Buyers solicitor not on panel

lm1981

We are close to moving house, all searches and legal paper work has been done so we were starting to discuss dates etc

the buyers solicitor has been in touch with our one to say they are not the solicitors of the lender. I have read about separate representation….what exactly is likely to happen now?

Slithery

Your buyer will have to double-up on their solicitors fees to also pay for one that is on their lenders panel. This solicitor will need to redo most of the work that their current solicitor has already completed.

lm1981

That’s interesting, so the work gets done twice. Makes you wonder why anyone would go with a firm not on the panel then.

Herbalus

It’s less of a “redo” and more of a check of all work that has been done to see firstly if there is anything missing/substandard and secondly whether the lender has anything extra in their scope that the buyer doesn’t have/didn’t think to ask.

The bank panel solicitor will act for the bank on the purchase so want to check everything is ok and all enquiries completed satisfactorily. So I suspect legal work will take longer. If the buyers solicitor is decent and has done their job well, I wouldn’t expect too much longer. If the buyers solicitor is awful and made a right hash of it, expect the banks solicitor to have to redo a lot of the work and make many more enquiries.

lm1981

Out of interest do the solicitors of the lender and the solicitors who are doing the initial work keep in touch or do they only make contact at the end? 

lm1981

Also who does my solicitor deal with going forwards is it the leanders solicitor or the solicitor who has done the work over last few months 

Thrugelmir

Your solicitor liaises with your buyers solicitor. The other solicitor only represents the interests of the lender. 

lm1981

So the buyers solicitor will be talking to the lenders solicitor and then when they are all sorted they buyers solicitor will talk to my one?

Herbalus

Not always. If the lenders solicitor wants to raise a query they will talk to the buyers solicitor to see if that query has already been dealt with, and if not, the buyers solicitor will talk to the sellers solicitor to pass it on. So generally the buyers and lenders solicitor talk to each other throughout the process, but the buyers solicitor will usually be the only one talking to the sellers solicitor.

lm1981

Thank you - that’s good to know , I was wondering if the lenders solicitor and the buyers solicitor talk throughout the process - I’d like to think they are on same page so that when the buyers solicitor connects them to request money transfers / dates etc it’s not out the blue etc 

kingstreet

Solution last time;-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78303989#Comment_78303989