Taylor Wimpey's Conveyancers

mattsday

Hi there,
I'm in the process of buying a house, and Taylor Wimpey offered me an offer 'too good to be true'. In other words, if I agree to use their recommended solicitors, they'll knock £650 off the fee (doing it for a total of £300).

Whilst this sounds quite tempting, I can't help but feel there's a catch to it - specifically that the solicitor probably won't be working in my interest as I won't be their client.

Does anyone have any stories either way about this process and what they'd recommend?

HildaM

We used a Barrett recommended solicitor and mortgage broker, but we got 5% towards our deposit (which came to £14,500) and £1000 towards our legal fees. So I don't think you're being offered enough of an incentive, TBH.

As for the impartiality - I just trusted that they WOULD be working in our interest (probably naïve) because that's what their code of ethics says they should (DEFINITELY naïve) but also because they leave themselves open to suing if they don't.

In fairness, our solicitor did point out what she considered to be some unfair points in the contract, saying they were heavily weighted in Barretts favour.

I think builders like you to use familiar solicitors so that things go through quickly.

mattsday

Thanks for this - I'm a naturally suspicious person! I got them to throw in tiled floors, turf, tiled bathrooms, better oven and an additional voucher for £2k of whatever I want (can't really think of much more beyond that, but I'm sure it'll disappear quickly), so I'm not sure I'm being entirely unfairly treated...

I'll look in to it - thanks!

MikeP79

They tend to recommend Solicitors who they have found to be quick. They will want everything to progress to exchange asap.

The issue you face is if things do go badly will the solicitor want to upset Taylor Wimpey. I think sadly this is true of allot of the solicitors though, they all want to impress developers & get on their list.

Just try to find some reviews or recommendations if possible.

Good luck with purchase.

G_M

Personally I would pay extra and NOT use a solicitor connected to/recommended by, or in any way associated with, the seller.

But this is a moneysaving website, so you must make your own choice....

ging84

I have gone with the taylor wimpey recommended local solicitors
they were reasonably priced and i expect on a standard sale with no issues they would be among the most efficient due to regularly dealing with them. However mine has proved not to be straight forward and i am having difficulty getting them to look into an issue.

mattsday

ging84 wrote: »

I have gone with the taylor wimpey recommended local solicitors
they were reasonably priced and i expect on a standard sale with no issues they would be among the most efficient due to regularly dealing with them. However mine has proved not to be straight forward and i am having difficulty getting them to look into an issue.

What issue is it you're having? Would be very interested to know more.

Although this is a money saving site, I suspect if the conveyancers fail to notice things or aren't very good, it could easily end up costing me more...

ging84

it was an issue over the planning permission for the property
their attitude was that it's a big developer that know what they are doing it is probably me not understanding . I gave them a detailed report this morning and they are now following up on it again and were very apologetic.

G_M

/\ /\ This is the danger.

Because of their connection to the Developer, they will be loathe/reluctant to raise issues like this on your behalf.

after all, they get a lot of business from this Developer. If they cause difficulties with the Developer, that cosy (and lucrative) connection might be lost.

So they will only doso on your behalf if

a) you are on-the-ball enough to spot an issue yourself AND
b) pushy enough to make them do their job