2 solicitors for sale and purchase

mbugsy18

Looking for advice. I am selling through Yopa and went with there pay later option which I am bound to use their conveyancers for the sale. I have paid £480 up front fee and will be penalised if I don’t use them for the sale (£300). The EA of the property I am buying has referred me to their solicitors for both sale and purchase as they can follow up on how the legal side of things are progressing.
The fees are similar but so as not to lose out on the upfront fee and pay a penalty I was thinking of using the Yopa solicitor for the sale as we have done all the checks already. Would there be a fee for transferring the file to the new solicitors? Is there a downside to using 2 solicitors? There is no chain on my purchase and my buyer doesn’t have a house to sell. I will have to pay 2x £500 to the new solicitors if they handle both sale and purchase.

Any advice gratefully received. 

ukri

“The EA of the property I am buying has referred me to their solicitors for both sale and purchase as they can follow up on how the legal side of things are progressing.”

Haha, this is grade 1 Estate Agent BS. You’re far better off choosing your own representation unconnected to the EA, it won’t make a blind bit of difference to the progress.

davidmcn

mbugsy18 said:

as they can follow up on how the legal side of things are progressing.

Do you think they're incapable of phoning other solicitors?

Apart from the solicitors having too cosy a relationship with your vendor's side, the other downsides of using separate solicitors are that they won't have as good an idea of what's going on with the other side of your move, as well as potential delays on the completion day if funds have to pass between your solicitors. 

steampowered

The EA is probably only recommending "their solicitors" to get the referral fee. The industry standard referral fee is about £250 - £350.

Mind you, Yopa's conveyancers will also be paying out a hefty referral fee to Yopa, so you could get rubbish service with either option. Make sure you check the reviews before proceeding.

Personally I would appoint my own independent conveyancers / solicitors based on good reviews.

AdrianC

mbugsy18 said:

Looking for advice. I am selling through Yopa and went with there pay later option which I am bound to use their conveyancers for the sale. I have paid £480 up front fee and will be penalised if I don’t use them for the sale (£300).

Which says everything about Yopa's reasons for referral... Commission. No more, no less.

The EA of the property I am buying has referred me to their solicitors for both sale and purchase as they can follow up on how the legal side of things are progressing.

It's certainly wise to use the same sol for both sale and purchase in a chain, so that you aren't playing Chinese Whispers between the two - but...

Remember the EA is the vendor's EA, not yours, not independent.
The solicitor is the only person on the purchaser's side. So why let the vendor's agent "recommend" your solicitor? Whose vested interest are closer to their heart? A one-off purchaser they'll never see again, or the source of regular referrals?

moneysavinghero

Neither use YOPA's recommended solicitor or the EA's recommended solicitor. Choose your own and choose one for both sale and purchase.

teachfast

One solicitor (or they just blame each other). That solicitor should absolutely not be referred by any stakeholder in the deal other than you. You need them working exclusively in your best interests, especially if things don't go smoothly. 

You do seem to have been fed the usual crock of bs so please just ignore it.

It's worth asking the solicitor you end up with what their Comms policy is.  Also make sure they are part of a larger and reputable organisation so when they become unreliable, incommunicative and arrogant you have a complaints procedure to follow.

mbugsy18

Hi,
Just checked the memorandum of sale and the vendors solicitors are different to the one recommended by the EA for my sale and purchase. 

davidmcn

mbugsy18 said:

Just checked the memorandum of sale and the vendors solicitors are different to the one recommended by the EA for my sale and purchase. 

It would be a pretty terrible conflict of interest if it was the same firm as acting for the vendor. But the point is that you don't want a solicitor who has a greater affiliation to the estate agent than they do to you.

mbugsy18

I understand. I have spoken with 3 local solicitors and the quotes are much higher and reviews not very good. Some may even be fake.

I am also concerned that when we were viewing the property the owner did mention that there was an offer and they were at the search stages. I asked the agent and he said they have a exclusivity agreement but it’s imperative that I move quickly with solicitors etc.
I am worried that once I start the ball rolling and then another offer is made I may be gazumped. I guess until exchange of contracts nothing is certain.