Are they known to move quickly (on a typical case)? If so, you could wait until receiving the mortgage offer - especially if you feel that could be the main issue you'll have.

We did it straight away though, since I think we'd only have lost a max of £150 on solicitor fees if the mortgage offer etc fell through.

welshwizard1927

Lender (Principality) organising survey. We've had the AIP and the application was submitted online which said that it had passed credit checks and was 'accepted'. The broker said that was a good sign but I'm reluctant to relax until I get the offer!

A good thing is that the broker was recommended via the estate agents (a unique situation because lender and estate agents are technically same company), so I'm not too worried about seller panicking about lack of progress. They haven't found anywhere yet anyway.

kingstreet

Instruct a solicitor. Ask them to open a file. Pay search fees when ready to proceed.

If vendor has not yet found onward purchase, do not spend money on mortgage fees. Delay application until chain formed up.

welshwizard1927

Thanks. I don't think the chain will be a massive issue - they're desperate to leave as the seller has lost his job and have confirmed that they'll stay with relatives if they haven't found anything by the time were ready.

Of course...that's easier said than done so will see...