Buying and Selling with different solicitors

Sarahsol

Hi everyone.
I am hoping someone might be able to help me out....Is it possible to use different conveyancing solicitors for the sale of our current house and purchase of a new house? If so, what are the downsides?

We were proceeding with the simultaneous sale of our current house and purchase of a new one when the searches uncovered an issue with the new house and we decided to pull out. We understand that the solicitors had already done most of the 'conveyancing' for our sale. We have found a new house to buy but unfortunately the vendors have the same solicitors as us. Our mortgage co. won't the allow us to proceed with both parties using the same firm. Assuming the vendors can't /won't change solicitors are we better to move the whole thing to a new firm (and waste the work and money already incurred from our sale) or use a different solicitor just for the purchase?

Thanks!

Lucky_Duck_2

I used different solicitors dealing with the sale of my old house and the purchase of my new one, apart from having to talk to two different sets of people I don't recall any particular issues

G_M

The downside is there is additional liaison involved particularly over coordinating simultaneous exchange dates and agreement on Completion dates.

But any decent solicitor should be able to handle that provided they are well briefed ("do not exchange on my sale until you've checked with my purchasing solicitor").

There's also an extra step in finance which can delay Completion.
* One solicitor hangs around waiting for your buyer to send funds
* once funds are sent, and received, and the solicitor has noticed they've arrived (!), then
* he has to send it to your other solicitor
* who hangs around waiting, and has to notice when it arives, and finally
* pass it to your seller's solicitor

You, meantime, are pulling your hair out anxiously trying to find out how far the funds have got, and chasing the next transfer......

Having said that, if one solicitor has already done 75% of the work, then changing solicitor will result in duplication (new one will check (repeat?) everything) and extra cost.

your choice.

Or get your seller to change. Perhaps explaining the potential for delays on Completion day might convince them.........

davidmcn

There's still a (less direct) potential conflict of interest if your vendor's solicitor is your selling solicitor, which might be an additional reason for shifting your sale to the other solicitor.

PasturesNew

As this isn't something you're choosing to do - ask the solicitors who they recommend as they'll have "their mates" that they know/trust and work with on lots of stuff.... which will make it more seamless.

If you just pick one that they've never worked with, or actually quietly dislike, it'd do you no favours.

Not your choice, not your rules, so you can be entirely open/free with the solicitors to ask who to use.

Sarahsol

Hi everyone.
Thanks so much for your comments and feedback! All really useful points and have given us much more insight and plenty to think about!

Previous to this, I have never posted on a forum and I have been so pleasantly surprised thar you have taken the time to pass on your expertise and experiences to a total stranger ....thank you :-)

G_M

Sarahsol wrote: »

Hi everyone.
Thanks so much for your comments and feedback! All really useful points and have given us much more insight and plenty to think about!

Let us know what you decide, and how it all turns out.

It's always nice to see how things resolve, and it's also useful for others who might face similar situations.

Sarahsol

Well, we made the decision that if the vendors of our new house wouldn't move solicitors, we would but just for the buying bit....we were going to ask the current solicitors to reccomend another firm. (Thanks PN!)

But then the sellers agreed to move so we could stay put with the current firm for all :-)

....but then the buyers of our place pulled out :-(
so as and when we find new buyers we'll have to start the 'selling' bit of conveyancing all over again.

I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end!!

Thanks again!
S&S