URGENT HELP PLEASE!!!! Solicitors query - Can I get out of this?

[snorri]

And yes,I should have shopped round solicitors, but it all happened so quickly, and I should have read the back straight away, and I could kick myself for not noticing it, so please don't rub it in, but all I looked at was the big box on the front that said "fees +vat"....

Don't kick yourself punky, buying and selling houses is something the lay person does not do sufficiently frequently to gain much expertise, procedures change over the years too.
Right now your situation is a little like swimming with sharks, but look on the bright side, these sharks can't bite off your leg., you will get out on the other side.
Good Luck!

 

[Davywalnuts]

Hooray!!!! I've managed to get rid of them for an admin charge of £50, which I feel is probably the best £50 I ever spent! That will teach me not to read small print in the future!!!! New solicitor sorted, the one that came recommended by my friends, price gone down to £671 all fees included (apart from the searches, but they will check if they need doing anyway with the HIP only dating back to April).

Phew!!!! Might be able to get some sleep now!!!!

Excellant news! Am glad that bunch of cowboys have been put to bed! Talking of which, I got about 3hrs sleep before coming back here to work.. I might just get a blow up matress.. But am gald I could help in anyway I could.

That price seems alot more reasonable. Cross-fingers they are good too and help your transaction run smoothly!

 

[postman]

I bet you sleep better tonight.
And good luck with everything else concerned with this purchase.

 

[Crankarm]

£50 you have learned your lesson. Make sure that you get in writing from these solicitors/conveyancers that the agreement is terminated and you have no on going liability to them. You will be a little wiser signing up with your next solicitor. Do not sign until you fully understand the implications of any document. If not sure ask them to explain. A solicitor has a code of conduct not to mislead or take advantage of clients, to act in their best interests, believe it or not..... All charges, costs and disbursements must be clearly drawn to your attention and if an estimate of costs is made based on a fixed hourly rate taking a realistic amount of time. Alternatively get a fixed fee but if you have a complicated transaction then quality might suffer as the solicitor cannot do all the work for the price they have quoted. Also you pay considerably more if the partner does it as opposed to the work experience trainee....... Make sure you know who will be handling your transaction.

Searches need to be done as they will be out of date if they were done several months ago there may have since been new entries on the title of your property at Land Registry and new issues may arise with local searches from the Council eg an application to site a bail hostel opposite or an equally toxic rubbish dump 1/4 of a mile downwind. Also you or your legal representative did not do the searches so you should not rely on them. You can do a Land Registry search for £6 on line although it might have gone up recently. Also searches have to be redone as close to exchange as poss as the seller might have become insolvent or made bankrupt which complicates matters or there might be a dispute with the ownership of the property which can happen with estranged large families. The government were clueless in drawing up the HIP. Even with the energy performance certificate assessors record whether energy saving light bulbs are in use. Don't the muppets realise these are not fixed?

Up until exchange of contracts go and see your property as many times as you feel necessary, inside and out, different times of day. Make it clear what is being left behind and part of the sale. Any rubbish or crap that is being left that you don't want make sure the seller is bound to get rid of it otherwise you will be lumbered with it. Even the light bulbs are fought over.

Knock on neighbouring doors to speak to a few people to get a feel of the place whether there are any "issues". It might be a bit late doing it now as you should have done it earlier but better to find out now than after exchange when you lose your deposit if you back out or completion when you are stuck with the property. Completion is pretty soon after exchange these days.

If you have got a question ask your solicitor to get an answer from the seller. If not happy with it then negotiate or walk away if significant not resolvable. You could take out insurance against sale falling through. There used to be a Legal and General policy not sure if it or them are still going.

What survey are you having? The lender's survey is simply to assess that the property is not just a pile of bricks and is adequate security for the mortgage they are offering you. You should get a more detailed survey and make sure the person or outfit that you instruct has insurance in case there is a problem later and they have been negligent in surveying the property. Again anything you are unsure of in the survey ask the surveyor to explain or investigate if he doesn't give explanation or advise further enquiry. Use the survey to knock the price down if there are remedial works required or walk away if beyond your budget or you don't want the hassle.

Also if it is in area with social housing be very wary. Ask questions of the seller about nusiance or disruptive neighbours, any disputes. I know the HIP specifically requires sellers to disclose but many lie, so ask specific questions. Try and find out if there are any tenants in housing associations as they can be and often are bad news. Also not sure if it is possible to find out what the incidence of crime in the area is if you think that is remotely an issue. Not sure if the local plod would tell. Maybe you already know so not an issue.

If there are any churches nearby watch out for chancellery repair covenants. You don't want the God's tax collectors knocking on your door for money to repair the church roof. You can take out insurance to cover this. Your solicitor should discover if you might be liable. Typical for old properties in the vicinity of a church to have to contribute to it's upkeep.

Make sure the property is insured between exchange and completion and there is no break between when the seller's policy ends, hopefully it is insured and when you move when your buildings insurance kicks in.

Ceveat emptor - buyer beware very much applies. Buy in haste repent at leisure. You plan to live there so the more work you do to investigate it before you buy the more likely you are to avoid any problems. If you need to reassure yourself with another visit to the property then do so preferrably before exchange.

Any issues your not sure of and don't seem to be making headway with come back straight on here.

 

[punkypossum]

They are doing the environmental search and the bankruptcy thing anyway (that's already included in the quote), but said I think the water one might still be ok... Obviously they couldn't confirm this without having seen the stuff, but that should be fairly easy to establish. Going to see them tomorrow to drop some stuff off, so will have a chat then.

