offer accepted on property now what?

midget_1907

Hi all,

My partner and I have just had the offer accepted on our dream home We are meeting the mortgage broker Saturday to proceed our mortgage app but we are not sure when to appoint solicitors?

The estate agents have told us we need to use there solicitors Countrywide and have to pay a £1000 tomorrow so they can conduct surveys.

But our mortgage broker says we are free to go with who we want and should only be looking to pay 500 for searches.

What do we do?

quidsy

Ignore estate agents & get your own solictor.

lee111s

You do not have to go with their solicitor at all. £1000 up front for fee's is extortionate!

I bought a house for 117k last year and my solicitor fees were less than 900 in total.

Ppeak with friends and family for solicitor recommendations and give a few a call for a quote. Pick one and advise the EA that you have now instructed a solicitor to begine proceedings and provide them the details for said solicitor.

You can instruct a solicitor straight away now that you have had an offer accepted. I instructed a solicitor about 20 minutes after mine was accepted.

I assume you already have a DIP/AIP from a mortgage lender?

hesmywatermelon

You are free to choose whichever solicitor you choose. Don't let the estate agent bully/rush you into anything. I suggest you get quotes from 3 solicitors, ask around friends and family and colleagues for recommendations. By all means get one from the Countrywide people.
I think agents get commission or something for getting you to use their solicitors- I think I read on on here somewhere actually!
I'm sure if you have a bit of a search on google you will find some advice about how to choose a solicitor (although there is nothing like word of mouth recommendations! )
e.g. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/moneyandlegal_solicitorsandsurveyors.shtml
AND
http://www.home.co.uk/guides/buying/choose_solicitor.htm

midget_1907

Thanks All.

Yes we have an AIP from Santander which apparently involves a credit search so we should be good for the mortgage.

Will have a look at lunchtime for solicitors. Must admit was a bit shocked with the quote for searches but as I haven't done this before I was unsure if this was the norm.

Thanks again

JPG82

Howe are buying a house for 215000 and have been quoted £950 for solicitor fees to sell. We chose our own solicitor and got 2 quotes from local firms - as I thought if we had issues etc I could just pop in to chat with them opposed to ringing them.

hazyjo

Isn't it the council that sets the price for searches? From memory, usually around the £300 figure (could be out, but am sure I didn't pay £500).

Jx
PS My last one was £400 - but the solicitors had estimated at £350 which is nearer the norm.