Using Developer's Lenders/Financial Advisors

dannyiddo

We are trying to buy our first property and we are just a bit worried about what the normal protocol is.

We have had an offer accepted for a new build. It is a flat within a new build (converted from offices).

The Estate agents have given us a list of what is needed.

We need to give them a £1000 reservation deposit. Apparently this amount is deducted from the final price.

We must then supply all our financial details etc to their 'financial advisors, who will qualify our financial situation'.

Should we be weary of using their lenders and solicitors?

Also, my dad said to ask for a copy of the lease agreement also. Is this something we should do?!

Any help and general advice would be much appreciated.

marksoton

dannyiddo wrote: »

We are trying to buy our first property and we are just a bit worried about what the normal protocol is.

We have had an offer accepted for a new build. It is a flat within a new build (converted from offices).

The Estate agents have given us a list of what is needed.

We need to give them a £1000 reservation deposit. Apparently this amount is deducted from the final price.
Normal
We must then supply all our financial details etc to their 'financial advisors, who will qualify our financial situation'.
Be careful how you do this...
Should we be weary of using their lenders and solicitors?
Very. And don't believe them when they say it'll speed things up...
Also, my dad said to ask for a copy of the lease agreement also. Is this something we should do?!
Absolutely. But it's normally something your independent legal representation will scrutinise.
Any help and general advice would be much appreciated.

See above in red.

AdrianC

I wouldn't ever use the developer's solicitors. I have previously used an EA-recommended solicitor, but that was in more innocent times, and he did turn out to be absolutely excellent.

But I'd certainly talk to their FA, in addition to other sources, and - if the numbers worked - I'd use them.

dannyiddo

They say we get a £1000 discount for using their FA/solictiors. This is what raised some alarm bells to me.

So we could start the process in the way they are suggesting but then find a different FA/solicitor to check things over?

AdrianC

dannyiddo wrote: »

They say we get a £1000 discount for using their FA/solictiors. This is what raised some alarm bells to me.

And quite right, too!

Separate the FA and the solicitor in your mind.

The FA's job is only to find you a mortgage offer. You can work the numbers on that, to see if what they're offering is a good deal, and you can find offers through other sources, too.

The solicitor is a one-and-one-only. He's also the person whose job is to make sure you're getting what you think you're getting, and you're not getting tucked up with a fast one from the vendor. For that job, you want somebody who is 100% on YOUR side, not kicking-back to the vendor so handsomely that they'll bung some of the kick-back back to you...

dannyiddo

Thanks, I was definitely confusing the solicitor and the FA. Makes sense now.

I guess we will tell them we will be using our own solicitor and do not want the £1000 discount.

Makes me worry there is going to be something amiss with the property.

dannyiddo

Hi all. Still a bit stuck/trapped with this. Met the EA last week and completed the forms to reserve the property. We gave them £1000 reservation fee.

I asked questions about the process and they kept saying that the developers had arranged:

-FInancial advisor/broker, who will search entire market and come back to us with mortgage offers
-Solictior for the developer/seller
-Different solicitor to be used by any buyers

They insisted the solicitor is only working for us and in our interests. They said we will receive a £1000 discount for using 'their team'.

They say the reason for the discount is that is makes things easier all round, and that the solicitors have less work to do because their are 50 flats on the site, and so the process is easier for them to replicate on a larger scale.

Do we just ignore their team, and attempt to go via our own mortgage brokers and ditch their solicitor??

They all seem very genuine, and the EA keeps insisting this is all standard practice on a block of new builds, and we should have no cause for concern. She hinted that we would be mad to look elsewhere and use our own team and lose said discount!

marksoton

dannyiddo wrote: »

Hi all. Still a bit stuck/trapped with this. Met the EA last week and completed the forms to reserve the property. We gave them £1000 reservation fee.

I asked questions about the process and they kept saying that the developers had arranged:

-FInancial advisor/broker, who will search entire market and come back to us with mortgage offers
-Solictior for the developer/seller
-Different solicitor to be used by any buyers

They insisted the solicitor is only working for us and in our interests. They said we will receive a £1000 discount for using 'their team'.

They say the reason for the discount is that is makes things easier all round, and that the solicitors have less work to do because their are 50 flats on the site, and so the process is easier for them to replicate on a larger scale.

Do we just ignore their team, and attempt to go via our own mortgage brokers and ditch their solicitor??

They all seem very genuine, and the EA keeps insisting this is all standard practice on a block of new builds, and we should have no cause for concern. She hinted that we would be mad to look elsewhere and use our own team and lose said discount!

:doh:

So they've said exactly what i said they would.

HouseBuyer77

and that the solicitors have less work to do because their are 50 flats on the site, and so the process is easier for them to replicate on a larger scale.

So basically they've got a team of paralegals and one solicitor rushing through the paperwork as fast as possible. Any unusual terms or conditions in the contract may not be pointed out (or indeed any terms that are usual but may surprise you as an FTB with no legal experience) and you're not going to have your own legal professional advising you through the process that's entirely working for you.

dannyiddo

OK. We need to cancel their solicitor and use our own then?

That is the advice of this site, and I appreciate that, but there is lots of conflicting information on the internet regarding this. It is sad to think that there are solicitors out there who might not be working for a client, as promised! Surely that should be illegal in itself!

lee111s

Get your own solicitor who you know will be working with your interest at the front of their mind.

It might not save you £1000 but it could save you a hell of a lot of issues in the futuree.