Do I need a solicitor ?

AnotherJoe

As the saying goes, using a solicitor can be expensive, not using one, even more so.

On a matter of practicality and this comes up here occasionally, your buyers solicitor is likely to refuse to work with a non qualified person/company on the other end as that may open them up to all sorts of liabilities. How would you do money laundering checks? How would you handle the deposit money? Deal with the lenders? Know what to do on their forms? Safely manage the cash?

As a buyer I wouldnt want my deposit money going to some chancer who thought they'd have a stab at selling a house themselves and any solicitor worth their money would warn against that as well. It wouldalso make me think twice about what other aspects of home maintenance you had skimped on. Did you install the gas system yourself, etc?

greatcrested

Have to take issue AnotherJoe, though I too am not convinced OP should do this, but

AnotherJoe said:

As the saying goes, using a solicitor can be expensive, not using one, even more so. providing OP receives the sale proceeds there's not much that can 'be expensive'.

On a matter of practicality and this comes up here occasionally, your buyers solicitor is likely to refuse to work with a non qualified person/company on the other end as that may open them up to all sorts of liabilities.

and provided the buyer's solicitor does his due diligence to ensure good title (just as he normally would) what liabilities does he become open to?

How would you do money laundering checks?

OP is selling. Buyer's solicitor will have done these before Completion.

How would you handle the deposit money?

simultaneous Exchange/Completion - so no deposit.

Deal with the lenders?

OP has said he can clear the mortgage before the sale. That is straightforward. Charge is removed so Title transfer on Completion is simple. No 'undertaking' needed.

Know what to do on their forms?

Which forms? Lenders? Paying off the mortgage in advance is straightforward.

Safely manage the cash?

?? Put it into NS&I?

As a buyer I wouldnt want my deposit money going to some chancer who thought they'd have a stab at selling a house themselves

As above - no deposit.

and any solicitor worth their money would warn against that as well. Likewise.

It would also make me think twice about what other aspects of home maintenance you had skimped on. Did you install the gas system yourself, etc?

???? What? Where does that come from? What's the connection between conveyancing and home maintenance? Might as well say that you noticed I did my own car maintenance so my gas system must be suspect....

But I'm biased - I've done my own conveyancing several times though admitedly some time ago now.

teachfast

The fact that someone who qualified donkeys years ago and joined the regulatory authority then undertakes absolutely no training or checks on competence and still stay in it and practising is what is truly unfathomable. 

And it's the reason they treat their clients with snooty disdain. Untouchable. 

bellabella

Thank you all for your input I will probably use a solicitor as has been explained that i have never sold a house and have no real idea of what i am doing but then i didn't when i had to do probate for my mothers estate and managed that ok . Is it usually a fixed fee or should i ask for one ?
.As i explained we were badly burned by a local solicitors firm so i will ask about to see who others recommend . I will be paying off my final mortgage today and can promise  you that that we didn't do any gas work ourselves  so it should all be safe thanks for all your help and advice glad to know that we weren't the only ones ones who have issues with solicitors a body that is supposed to be trustworthy and turns out that is not the case .

Thrugelmir

bellabella said:

 glad to know that we weren't the only ones ones who have issues with solicitors a body that is supposed to be trustworthy and turns out that is not the case .

People are people. There are bad apples in every walk of life. 

teachfast

Thrugelmir said:

bellabella said:

 glad to know that we weren't the only ones ones who have issues with solicitors a body that is supposed to be trustworthy and turns out that is not the case .

People are people. There are bad apples in every walk of life. 

But they are disproportionately represented within the conveyancing solicitor profession. 

Grabs39

bellabella said:

. Is it usually a fixed fee or should i ask for one ?
.As i explained we were badly burned by a local solicitors firm so i will ask about to see who others recommend .

You can normally get a quote on a solicitor's website; the price you are quoted will probably be what you pay unless anything unusual crops up.
Personal recommendations will be best (and never, a "recommendation" from an estate agent).

pbartlett

look for a book (ebay?) called the conveyancing fraud by joseph michael. That will tell you how to do it.

AnotherJoe

greatcrested said:

Have to take issue AnotherJoe, though I too am not convinced OP should do this, but

AnotherJoe said:

As the saying goes, using a solicitor can be expensive, not using one, even more so. providing OP receives the sale proceeds there's not much that can 'be expensive'.

On a matter of practicality and this comes up here occasionally, your buyers solicitor is likely to refuse to work with a non qualified person/company on the other end as that may open them up to all sorts of liabilities.

and provided the buyer's solicitor does his due diligence to ensure good title (just as he normally would) what liabilities does he become open to?

How would you do money laundering checks?

OP is selling. Buyer's solicitor will have done these before Completion.

How would you handle the deposit money?

simultaneous Exchange/Completion - so no deposit.

Deal with the lenders?

OP has said he can clear the mortgage before the sale. That is straightforward. Charge is removed so Title transfer on Completion is simple. No 'undertaking' needed.

Know what to do on their forms?

Which forms? Lenders? Paying off the mortgage in advance is straightforward.

Safely manage the cash?

?? Put it into NS&I?

As a buyer I wouldnt want my deposit money going to some chancer who thought they'd have a stab at selling a house themselves

As above - no deposit.

and any solicitor worth their money would warn against that as well. Likewise.

It would also make me think twice about what other aspects of home maintenance you had skimped on. Did you install the gas system yourself, etc?

???? What? Where does that come from? What's the connection between conveyancing and home maintenance? Might as well say that you noticed I did my own car maintenance so my gas system must be suspect....

But I'm biased - I've done my own conveyancing several times though admitedly some time ago now.

re mortgage / dealing with lenders, i wasn't considering OP but the people buying his place. The OP would, I suspect,  need to fill in forms for the lender on their house.

Simultaneous exchange / completion isn't actually simultaneous. Money still flows through just with a delay of a few hours. When i was buying a place for cash the bank held up one of my transactions for just under a day and another for 3 or 4 hours (I was transferring aprox £100k a time to the solicitor). I dont think they would normally do that to a known solicitors account. But in the OPs case it would be their own bank account. They might even breach daily limits.

Thrugelmir

teachfast said:

Thrugelmir said:

bellabella said:

 glad to know that we weren't the only ones ones who have issues with solicitors a body that is supposed to be trustworthy and turns out that is not the case .

People are people. There are bad apples in every walk of life. 

But they are disproportionately represented within the conveyancing solicitor profession. 

Far more crooked accountants and company directors to name just a couple.