When to instruct solicitors

TBagpuss

As others have said, you should have instructed them already. You can ask them not to send off the searches until you have your mortgage offer but if you do that, do check with them how long the searches are likely to take as this could cause delay.

Help1234

Thanks everyone, I have my solicitors sorted I just haven't yet signed paperwork but I know who they are and so does the broker and estate agent.

The reason I am cautious is because I am a PhD student on a stipend. Although my partner is in full-time permanent employment, we need a lender to count at least some of my income to be able to afford the property. Our broker was assuring us that the lender we have gone to will count my salary but I am still wary.

The valuation was last week so the vendor will have seen there is activity and she actually only had her offer accepted on the house she is buying on Friday, so we had held off sorting out the solicitors anyway until she had found a place.

G_M

The other risk is that you pay out for your mortgage application, and valuation/survey, only to find later on tere is some legal issue that means the purchase falls through, and your survey fees etc are wasted.........

There are so many 'what ifs....' that the best advice is just to get on with everything and not f*nny around.

Help1234

Our mortgage application and valuation was free. If this house falls through we can transfer within 6 months to a new property

chappers

G_M wrote: »

The other risk is that you pay out for your mortgage application, and valuation/survey, only to find later on tere is some legal issue that means the purchase falls through, and your survey fees etc are wasted.........

There are so many 'what ifs....' that the best advice is just to get on with everything and not f*nny around.

this^^^^
If you want everything to happen in a timely fashion
If you cant afford a couple of hundred quid for searches etc, then maybe home ownership isn't for you.

Surrey_EA

ACG wrote: »

It is not delaying anything at all, it is the normal process. Why would you spend money on the second part of the application process before the first part has been signed off?

How on earth is it not delaying the process if you don't instruct solicitors until you have your mortgage offer?

I'm afraid you and I have a different view of what the normal process is. I would not consider it at all normal for a buyer to wait until they have their mortgage offer before instructing a solicitor.

An application for mortgage finance, and a solicitor beginning searches and investigations in to the title of a property are two parts of the purchase process, and it is entirely normal for them to occur simultaneously.

ACG

Surrey_EA wrote: »

How on earth is it not delaying the process if you don't instruct solicitors until you have your mortgage offer?

I'm afraid you and I have a different view of what the normal process is. I would not consider it at all normal for a buyer to wait until they have their mortgage offer before instructing a solicitor.

An application for mortgage finance, and a solicitor beginning searches and investigations in to the title of a property are two parts of the purchase process, and it is entirely normal for them to occur simultaneously.

You are looking at it from a different viewpoint. I see it as speeding up the process if you instruct the solicitors before the offer is issued where as you see it as delaying by not doing it straight away.

What happens if the valuation/survey comes back with dry rot, high damp readings or some other work doing? What happens if negotiations break down? The buyer has lost hundreds of pounds.

Surrey_EA

ACG wrote: »

You are looking at it from a different viewpoint. I see it as speeding up the process if you instruct the solicitors before the offer is issued where as you see it as delaying by not doing it straight away.

In your earlier post (#6) your advice was to instruct solicitors not to do any work until the mortgage offer was issued. Whichever viewpoint you have this approach will likely delay the process. We both know that it's not unusual for a mortgage offer to take 3 -4 weeks, some may be a little quicker, others may take a little longer.

ACG wrote: »

What happens if the valuation/survey comes back with dry rot, high damp readings or some other work doing? What happens if negotiations break down? The buyer has lost hundreds of pounds.

Most valuation reports take about 15 - 20minutes, and rarely go in to much greater detail than to confirm the property exists. Desktop valuations where no visit to the property takes place are beginning to become common once again.

There is always the risk of losing hundreds of pounds during the process of buying a property, it is not possible to entirely eliminate that risk.

ACG

I have not changed what I have said about post 6. I advise my customers not to instruct searches until we know the Mortgage offer is sorted.

Mortgage offers typically are offered within 2 weeks, assuming no delay with the surveyor in my experience. If a vendor can not wait 2 weeks for possibly the biggest transaction of their life, they are being a little unfair on the buyers I think.

Why should the buyer throw good money after a property they have no idea whether it will value up ok or not or whether any issues will get picked up. I have not had many down valuations up here, 2 this year, but I have had a couple of retentions.