At what point do I need to instruct a conveyancer when selling?

muchembe

Probate property on the market and offers received but I have not yet got a conveyancer lined up. My bad. Should I panic and get one asap either online or the EA recommendation at > twice the price? Or do I have time to complete research properly?

Albermarle

There will be plenty of solicitors offering conveyancing locally, most will have some google reviews.
A good test is to ask them to e mail you a quote and see how quick off the mark they are, as slow response time is one of the major gripes with conveyancers.

Tiglet2

muchembe said:

Probate property on the market and offers received but I have not yet got a conveyancer lined up. My bad. Should I panic and get one asap either online or the EA recommendation at > twice the price? Or do I have time to complete research properly?

You have time to get quotes and see how quick the solicitor firms respond to your request.

I wouldn't recommend going with the EA recommended solicitor, particularly if there is a referral fee to the EA.  If the EA is recommending them as they do a great job and there are lots of positive reviews (and no referral incentives) then probably ok.

Have you accepted one of the offers?  As you're selling, the legal conveyancing cannot get started until you instruct a solicitor as the buyer's solicitor will require a draft contract pack firstly to start any work.

Has probate been granted?  You can market but not complete the sale until you have the probate certificate.

muchembe

Thanks @Albermarle & @Tiglet2, yes we have probate and would like to accept one of the offers in the next day or so. My worry is that if I take time finding a good conveyancer buyers might start to lose interest, since at least one is in a chain and all are ready to go. From what you are saying @Tiglet2 it sounds like as soon as we say 'yes' the EA and buyer need to know who my conveyancer is, and the process will be held up until I've signed up with one. Or are there other things the buyer will do before the conveyancing starts, like surveys and getting their solicitor to do the various checks?

Basically, do we risk this? Us: 'yes, thanks we'll accept your £X offer', Buyer: 'Great! who is your conveyancer?', Us: 'we should know in a few days', Buyer: 'Sorry, we need to move quickly, goodbye'

Hoenir

Morning morning you need to get a conveyncer lined up pronto. Makes some calls to local ones and book an appointment. 

muchembe

Hoenir said:

Morning morning you need to get a conveyncer lined up pronto. Makes some calls to local ones and book an appointment. 

Yikes! Thanks, sounds like it is urgent as I feared. Hopefully I'll get one soon enough to just suffer the embarrassment of looking foolish for not having sorted this way earlier rather than actually losing the sale

Tiglet2

muchembe said:

Thanks @Albermarle & @Tiglet2, yes we have probate and would like to accept one of the offers in the next day or so. My worry is that if I take time finding a good conveyancer buyers might start to lose interest, since at least one is in a chain and all are ready to go. From what you are saying @Tiglet2 it sounds like as soon as we say 'yes' the EA and buyer need to know who my conveyancer is, and the process will be held up until I've signed up with one. Or are there other things the buyer will do before the conveyancing starts, like surveys and getting their solicitor to do the various checks?

Basically, do we risk this? Us: 'yes, thanks we'll accept your £X offer', Buyer: 'Great! who is your conveyancer?', Us: 'we should know in a few days', Buyer: 'Sorry, we need to move quickly, goodbye'

Once an offer has been accepted, the EA will want to send the Memorandum of Sale to all parties, i.e. you, your solicitor, the buyer, their solicitor.  That's the first 'contact' to the parties involved in the transaction and lets everyone know the names of the parties involved.  Until you confirm who is acting for you, the EA cannot send out the Memorandum, so it is important that you instruct someone as soon as possible. 

You can let the EA know that you are actively seeking quotes and will advise the name of the firm you instruct in a couple of days.  The process cannot begin until that step is sorted. 

The buyer would be unlikely to commission a survey and their solicitor is also unlikely to do any checks (other than basic setting up the file and ID checks), but may not do anything until Memorandum of Sale is received.