I have asked to have a home buyers report done on top of the lender's survey, just for my own peace of mind, so that should hopefully uncover anything dodgy. As for the area, I know it pretty well anyway as I used to live round there, and no, there is no housing association properties, it's mainly retired couples, so it should be a nice childfree zone when I'm trying to get some sleep during the day while on nights - where I'm now, it's like a school playground outside, so it will be an improvement. Plus the cat should like it, which is always a bonus!

But yes, I won't be signing anything without treble checking again and will probably be back on here to bombard you all with random questions!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Is this purchase the cottage in the small village?

 

[punkypossum]

Unfortunately not, although I'm doing quite well on the idiot part...

 

[dellzeqq]

Hips are an utterly stupid waste of money brought in by a government that had no idea what they were doing, against all advice. They simply increase costs. Another issue perhaps.

It is with pleasure verging on hysteria that I find myself in agreement with Bigtwin (dabs forehead with scented handkerchief etc., etc....)

 

[dellzeqq]

Crankarm's post is well worth reading and re-reading, but, in one respect I would part company with him.

This concerns surveyors. My dear Punkypossum, should you feel that in this adventure you are surrounded by rogues in the shape of estate agents and solicitors, may I tell you that they are as nothing compared to surveyors. Suffice to say that if the house fell down on top of you the day after you bought it, it would be a rare surveyor who didn't fall back on the excuse that they didn't fully inspect because they couldn't lift the carpets.

If you're going to pay money to a surveyor then establish, preferably face to face, what you are paying for. Ask every question that comes in to your head, and ask again in the extremely likely event that they don't give you a straight answer. Will they inspect inside the loft, or lift manhole covers, or raise every carpet no matter what? And, if there is any question at all about the solidity or rigidity of the house then consider calling in a structural engineer for advice.

And, with the surveyor's report expect a raft of calls for specialist reports and treatment if there is the slightest smidgeon of doubt on any matter. These guys make a living by cut-and-pasting phrases like 'a chemical damp proof course should be installed' or 'there is evidence of dry rot, and a specialist report and treatment is recommended'.

(with apologies to any surveyors here.....)

 

[Bigtwin]

It is with pleasure verging on hysteria that I find myself in agreement with Bigtwin (dabs forehead with scented handkerchief etc., etc....)

Relax, it was bound to happen, it just took you a long time to get up to speed.

And yes, surveys are a waste of time. The only possible exception is a full structural survey, and only then if, IF you can get them to explain the cut and paste crap and actually sign it off as final form, as opposed to draft.

More useful is getting a decent builder (just say it quickly and move on) to nose round and make you a priced list of defects.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think the message, PP is this. House purchase is not easy. The fact that a lot of people have done it doesn't mean that it's straightforward - it means that most of them have trusted to dumb luck and not come to grief. And, though it is no comfort at all to you for me to write this....drawing buildings, and tending their construction for a living for twenty years still doesn't make it comfortable. If you are worried sick about it then that is as it should be.

The trick is to ask every question you can think of until you get a straight answer...........

 

[Danny]

And, with the surveyor's report expect a raft of calls for specialist reports and treatment if there is the slightest smidgeon of doubt on any matter. These guys make a living by cut-and-pasting phrases like 'a chemical damp proof course should be installed' or 'there is evidence of dry rot, and a specialist report and treatment is recommended'.

(with apologies to any surveyors here.....)

Don't apologise.

In my experience cut and paste functionality must have been developed with solicitors in minds. Surveyors get paid more for doing less than any other profession I can think of. Their basic surveys are totally useless, and all you get from a more advanced survey is a report which is essentially one long disclaimer that they can't guarantee the house is sound, and advising you need to pay out even more money to a raft of specialists if you want to be sure.

 

[punkypossum]

Argh!!!! I thought things could only get better after the solicitor drama, from your responses clearly that is not the case!

And in a way the solicitor nightmare continues as it transpires the vendor uses Countrywide (this piece of information lead to a large sigh and an "Oh No!" from my current solicitors). If the horror reviews on the internet are anything to go by, this means the sale could drag on for some time as they are apparently rather proficient at losing documents and discovering last minute problems that should have been dealt with weeks before...

But hey, at least it's not me paying the extortionate fees for it!!!

 

[dellzeqq]

OK. More bad news. It's not so much about the sale dragging on, but, rather, about the vendor getting another offer, or the mortgage offer expiring.

When we bought the house we live in now my one spark of inspiration was to talk directly to the vendor. I wanted the house and she wanted the money. We both realised that the way to achieve this was to make sure that the 'professionals' were doing their job, and it transpired that her solicitors were a sack of shite. Happily I could report every move that our solicitors made, and every move the surveyor made, and, by doing that, it eliminated the 'we're waiting for the purchaser's solicitor to get in touch' rubbish.

The estate agent loved us. He really did - we were doing his job, but able to do it better than he could, because we were speaking to people that we were paying. And he, the agent, just wanted the sale to go through.

On the down side I think you have a responsibility to be honest with the vendor. They may be just as anxious about this as you are, and when it looked like our sale would fall through (Foxtons had the nerve to indulge the purchaser in a bit of gazundering) the first thing we did was to tell the vendor that we were adrift. But, even that worked out, because the estate agents talked to each other, and realised that we were seriously not going to suffer a £20,000 last minute reduction in the price.

So, my advice is a kind of extension of Crankarm's words of wisdom above - go and see the house as often as you can, and build an honest dialogue with the vendor.

 

[Bigtwin]

Wise words. When we purchased the rambling edifice that is Bigtwin Towers, move one was to sack the estate agents on the spot, and split the saving 50/50 with the sellers. I had caught the Agents with undergarments aflame claiming that the sellers were considering a higher offer (pick up 'phone - Q:"are you? A:No." Agents sacked) Paid for a new roof on the Lodge House and well as for some of the staff for the first year for us, and they got a house in Spain, all for free.

Amazing how smoothly and cheaply the whole process progressed from that point on.