House sale funds to be kept in solicitor's Client account or my own bank account?

CreativeThinking

I'm in the process of selling my house and also looking for a new house to buy to live in.

It'll be a sale & purchase.

I am continuously looking for new properties during the process, but if the sale is completed before I find a new house, I will obviously need to rent out and continue my search from there.

Once the sale of my house is completed, I will obviously receive the funds (over £200,000).

So the question is - should I let my solicitor keep the funds in their companie's Client account or should I have the funds transferred into my own bank account?

Do remember that the funds will need to be inactive until I find a new house, which could take some time indeed. After some searching on the internet and reading some horror stories of what could happen with huge sums of money in solicitor accounts, it is the reason why I am wary keeping the funds with my solicitor.

Any help will be most appreciated, thanks in advance.

Annie1960

Why are you even thinking of letting the solicitor keep your funds after completion?

Just remember that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme guarantees up to £85,000 in any one institution (and some institutions that appear to be separate are covered by the same licence) so make sure you check that you do not put more than £85,000 in any one place.

CreativeThinking

Annie1960 wrote: »

Why are you even thinking of letting the solicitor keep your funds after completion?

Well I was thinking of it because it is a sale & purchase process. But now you mention it, you have a point and have made my mind up. My mind isn't what it once was.

Sorry I am a bit inexperienced in all this, I've lived at my property all my life and have never went through a conveyancing process before.

Annie1960

If you leave it with the solicitor, you will not get any interest. Even at current low interest levels, it is worth your while to get interest on such a large sum.

bouicca21

I'm in a similar position but the gap between sale and purchase is likely to be only a week or possibly two. Plus I will have to add some money to the pot. So potentially there are fees for transfers to take into account, which will more than offset any gain from interest.

How safe is it to leave money in the solicitors' account.?

CreativeThinking

Annie1960 wrote: »

If you leave it with the solicitor, you will not get any interest. Even at current low interest levels, it is worth your while to get interest on such a large sum.

Thanks.

Would you recommend that I open up a new bank account just for this purpose? Because I read somewhere that said something about doing it this way by getting the solicitor to open up a new account in your name just for this purpose?

Or would a simple deposit of the funds into one of my existing bank accounts be the best way to go?

davidmcn

bouicca21 wrote: »

How safe is it to leave money in the solicitors' account.?

Very. The funds are fully protected, you may as well worry about what happens to your bank. For the sake of a week or two it's not worthwhile shifting the money around.

Annie1960

bouicca21 wrote: »

I'm in a similar position but the gap between sale and purchase is likely to be only a week or possibly two. Plus I will have to add some money to the pot. So potentially there are fees for transfers to take into account, which will more than offset any gain from interest.

How safe is it to leave money in the solicitors' account.?

Personally, I would ask the solicitor about this. I would be willing to consider leaving it with them for a week or two, but not long-term.

davidmcn

Annie1960 wrote: »

Personally, I would ask the solicitor about this. I would be willing to consider leaving it with them for a week or two, but not long-term.

And the solicitors would prefer to send out the money and close the file anyway - I think their accounts rules prohibit them using their client account as a bank i.e. any funds have to be related to an actual piece of work rather than a hypothetical future purchase.

G_M

* You will get no interest from the solicitor's client account.

* solicitor's client account is safe

* Put the money in an interest earning account in your name (shop aound for rates or look at the 'savings/investments' forum

* don't put more than £85K in any one bank (unless you have a joint account)

TBagpuss

The solicitors may well not be willing to hold the money unless you have a linked purchase.

Unless the dealy between sale and purchase completing is very short (a couple of weeks) then hold the money yourself. You are more likely to be able to get some interest on it, and the solicitors will be able to close their file and move on.