Auction conveyancing

london21

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

Slithery

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

Nope, not possible. I purchased just a piece of land from auction a few years ago and that wasn't even a back to back sale.

 A solicitor was still needed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5907529/self-conveyancing-an-auction-land-purchase

GDB2222

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

I'd have thought that you can represent yourself. It's most unlikely that the auction conditions say you cannot.

The seller's solicitor may have to ID you for money laundering purposes, but I don't think there's any particular ethical issue with that. You'll be floundering around a bit, though, and having to hope that the seller's solicitor sends you all the documents you need to register your title. The chances are high that he will, but at some stage you'll be sending £300k to the guy and hoping for the best. 

I take it that your bridging finance is in place and does not rely on this transaction proceeding?

eddddy

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

A conveyancing solicitor has told you this is too complicated for them - they don't know what to do.


So it's very unlikely that you'll be able to work out what to do on your own.  And the seller's solicitor is not allowed to act on your behalf.


Picking a conveyancing solicitor just because they are local is a bad idea. You need to pick a conveyancing solicitor who has specialist experience.


When I've bought and sold at auction (and done other 'non standard' transactions), I've used solicitors 100+ miles away, because they're specialists.



TBH, the biggest challenge I've had with 'non standard' transactions is that they've had to be done by partners (i.e. the top people) in the solicitors firms, because the juniors don't have the experience. And it's often very difficult to get past partner's secretaries to speak to them when you need info. 

GDB2222

eddddy said:

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

A conveyancing solicitor has told you this is too complicated for them - they don't know what to do.


So it's very unlikely that you'll be able to work out what to do on your own.  And the seller's solicitor is not allowed to act on your behalf.


Picking a conveyancing solicitor just because they are local is a bad idea. You need to pick a conveyancing solicitor who has specialist experience.


When I've bought and sold at auction (and done other 'non standard' transactions), I've used solicitors 100+ miles away, because they're specialists.



TBH, the biggest challenge I've had with 'non standard' transactions is that they've had to be done by partners (i.e. the top people) in the solicitors firms, because the juniors don't have the experience. And it's often very difficult to get past partner's secretaries to speak to them when you need info. 

The thing is, though, that the seller's solicitor does sound like he knows what he's doing. The chance is pretty high that he'll send all the required documents, anyway. 

london21

eddddy said:

user1977 said:

It may not fit on the regular conveyor belt of the conveyancing sweatshops, but I would think any "normal" conveyancing solicitor would be able to figure out how to do this, auction properties crop up regularly enough. I doubt anybody genuinely specialises in it.

I don't think it's the auction aspect that's the problem.

It's the fact that it's a back-to-back transaction. Many conveyancers will have never come across those.


I suspect that the OP just told their solicitor that it was an auction purchase - so the solicitor took it on. And only found out it was back-to-back when they got all the documentation.


(And I've used solicitors who specialise in auction purchases. Because they've done lots of them they know what to expect, so they get the job done quicker, and tend to give more competitive quotes.)

I was explaining to the the solicitor I found online. I brought to his attention the extra special condition. I wasn’t familiar with back to back transactions until when I read online and posted on here. 

london21

GDB2222 said:

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

I'd have thought that you can represent yourself. It's most unlikely that the auction conditions say you cannot.

The seller's solicitor may have to ID you for money laundering purposes, but I don't think there's any particular ethical issue with that. You'll be floundering around a bit, though, and having to hope that the seller's solicitor sends you all the documents you need to register your title. The chances are high that he will, but at some stage you'll be sending £300k to the guy and hoping for the best. 

I take it that your bridging finance is in place and does not rely on this transaction proceeding?

I have instructed a local solicitor who says he has experience of auction properties. 
will be using savings and money borrowed from family. 

london21

eddddy said:

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

A conveyancing solicitor has told you this is too complicated for them - they don't know what to do.


So it's very unlikely that you'll be able to work out what to do on your own.  And the seller's solicitor is not allowed to act on your behalf.


Picking a conveyancing solicitor just because they are local is a bad idea. You need to pick a conveyancing solicitor who has specialist experience.


When I've bought and sold at auction (and done other 'non standard' transactions), I've used solicitors 100+ miles away, because they're specialists.



TBH, the biggest challenge I've had with 'non standard' transactions is that they've had to be done by partners (i.e. the top people) in the solicitors firms, because the juniors don't have the experience. And it's often very difficult to get past partner's secretaries to speak to them when you need info. 

I contacted various who say they are specialists with auction but with the workload at present some not taking on new cases and my old solicitor took so long to declare he can't do it valuable time got wasted.

The local solicitor said he has experience with such, I have explained everything to him and showed audit trail of previous solicitor.

He has reviewed the contract and contacted seller'solicitor on completion dates etc.

One of the conveyancers the actioneer's also provided have also responded but stated no capacity before end of June, earliest is July. 

london21

GDB2222 said:

eddddy said:

london21 said:

I have booked an appointment with a local conveyancing today but as a last resort if  am unable to find someone in time can i represent myself?

I have the seller's solicitor's email they have said they cannot represent myself and the seller. Will they allow me to make payment to seller's solicitor directly or too high a risk.

A conveyancing solicitor has told you this is too complicated for them - they don't know what to do.


So it's very unlikely that you'll be able to work out what to do on your own.  And the seller's solicitor is not allowed to act on your behalf.


Picking a conveyancing solicitor just because they are local is a bad idea. You need to pick a conveyancing solicitor who has specialist experience.


When I've bought and sold at auction (and done other 'non standard' transactions), I've used solicitors 100+ miles away, because they're specialists.



TBH, the biggest challenge I've had with 'non standard' transactions is that they've had to be done by partners (i.e. the top people) in the solicitors firms, because the juniors don't have the experience. And it's often very difficult to get past partner's secretaries to speak to them when you need info. 

The thing is, though, that the seller's solicitor does sound like he knows what he's doing. The chance is pretty high that he'll send all the required documents, anyway. 

The seller's solicitor is a partner. 
Says he became a partner in 2008.
I hope it all ends well with this new solicitor.

london21

Thank you all so much completed today.