Selling a House. Does one need a solicitor?

Grumps

I'm asking this on behalf of a mate. (And how many times have we heard THAT one.)

Seriously, he had been getting quotes from local solicitors for conveyancing and was quite astounded by the hourly rate they charge, therefore I said I'd have a look for any 'Conveyancing Companies' on the Net.

Thinking about it afterwards, it struck me that if he is ONLY selling a house, then why does he need legal advice. BUYING a house is different. The Title has to be checked. Local searches need to be carried out. Any additions/alterations need to have been approved, but, when selling, ALL anyone wants is the money in their bank account.

The analogy that I would draw is that when buying a car, the purchaser would be wise to pay to have the vehicle inspected by a qualified person. The seller is not interested in the technical state of the car. All they want is the money in their account.

Therefore, does the seller of a house NEED legal representation?

Or am I missing something?

xueta

Hi Grumps,

The answer depends on whether you know how to draw up your own contracts and whether you are able to answer questions about warranties, owners' rights, permissions, etc, etc - even though the standard solicitor's reply seems to be "the purchaser must make his own enquiries", lol.

Guess it's better to be safe than sorry!

Dan29

I've never heard of solicitors quoting hourly rates for conveyancing - they normally give a price that should only change if something really unexpected and complicated crops up.

I'd always use a solicitor - especially at the moment, the risk of losing the sale far outweighs the £600 or so charge in my opinion.

GDB2222

There was book about this called The Conveyancing Fraud, which included a step by step guide to selling a freehold property. Quite straightforward IMHO. Unfortunately the author of that book died and it has not been updated. I am not sue what else there is, but look on Amazon.

I have sold several times, doing the conveyancing myself. However, I have also found and used a local solicitor who is very thorough and does not seem that expensive. So, the route I use depends on how busy I am and how mean I am feeling about paying money to someone else to do a job I am quite capable of doing myself.

I agree - the risk on selling is minimal, as long as you avoid answering any of the buyer's questions!

cattie

I've never heard of solicitors charging an hourly rate for conveyancing either & have bought and sold a few properties over the years. I would gestimate that if you are only selling & not also buying, then the fees should be somewhere around £300. It does pay to shop around as the charges can vary enormously from place to place.

Happy_saver_4

Some sols will refuse to act where the vendor or purchaser is acting for themselves; unless they can prove themselves suitably qualified.

They quite rightly point out that with a novice conveyancing vendor or purchaser they will have to often teach/inform and explain what 'to do next' rather than just getting on with their own work.

There are no set fees for sols so get at least three quotes and hammer their prices down. Some of the conveyancing companies seem to offer a cheaper good service.

Ian_W

Grumps - one point not covered above but may be relevent, when your mate [yeh, course we believe you!!] sells the property, will part of the money received go to discharging a mortgage on the property, or is it owned outright?

Reason I ask is, if it's the former I would think [I'm certainly not SURE] that the mortgagee could and probably will insist on a solicitor being used to protect their interests. Point being that a lender is only likely to agree to their legal charge on the property being discharged if payment is made through a professional 3rd party who will ensure they get what's owing. Buyers sol is not going to agree to pay money unless confident that someone independent of your mate is going to ensure simultanious discharge of mortgage.

Obviously if prop is owned outright it's not a consideration.

Grumps

Thanks for all the replies. Good point about the mortgage. I assume he/they have one. Although with the Lender having a Charge registered on the deeds it would not be unrealistic for the buyer's solicitor to forward the funds to more than one account.

Bossyboots

Grumps wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. Good point about the mortgage. I assume he/they have one. Although with the Lender having a Charge registered on the deeds it would not be unrealistic for the buyer's solicitor to forward the funds to more than one account.

Its not the buyer's solicitor's responsibility to discharge the mortgage which in effect is what they would be being asked to do in this scenario. I would be surprised at any solicitor agreeing to this and I don't think their insurance would cover them for the money if something went wrong.

This really backs up Happy_Saver's post about solicitors and unqualified opposites on a transaction.

As has been pointed out, conveyancing is normally done for a flat fee, not an hourly rate.