Buying a house (solicitor questions_

[Dr KT]

Hi All,

My property purchase has been going on for over three months now and both sides of the deal are chain free- I have the cash, mortgage etc.

The sellers solicitors have sent "enough info" such as HIP report, and the searches are done.

My solicitors are now making silly requests, such as highlighting the extractor fan has become disjointed, and the fire door self closing mech has been removed (all from the survey). They have requested them to be fixed, and send proof threw- I did not raise these issues myself.

I did not raise these points, as they do not bother me.

Can I legally say get my solicitor to do the main things, and not worry about these issues?

KT

Edited by Dr KT on Thursday 22 January 10:41

[Wings]

Dr KT said:

Hi All,

My property purchase has been going on for over three months now and both sides of the deal are chain free- I have the cash, mortgage etc.

The sellers solicitors have sent "enough info" such as HIP report, and the searches are done.

My solicitors are now making silly requests, such as highlighting the extractor fan has become disjointed, and the fire door self closing mech has been removed (all from the survey). They have requested them to be fixed, and send proof threw- I did not raise these issues myself.

I did not raise these points, as they do not bother me.

Can I legally say get my solicitor to do the main things, and not worry about these issues?

KT

Edited by Dr KT on Thursday 22 January 10:41

Yes, the more work your solicitor does, then the higher his fee.

[Dr KT]

Higher fee? I agreed a fixed fee for the professional side of things.

Are all the correspondents costing me money? (Panic sets in)

Cheers,
KT

[Wings]

Dr KT said:

Higher fee? I agreed a fixed fee for the professional side of things.

Are all the correspondents costing me money? (Panic sets in)

Cheers,
KT

My daughter recently had a fix fee on a leasehold flat in Tower Bridge Road, but have course there were complications (LOL) with the wording of the lease, so additional charges were added.

[scotal]

Dr KT said:

Hi All,

My property purchase has been going on for over three months now and both sides of the deal are chain free- I have the cash, mortgage etc.

The sellers solicitors have sent "enough info" such as HIP report, and the searches are done.

My solicitors are now making silly requests, such as highlighting the extractor fan has become disjointed, and the fire door self closing mech has been removed (all from the survey). They have requested them to be fixed, and send proof threw- I did not raise these issues myself.

I did not raise these points, as they do not bother me.

Can I legally say get my solicitor to do the main things, and not worry about these issues?

KT

Edited by Dr KT on Thursday 22 January 10:41

I'm not a lawyer but the solicitor may be protecting you from yourself. The fire door closer being removed may invalidate your insurance, for instance.

[Dr KT]

Yup- same story here, complications- such as the fire door mechanisim!

Since when does that require a full letter followed by months of negociations.

Right- I am putting my foot down with them.

Cheers,
KT

[SpydieNut]

we had the same - our solicitor asking endless questions - a lot of which were trivial in the extreme.

ok we thought, we had a quote. but it was an estimate. so we get a letter - this is to inform you that this case has become non-standard, therefore will cost more

bunch of

ended up taking so fecking long, we almost lost the house

if i ever see that bh in the street, i'm going to kick her up the arse.

[Wings]

scotal said:

Dr KT said:

Hi All,

My property purchase has been going on for over three months now and both sides of the deal are chain free- I have the cash, mortgage etc.

The sellers solicitors have sent "enough info" such as HIP report, and the searches are done.

My solicitors are now making silly requests, such as highlighting the extractor fan has become disjointed, and the fire door self closing mech has been removed (all from the survey). They have requested them to be fixed, and send proof threw- I did not raise these issues myself.

I did not raise these points, as they do not bother me.

Can I legally say get my solicitor to do the main things, and not worry about these issues?

KT

Edited by Dr KT on Thursday 22 January 10:41

I'm not a lawyer but the solicitor may be protecting you from yourself. The fire door closer being removed may invalidate your insurance, for instance.

The solicitor can discharge his duties by pointing these issues out to his client\Dr KT.

[anonymous-user]

Dr KT said:

Hi All,

My property purchase has been going on for over three months now and both sides of the deal are chain free- I have the cash, mortgage etc.

Our house took 14 weeks, we were first time buyers with mortgage in place, she was selling up to go & live back at parents. Why it took 14 weeks is beyond me. ZERO complications.

