Selling house without a solicitor

Sooz1966

Hi

I recently inherited a £300k bungalow and an acquaintance wants to buy it. It's freehold, unoccupied, and there's no mortgage involved on our part. The buyer will be paying cash and is also happy to avoid paying a solicitor if possible. I'm getting the place valued. I know that changing the name on the deeds is straightforward and something I (or the buyer) can do myself.

If the process of selling is difficult, I don't mind paying a solicitor but as things stand, I can't actually see what their role would be. Organising the safe transfer of the money i guess but think we can figure out a way to do this securely ourselves.

Has anyone any experience of selling a house themselves without the involvement of estate agents and conveyancing solicitors and have any tips?

lincroft1710

For the sake of 1% (or less) of your inheritance, let a professional deal with it.

monkey-fingers

Yeah, £300k is going to get some spidey senses going at your bank.
You'll still need to do AML checks and so on for the transfer too.

As above, for a few hundred quid, get a professional to do it.

Sooz1966

Thank you both. As hoped, you've come up with a reason why I still need a solicitor. I hadn't given a thought to money laundering issues.

EssexHebridean

You would be relatively foolish to do this without a solicitor.

The buyer would be downright stupid.

Use a solicitor.

FrugaiMacDugal

When you say 'paying cash' will that be a Tesco bag for life stuffed with £50s?

Sooz1966

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917446#Comment_81917446

I doubt it, they're a 97yr old widow, looking to downsize and, i guess, pretty wealthy. Friend of my deceased dad. I know it's all a bit odd, but I guess, from her point of view, she's not got long left and looking for a quick and easy solution to her current predicament.

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917332#Comment_81917332

Source?

An agent / solicitor / conveyancer is required to conduct AML checks, but a private individual selling their own property doesn't have such requirements. They must not knowingly trade assets or monies that are the proceeds of crime, but that's different to actually having to make proactive checks.

Agree personally I'd still do it with a solicitor to avoid the hassle for the couple of hundred pounds provided both sides infom the solicitors there's no real enquiries requried (else the cost will be a little higher though still not that high). However AML checks would not be the reason.

gazfocus

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917471#Comment_81917471

Being a 97 year old, I'd say even more reason to use a solicitor…last thing you want is to be accused of coercing the buyer into handing over £300k.

saajan_12

OP, the things I would consider are

• do you plan to exchange contracts with completion on a later date, or all on one day?
• Will the buyer need to pay stamp duty?
• Will the seller need to pay CGT?
• Will the buyer want to make any enquiries on the physical condition, legal covenants, title defects, environmental searches etc etc? As a sales contract make your answers legally binding, and can avoid fall out if they find issues later.
• Registering the property with Land Registry

monkey-fingers

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81917494#Comment_81917494

Here you go.
Down to 4.3
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/registered-titles-whole-transfer-tr1/guidance-completing-form-tr1-for-the-transfer-of-registered-property