Instructing before survey....too risky?

jazzyja

So I've read a few threads on here where people have instructed solicitor before their survery/valuation. I understand this is risky and could lose money....but my solicitors are currently taking up to 5 months  
I'm really keen to get going as in renting and my house is in (quite literally) a state of disrepair (had a long battle with landlord, I've officially given up). Survey isn't happening for another few weeks and then up to 10 days for the report....talking near enough another month 😭 should I just be patient?! My lender has told my broker mortgage offer is subject to valuation....and of course that hasn't happened yet. Im not particularly worried about the valuation, I think that will be ok. Thankyou 

AdrianC

You need to instruct the solicitor pretty much immediately. The EA will not issue a memorandum of sale until you provide them with your solicitor details. That's the formal acceptance of the offer.

The solicitor doesn't need to get going on things like searches immediately, so their cost will be minimal (zero if no-completion-no-fee)... They'll usually wait until the draft contract is received from the vendor's solicitor.

It's all down to whether you prioritise time or minimising potentially wasted money.
If you're prioritising time, get things done in parallel.
If you're prioritising cost, do the high-risk things first.
If you think the survey may be a risk, prioritise that.
If you think the mortgage app/LtV may be a risk, prioritise that. Mortgages are ALWAYS subject to valuation, because that's the value they calculate the LtV on.

steampowered

Personally I would instruct your solicitor/conveyancer to get on with it.

If you want, you can ask them not to do searches yet. Searches cost £300 or so. The results take a couple weeks.

Personally I've always just instructed conveyancers to get on with doing the searches ASAP. It doesn't seem worth the potential delay for the sake of saving £300 if the sale falls through.

jazzyja

AdrianC said:

You need to instruct the solicitor pretty much immediately. The EA will not issue a memorandum of sale until you provide them with your solicitor details. That's the formal acceptance of the offer.

The solicitor doesn't need to get going on things like searches immediately, so their cost will be minimal (zero if no-completion-no-fee)... They'll usually wait until the draft contract is received from the vendor's solicitor.

It's all down to whether you prioritise time or minimising potentially wasted money.
If you're prioritising time, get things done in parallel.
If you're prioritising cost, do the high-risk things first.
If you think the survey may be a risk, prioritise that.
If you think the mortgage app/LtV may be a risk, prioritise that. Mortgages are ALWAYS subject to valuation, because that's the value they calculate the LtV on.

Thankyou, I already have the memorandum of sale as they only wanted what solicitor I was using and their email, I sent this over once I'd got a quote from the solicitor...but i have not yet instructed. You have to pay a fee to instruct. But like you've said...I am prioritising time. But on the only hand I want to make sure the house is OK from the survey. Also I've not a ton of money so it's a difficult one 🤦‍♀️ 

Justonemorecupoftea

If you've given the solicitor's details, then your vendors solicitor is likely to be in touch with them soon to send across the initial information.

You might want to formally instruct them before that happens!

As long as you are doing pay on completion (most are) the only ££ you'll lose will be the searches which are around £300 which you pay upfront. It's likely that the fee to instruct you are talking about is the fee for the searches.

There are all sorts of reasons a sale might not complete, so there is always a risk you could pay for searches and a survey and still not actually get a house.

My sale/purchase is possibly falling through for non survey related reasons and I won't owe a penny to my solicitor.