Conveyancing with Help to Buy

MercilessKiller

Hi There

After putting down the reservation for a new build property using the Help to Buy equity loan, Barratt have strongly recommended using one of 2 solicitors who know their contracts quite well thus will make sure things can be done within the 28 day reservation period.

They both cost around £1,400 all in.... Which seems expensive as I'm aware other people have completed with legal fees of sub £1,000!

I've used a quote service and the best 2 options showed £800 for the basic price, but about £1,600 all in, mainly due to extra fees for help to buy.

While Help to Buy is a great scheme, it feels like other private companies are trying to rip us off for simply using it.

Does anyone have any recommendations or advice? Comparison services are junk as they don't include all the required extras... Very deceiving.

stator

It's true that Help To Buy New Build does involve extra work for the conveyencing, so there is a reason for the extra charges.

I would pick a local solicitor firm who have experience of Help To Buy New Build. Hopefully you could get quotes lower than £1400 but they will probably all be above £1000

If you changed your mind and went for Help To Buy on non-new-build properties, there would be no extra paperwork or costs, it's a simpler scheme.

ACG

Dont use a cheap and cheerful solicitor. I have recently done a new build for a client of mine:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5099075

Im not saying any other solicitor would not have done the same, but having a good solicitor on board can be worth their weight in gold if things do go pear shaped.

Find a good firm, whether that be the developers, your brokers, your own - whoever. Saving £200 here could cost you a lot of time and aggro down the line. Although personally I would probably avoid the developers solicitors.

kingstreet

Buying any newbuild sees the addition of engrossment charges. In addition, effectively there's two mortgages to administer as HTB is a second charge over the property.

Have you asked the other solicitors who quoted to quote on the basis of a newbuild on HTB too, so the comparison is accurate?

kingstreet

ACG wrote: »

Find a good firm, whether that be the developers, your brokers, your own - whoever. Saving £200 here could cost you a lot of time and aggro down the line. Although personally I would probably avoid the developers solicitors.

In our experience, developers give a list of solicitors experienced in their site and HTB. These are not the developer's solicitors, just a preferred panel, if you like.

I can't speak for others, but our builders give £500/£1,000 towards legal fees for using the preferred firms, often resulting in the costs being lower.

MercilessKiller

Funnily enough the recommended solicitors have come in cheaper than the comparison site ones at the £1,400ish cost - They've dealt with properties in the same complex in the past.

Based on the advice that saving £200 could cost a lot more later down the line, I might just go-ahead with them anyway...!

Thanks for the advice people Exciting times. I'm sure I'll be posting with more "how can I get this charge down" things later - Like bloody carpets!!!