First Time Buyer - Instructing Solicitor

hufc2002

Hi


I am hoping to you can answer a question for a friend - I should know the answer seeing as though I have just moved myself.


She has recently had an offer accepted on a property and the mortgage application is in. Searches had recently been done on the property which I understand she has purchased to save time.


Should she be instructing a solicitor at this stage? I know they want £500 up front and I think she is just concerned if the mortgage application is unsuccessful.


Thanks

Squirtle17

Mortgage applications can take a few weeks to sort for first time buyers, so she is wasting a bit of time not instructing a solicitor until after it's received. The seller may also get a little antsy if a solicitor is not instructed in good time.

Ultimately it's just weighing up the potential lost money against the delay. Is there any reason your friend expects her application to not be successful?

hufc2002

No, I don't think she expects it to be unsuccessful I just think money is tight and she doesn't want to potentially lose £500 if the mortgage is declined and the seller pulls out.

kingstreet

Instruct the solicitor. Presumably the solicitor details are on the mortgage application, so the solicitor may get the offer and not know anything about it...?

Ask them to open the file and do nothing until she confirms. They will at least be able to receive the draft contract from the vendor's solicitor, assuming she has given the details to the selling agent so a Memorandum Of Sale can be issued...?

Don't pay the deposit for the search fees until then.

davidmcn

hufc2002 wrote: »

Searches had recently been done on the property which I understand she has purchased to save time.

Should she be instructing a solicitor at this stage? I know they want £500 up front and I think she is just concerned if the mortgage application is unsuccessful.

If she's already purchased the searches then she's already spending money, surely? Unless she's particularly concerned about being refused a mortgage then I would just get on with it - she's going to have to take risks at some point.

hazyjo

I've only ever paid money to solicitors for searches - so make sure they're not being done twice!

Squirtle17

hufc2002 wrote: »

No, I don't think she expects it to be unsuccessful I just think money is tight and she doesn't want to potentially lose £500 if the mortgage is declined and the seller pulls out.

I understand, my point was that if there is no likely reason for the mortgage to be declined then the risk of losing the money is lower.

SmashedAvacado

If the lawer has to start doing work, then they will expect to be paid. if they are asking for part of their fee up front it is to ensure that your friend applies their mind to the fact that solicitors do not work on a conditional basis when it comes to property, and you have to pay something whether the deal goes through or not. If you don't pay it, they probably wont do any work or they will do work, but will require you to confirm that you will pay in any event.

So your friend needs to decide whether she wants them to start work.

Sanne

I’m a bit confused as we had to provide the solicitor’s name on the mortgage application and for the sales memorandum to be issued.

We instructed ours after the offer was accepted and paid £350 at that stage - we asked that she doesn’t do any searches until the chain has formed as the seller hadn’t had anywhere to buy yet.
As it happened we then pulled out of that purchase and instructed the solicitor to start working on the new purchase (no extra cost as she hadn’t done anything yet). This time time is of essence as an entire chain is waiting for us (they were three days before exchange when the previous buyer pulled out) so we’ve taken the risk and asked her to progress things, incl buying searches from the previous buyer, as quickly as possible and in parallel to our mortgage application.

There is always a risk - the seller could pull out any time before exchange, just one of those things; delaying it may actually raise suspicions as, assuming the seller has somewhere, I’d expect all parties to get going with the legal side.

datlex

You need to be careful about putting solicitors details on a mortgage application before actually engaging them. I had to change solicitor because the one I originally selected was already, unknown to me, acting for the vendor.