Buying a house - help please!

[DtPeabodysLoosePants]

Hi,
I've never bought or sold a house so I've no idea of all the ins and outs. It's my elderly mum who is selling her house to downsize.

My question relates to solicitors and their fees. How do you go about finding a good one that doesn't cost the earth? The one attached to the estate agent (oooh no problem you haven't got one yet, use ours) is a rather fancy and very large company in a suitably fancy and large building in the nearest large town. We live in a small town with a handful of solicitors and I wonder if they would be cheaper or if they are all pretty similar?
The fancy and large company want an initial fee upfront (which she doesn't have unless it's less than £100) before anything is bought or sold. It doesn't say how much this is in the paperwork and I've gone over it with a fine tooth comb for mum. Is this normal too?

I'd be very grateful of any knowledge you can pass on.

She went with the one and only estate agent who she got to value the house. She did this as the same agent is dealing with the property she has made an offer on so she thought it would be simpler that way.

I don't want her to be ripped off.

They have to spell out the likely fees she will incur. It is normal to ask for a fee upfront - I think I’ve paid about £125. This allows them to start the process. If it’s a straightforward sell/buy using the same solicitor it shouldn’t cost more than say £2500, and possibly considerably less. That will include searches, correspondence, transfer and registry fees. Is she having a survey? That’s another fee she has to pay, though not through the solicitor.
They should have supplied an itemised statement of expected costs, if they haven’t, ask for one.

Firstly, I would never have just got a valuation from one estate agent. I appreciate that the EA she went with might do a better job selling your Mum's property as they are handling the sale of the property she wants, but they may be marketing her property at a below market rate just to get that sale. You and your Mum can get an idea of whether her property is being offered at the going rate by looking at similar properties in the same area on right move for example. Did your Mum sign a contract with the EA? If you or her think they have undervalued her house, she could withdraw her house and then put it back on the market with a new EA at the going rate.

Re solicitors, my experience is limited as although I have bought and sold a few times I used the same solicitor each time until selling my house last year and I did go with the solicitor recommended by my EA, but not before getting quotes from them and two others in my town and asking around and the quote from the rec solicitor was cheapest, the firm have been operating for a long time and my solicitor has a good reputation. I would start with getting three quotes from solicitors in your Mum's town and perhaps she could ask friends or neighbours who they used and how they rated them. Get the quotes form the sols in writing - most communicate by email these days, but if your Mum doesn't use email they will write to her instead.

Thanks Pip. They have sent an itemised list through but it doesn't give the initial fee on there. It's about £1800. "Search" is listed at £350 ish. What's that?

Thanks Iwant. She felt pressured by the EA when he came to do the valuation. She signed up there and then 🤦‍♀️ A lot of places here have two EA's boards outside-how does that work?

Don't use the Solicitor recommended by the EA. You want your solicitor to be acting for you- andnot concerned about the impact of any delays or hitches on the sale, because he gets referrals from the EA.
Ask around your friends for a recommendation. Then ring and ask for a quote.
I would also get another valuation from anEA, and negotiate on fees

I was told by my EA that the solicitor would want a fee upfront, which I had never had to do when I had sold previously, but as the last house I sold (until last year) was about 20 years ago, I assumed things had changed. In the event the solicitor I used last year did not ask for an upfront fee and I paid (as I have always done) when the sale had been completed. So I am now not sure whether paying a small upfront amount to solicitors is the done thing now.

This is the figures they sent

Searches are what is done by the solicitor to check whether there are any likely changes taking place in vicinity of the house your Mum is purchasing eg. any new housing or major building work, or new roads of change of use in any green belt areas around the house. Anything that would affect the value of the house that you are purchasing or your enjoyment of said house. The sols write to the local council for this information.

Re the two or more boards - you can instruct as many EAs as you like, and the one who comes up with a buyer earns the commission. The fee for this type of arrangement is often higher than using a sole EA.

Search's would be the environmental search's telling you if the new house is in a flood area, a past land fill site, radon checks. That sort of thing.

Get a few quotes and use the firm that you are most comfortable with overall. Most firms base their fees on the property prices.

The EA's recommendation isn't necessarily a bad thing. I work for a licenced conveyancers and we get most of our work that way. We get good reviews on Trust Pilot.

She will have to pay search fees upfront regardless of who she uses as the search companies and local authorities require payment upfront.

I wouldn’t use the solicitors recommended by the estate agents, they get paid money for referrals and will not have your best interest in mind. Try a google review for local Solicitors or better still word of mouth. I think it’s handy to use a local Solicitor as if you need to pop in and sign documents at short notice.

Ok we have another solicitor doing a quote. She can't get a quote from another EA until a week today which will be outside the 14 day cooking off period. Unless it's 14 working days? It just says 14 days in the paperwork.

Bad news today as someone has has also put an offer in for the same price on the house she was buying.