Solicitor asking £400 upfront

sill

Haven’t sold a property for years.I have found a cash buyer who wants to,purchase my property my solicitor is asking me for £400 upfront for”As we must now purchase updated searches and property certificates to give to your purchaser please forward a cheque for £400 to set against this outlay.These searches will only remain valid for a period of 3 months and must be replaced in full at that time if the transaction has not completed but it’s noted that you intend to try and conclude sale within this time”
I’ve never came across this before,is it a new thing?This is a cash sale and I’m not buying as am moving into my dads  to help look after my mother and I have the deeds to my property which I gave to solicitor .
TIA Sill

davidmcn

Will help to tell us which country you're selling in, as this is the sort of thing which varies between the nations (I see you've also posted on the N Ireland board, so I presume that's where the property is - I don't know the answer for there though). 

m0bov

Why are you paying for your buyer’s searches?

davidmcn

m0bov said:

Why are you paying for your buyer’s searches?

What's normal practice in N Ireland? In Scotland, the seller gets the searches. 

In any event, assuming the solicitor does have any outlays prior to completion, it's not unreasonable for them to request funds upfront rather than offer credit to their clients. 

Falafels

I was asked for £300 up front when I was selling a property (no associated purchase) this year. No problem. It was deducted from the overall bill on completion.

sill

Falafels said:

I was asked for £300 up front when I was selling a property (no associated purchase) this year. No problem. It was deducted from the overall bill on completion.

Thanks glad to know I’m not the only one.Have sold 7 houses,but this was a first for me lol

Falafels

sill said:

Falafels said:

I was asked for £300 up front when I was selling a property (no associated purchase) this year. No problem. It was deducted from the overall bill on completion.

Thanks glad to know I’m not the only one.Have sold 7 houses,but this was a first for me lol

Yes... I'd owned my property for 25 years, and the whole buying/selling/enquiries business was in a different universe to when I bought it!

youth_leader

I paid my solicitor £370 in advance for my sale, and it was deducted from my final bill.  I'm now purchasing and have again paid £370 in advance.  

sill

Falafels said:

sill said:

Falafels said:

I was asked for £300 up front when I was selling a property (no associated purchase) this year. No problem. It was deducted from the overall bill on completion.

Thanks glad to know I’m not the only one.Have sold 7 houses,but this was a first for me lol

Yes... I'd owned my property for 25 years, and the whole buying/selling/enquiries business was in a different universe to when I bought it!

Last sale /purchase was 14 years ago for me.Glad I can put the purchase of another property on the back burner for a wee while😬

sill

youth_leader said:

I paid my solicitor £370 in advance for my sale, and it was deducted from my final bill.  I'm now purchasing and have again paid £370 in advance.  

Thanks for taking the time to comment really appreciate it.😊

AskAsk

if you have to pay for searches then doesn't sound unreasonable.