To think buying and selling homes could be made much much simpler..

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

If there was a sort of "legal database" where only solicitors can access and it would show all previous documents relating to a property so there is no faff of going back and forth between solicitors.
I'm having to provide building warrants and applications, affadavits for road access etc which was obviously already done when we bought the property. Now we are going through it all again using a different solicitor for the sale.

Also the jargon ..surely the jargon could be modernised?! I just had an email saying "I see that you have emailed further requesting a mandate, I will get my colleague to prepare same and forward onto you."

Prepare the same! Honestly..

Maybe I am being unreasonable but it's such a fucking fafffffff.

Massively agree. There's absolutely no reason for it to be so complicated. Other countries manage a much simpler system. SIL bought in the US late last year, she has the keys within 3 weeks. And she wasn't exactly in a rush!

I will get my colleague to prepare same and forward onto you

People pompously writing "the same" when they could just say "it" (which is 99% of the time) is one of my pet hates! I always amend it when reviewing drafts prepared by juniors. Also "in relation to" when they could just put "on"/"about" etc.

I agree OP.

I would add a caution based on personal experience. The seller we were buying off was using the same solicitor they’d had for their purchase of the house. It was a large property that had been partitioned (it wasn’t a straight line down the middle into 2 semis). A family member did our legal work so was very eagle-eyed.

To cut a long story short, the way the paperwork had been drafted when it was partitioned (by their solicitor) made the house unmortgageable. It required some changes their solicitor was unwilling to accept as it required him to action a bunch of back-dated work and a headache for him. The seller was unaware so I ended up having to go round in person and explain why we had no choice but to pull out and she was left with an unsaleable house until her solicitor sorted it out. He wasn’t going to do that and my family member told me to advise her to seek independent advice given the shit show he’s left her with.

Like wtf! Why not do this FIRST. I don't know the process, you're meant to!

The number of times I have cried those exact words!

Plus, when they ask you for a bunch of documents, you spend all your free time getting them done asap, then three weeks later it's "and also we need this from you" ffs just ask for what you need at the start!

It is not in the interests of anyone who makes money from this hellish process to make it quicker or easier. Ugh.

The process with solicitors is so slooow. Throw estate agents into the mix, and let's face it the country's brightest and best are not all scrabbling to be EAs are they, and the whole thing is just painful.

We're staying put now 😄

It's more the fact that they make a massive fuss over things they don't understand, that are not a problem.

Completely agree with this.
It is ridiculous that agreeing with someone you want to buy their house, isn't seen as a binding contract. Or even that you have to put down a deposit or something.
People either gazumping, or buyers suddenly wanting a massive drop in price the day before just shouldn't be an option.

We are mid move at the moment and our solicitors have asked us to clarify points on the deeds.

Dude, I am literally paying you to understand this stuff. I can’t translate that into English.

It doesn't have to be this way

In Scotland, pretty much all properties ate now on the Land Register, so no need for solicitor to look at all the old title deeds

And less of an issue with buyers / sellers pulling out

But I am in Scotland and it is still laborious

We accepted an offer on ours last june, we exchanged Wednesday just gone and move next week.

The first house we were going to buy, got all the way to exchange then the sellers pulled out just before. Turns out they repeatedly advertise their house for sale, then pull out somewhere along the line, and then relist a few months later. £2,000 in solicitors and survey fees wasted. I didnt know about homebuyers insurance then.

Luckily we found another property in December which had no onward chain. We nearly lost that because our buyers solicitor, since June, hadn't taken our buyers deposit.

8 months for a first time buyer (our buyer), us and the property we bought with no chain which admittedly would have been sooner had our first sellers not pulled out. I'm never moving again!!

DeltaAlphaDelta79

You are extremely lucky that your buyers were prepared to wait for you. Sellers arsing about are half the problem. If you're selling your house, just get it sold and fuck off into a rental!

They do - they have a collaboration group with the conveyancing/property industries to work on exactly that. There's also a trade body called the Open Property Data Associaton whose aim is to digitise as much of the property data as possible to speed up that part of the process.

The problem is that you need everyone on board: consumers, lenders, estate agents, conveyancers, etc. And some parts of that process (particularly the legal bits) are slow-moving beasts.

We will see it happen though, eventually.

Just moved and never again. Unbelievably awful process and that’s without any major issues like someone pulling out.

All buyers and sellers need to be clearly educated on what is required of them, solicitors need to communicate clearly and IMO if surveys were done prior to going to market that would save a hell of a lot of hassle when the buyer discovers x,y and z ( especially first time buyers).

Our estate agent worked her butt of to get us completed and was unbelievably frustrated at the lack of competence from the professionals and clients buying from us. There were only 3 in the chain!

Oh how frustrating. I thought it was generally better in Scotland

This is good to hear.

Let's hope they make some progress.

They do it on purpose to line solicitors pockets. you can actually do your own conveyancing

Not if a lender is involved, sadly.

It’s slow because targets are high and fees are low which means conveyancers are dealing with too many clients at one time to be efficient.

Pay more at a decent firm and you will usually get a better service.

YANBU!

No they don't. Most conveyancing is on a fixed fee and your typical conveyancer is not a particularly high earner.

Not if there's a lender involved.

Are you a solicitor @DameCelia ?

The process could be a lot simpler and faster

The Land Registry has already looked at a blockchain based solution

https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2019/05/24/could-blockchain-be-the-future-of-the-property-market/

So why has it not happened ?

Occam’s razor would point to the legal industry stopping progress.

The bottom line is that without conveyancing there would not enough jobs for the incompetent and/or lazy members of the profession.

I've never understood the survey ridiculousness.

Seller accepts offer. Buyer has survey which throws up xyz. Buyer pulls out. Next buyer comes along. Same debacle.

Just make having a full, detailed survey something every seller has to have in place before listing and EA valuing - and it's then provided to everyone viewing.

The same as you'd have to pay for an up to date Gas Safety Certificate if you're renting your house. If you're selling, you need to first pay for a survey.