[Piglet]

As the lawyer to write to you pointing out all of the issues. You then write to him advising that you are aware of the issues but are chosing to proceed without.

Be aware some issues may impact on how your lawyer will report to your lender prior to the mortgage payment being made. I wonder if the fire door issue might be sufficient for the lender to get twitchy?

[Dr KT]

Well just got off the phone- the house appears to be built on "Radon rock"- which is cancerous IF in high levels, and IF you have kids

Asked if he could waver some of the trival stuff, but then came back with a load of other legal requirments- for example the rent we pay to the estate.

4 months on, and we are not getting any closer. Annoying to say the least.

Cheers,
KT

[anonymous-user]

Dr KT said:

Well just got off the phone- the house appears to be built on "Radon rock"- which is cancerous IF in high levels, and IF you have kids

Asked if he could waver some of the trival stuff, but then came back with a load of other legal requirments- for example the rent we pay to the estate.

4 months on, and we are not getting any closer. Annoying to say the least.

Cheers,
KT

M8 that conmes up LOTS. Our search flagged Radon gas, do a google search(ex mining works).

[Davey S2]

Assuming that you arent a millionaire and are funding the purchase yourself your solicitor is also acting for your mortgage company so has a duty to them as well as you.

You might be happy to waive some issues but your lenders might not be.

[SJobson]

Davey S2 said:

Assuming that you arent a millionaire and are funding the purchase yourself your solicitor is also acting for your mortgage company so has a duty to them as well as you.

You might be happy to waive some issues but your lenders might not be.

This is absolutely correct.

[Vron]

We accepted a cash offer on our house at the beginning of november - no chain either side and we are still waiting on the Solicitors

[trooperiziz]

Vron said:

We accepted a cash offer on our house at the beginning of november - no chain either side and we are still waiting on the Solicitors

I sold my last flat to the people who were renting it and living in it at the time.

Took 6 months...

[Dr KT]

SJobson said:

Davey S2 said:

Assuming that you arent a millionaire and are funding the purchase yourself your solicitor is also acting for your mortgage company so has a duty to them as well as you.

You might be happy to waive some issues but your lenders might not be.

This is absolutely correct.

Yes- they did mention this as well. Unfortunately our mortgage lender is also very anal- obviously more so with the sub-prime problems of late.

Will just have to ride it out, and hope the seller does not get fed up.

[Piglet]

Dr KT said:

SJobson said:

Davey S2 said:

Assuming that you arent a millionaire and are funding the purchase yourself your solicitor is also acting for your mortgage company so has a duty to them as well as you.

You might be happy to waive some issues but your lenders might not be.

This is absolutely correct.

Yes- they did mention this as well. Unfortunately our mortgage lender is also very anal- obviously more so with the sub-prime problems of late.

Will just have to ride it out, and hope the seller does not get fed up.

If his title and the property are problematic he can get fed up all he likes, he'll have the same problems with another buyer. He'd be better off correcting things like the fire door mechanisms.

[rude-boy]

Dr KT said:

SJobson said:

Davey S2 said:

Assuming that you arent a millionaire and are funding the purchase yourself your solicitor is also acting for your mortgage company so has a duty to them as well as you.

You might be happy to waive some issues but your lenders might not be.

This is absolutely correct.

Yes- they did mention this as well. Unfortunately our mortgage lender is also very anal- obviously more so with the sub-prime problems of late.

Will just have to ride it out, and hope the seller does not get fed up.

There is a limit though. We might well be tied by 100000001 things here and there but there is still the ability to use Professional Skill and Judgement.

Out of interest, how many posters are using the word 'solicitor' as a generic term? How many are also using the person whose initial quote was the lowest? How many a firm based many miles away where you never get to speak to the organ grinder?

Very often I hear people tell me about the experiences they had with their 'solicitor', only to learn that they went with the people tied into the Estate Agent (who was paid a referral fee for the work) and that at no point did a solicitor actually deal with the matter.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of qualified solicitors out there who aren't all they should be, but for every one of those there are many, many more Licensed Conveyancers and Legal Executives who have nothing more than the most basic training.

[rude-boy]

Piglet said:

If his title and the property are problematic he can get fed up all he likes, he'll have the same problems with another buyer. He'd be better off correcting things like the fire door mechanisms.

Sometimes the best advice is to spend a few £100 on bits and bobs to get the deal done, rather than argue the toss, lose a sale and wait another X months.