Diy conveyancing selling to family

DaveHedgehogJnr

My parents are buying my house. Neither of us has a mortgage or anything secured against the property. We have a valuation from a chartered surveyor. 

Can we DIY? If so, any pointers on how? 

Section62

What is the reason for them buying your house - and what happens to their existing house?

Personally I'd get a solicitor/conveyancer involved rather than DIYing so an independent third-party has some oversight of the transfer - just in case there are later allegations of some kind of wrongdoing associated with the deal.  For example that the parents are paying over the odds as a form of quasi-deprivation of assets.  You don't have to be doing something wrong for someone to potentially suspect wrongdoing - and a DIY transfer could add to suspicious that the deal wasn't totally above board.

A conveyancer won't necessarily give them advice about the wisdom of what your family are doing (in the wider context), but should complete certain checks (e.g. AML) which may help.  A solicitor would probably give advice - even if not asked - if they saw something they felt could be problematic.

pumas

As above, I've gone down the solicitor route(much as I don't want to) to provide a paper trail and avoid any future problems.

DaveHedgehogJnr

Nothing dodgy! They wanted to downsize. I wanted to sell. It made sense. But point taken about optics. Will search for a local firm. 

DaveHedgehogJnr

Hmmmm, have a quote for £1000 and another firm said they were too busy. I will look again at DIY. 

For context, my house is on the same estate as theirs which they are selling in the conventional way. As they have aged its become apparent that my house is better suited to their needs (smaller and easier to get upstairs). Their place will sell for more than mine is worth so they will have a few quid in their pockets to do what they want to whilst they still can.

I left the area a couple of years ago and rented my house out as a holiday let, so I will have CGT to pay. Other than that it's all very straightforward so I do resent the idea of handing over a grand just for someone else to fill in the forms. If I have a definitive guide to which forms to fill in I'm sure I will be fine. There's no funny business so I'm not worried about being caught out on anything!

propertyrental

Provided you've greed on price, know the property (need searches?) and trust each other (them to hand over TR1 etc and you to hand over cash) I see no reason not to DIY.

You'll need:

HMRC form for SDLT

Land Registry TR1

LR AP1

LR ID1

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/registered-titles-whole-transfer-tr1/guidance-completing-form-tr1-for-the-transfer-of-registered-property

DaveHedgehogJnr

Thanks @propertyrental that's very helpful.

 I've owned the property since 2007 so I don't think searches would show anything I don't already know and they won't stop my folks from buying so it does seem like more of a formality unless I've misunderstood what they are for. 

Section62

DaveHedgehogJnr said:

For context, my house is on the same estate as theirs which they are selling in the conventional way. As they have aged its become apparent that my house is better suited to their needs (smaller and easier to get upstairs). Their place will sell for more than mine is worth so they will have a few quid in their pockets to do what they want to whilst they still can.

As they are selling the conveyancer/solicitor they are using for the sale may be willing to deal with their purchase without charging a vast amount extra - especially in the circumstances where your parents already know the vendor and property, and the conveyancer/solicitor will have already done some of the work (e.g. AML/KYC) for them already.

DaveHedgehogJnr said:

I left the area a couple of years ago and rented my house out as a holiday let, so I will have CGT to pay. Other than that it's all very straightforward so I do resent the idea of handing over a grand just for someone else to fill in the forms. If I have a definitive guide to which forms to fill in I'm sure I will be fine. There's no funny business so I'm not worried about being caught out on anything!

It isn't so much being caught out on funny business, more the things that can go wrong and come back to bite you on the backside.  For example, if you decide no searches are needed, but it turns out something is happening which adversely affects the value of your (now their) property, then they may be able to come after you for any loss they suffer.  You may say there is no risk of that because they are your parents - but there are circumstances where others might decide to take action on their behalf.

The primary issue really is whether or not your parents get appropriate [independent] legal advice.  You can't give them that, so decisions like whether they should have searches done or not aren't things you should involve yourself in.  If something goes wrong neither you nor your parents will have a third-party with professional indemnity insurance cover to go after to recover any loses.

DaveHedgehogJnr

@Section62 thanks for expanding on the searches. I'm an only child so the only possible other interested party I can think of would be if one or both of them needed residential care in the future and could be accused of having deprived themselves of assets by overpaying on the property if subsequently something did happen that caused a devaluation. That feels like a long shot given how well we know the area. 

I'll ask them about the firm they are using for their sale, might be a go.