Developer offered £500 discount to use their choice of solicitors?

buel10

Hello.
My wife and I are looking at applying for a mortgage to buy a house using the H2B scheme. The developer has offered a £500 discount to use their 'preferred choice' of solicitor. However, this is not the solicitors that they use, according to the estate agents? For me, this rings alarm bells loudly....but am I being over cautious here?
Relevant info: Whilst looking at our own choices a month ago with a different developer, this particular solicitors came up as our first choice?

davidmcn

You don't want a solicitor who values their cosy relationship with the developer more than they value giving you truly independent advice. See umpteen previous threads here by people regretting using the builders' "recommended" solicitors.

buel10

davidmcn said:

You don't want a solicitor who values their cosy relationship with the developer more than they value giving you truly independent advice. See umpteen previous threads here by people regretting using the builders' "recommended" solicitors.

Thanks again for this. Another thought crossed my mind - is the fact that the developer offered this something to be mindful about?

davidmcn

buel10 said:

davidmcn said:

You don't want a solicitor who values their cosy relationship with the developer more than they value giving you truly independent advice. See umpteen previous threads here by people regretting using the builders' "recommended" solicitors.

is the fact that the developer offered this something to be mindful about?

Not sure what you mean. It's very commonplace, so hardly noteworthy.

Thrugelmir

buel10 said:

Relevant info: Whilst looking at our own choices a month ago with a different developer, this particular solicitors came up as our first choice?

If you've identified them through an alternative route then highly likely to be reputable. Business to business relationships aren't unusual. Everyone is looking to minimise costs. 

[Deleted User]

Let me tell you about my story - I totally DO NOT recommend a developer retained solicitor 

I am an investor. I put my offer in on 18th Dec and had a mortgage offer on 24th Dec !!! That quick yes. 

The seller was / is buying a new build with HTB. His developer pays his solicitor costs. That solicitor did NOTHING and I mean NOTHING until they knew he had passed the HTB checks, and in fact he already had HTB on his existing house. They were also bordering on useless - so many mistakes ! 

So we nagged and chased and nagged and chased as had expected to exchange in January as per the developer date. That came and went. Finally at the end of February once the HTB was all go, that solicitor bothered to get on with their work and quite a bit was done and then COVID 19 came along and as an investor, I made the decision to pull out. The seller lost a purchaser because he wanted to save 500 quid on his solicitors costs. I bet he is kicking himself now. House went straight back on the market.  

I spent money on that purchase.  when I eventually buy again, if I know that the sellers solicitor is on a HTB retainer, I just wont bother going fast and only when they are fully ready will I instruct and pay for things on my end 

csgohan4

you get what you pay for

unforeseen

Think of it this way. They offer you £500 to use their solicitor. Their solicitor offers the developer £1000 or more per buyer that he puts through their door.

Thrugelmir

unforeseen said:

Think of it this way. They offer you £500 to use their solicitor. Their solicitor offers the developer £1000 or more per buyer that he puts through their door.

Any evidence to support this or is it just a conspiracy theory that everyone who runs a business is a crook? 

unforeseen

Nothing crooked about what I said.
Why do you think it's crooked.?