When to instruct a solicitor?

[tenapenny2018]

We had our offer accepted. The seller says they "found somewhere they want to buy", but has not confirmed whether their offer has been accepted or not.

When should I start getting more serious (by which I mean ready to actually spend some money to get mortgage and solicitor ready)?

I had bad experience with sellers chasing me while not doing anything themselves; and then they pulled out leaving me a large abortive cost, so a bit wary of rush in.

Yep I’d wait until chain is confirmed

Have you decided which solicitor to use? If not, you should get all your quotes now and decide who you will instruct so you are ready to go when they do find somewhere, but you don't want to be paying for any searches or the like until they are ready to go. You can always set everything up, do the ID/compliance stuff and then put it on hold until you have confirmation your sellers are proceeding.

Thanks all.

Yea, I am worried that once/if the seller knows that we have put some money down already, so it is less likely that we will pull out, wouldn't they then just sit back and relax?

Really? They need to actually sell their house to you. Ask the EA selling their house whether they have actually had an offer accepted. The EA will then ask you for your solicitor's details for the memorandum of sale.

wowfudge I am not sure if my seller has even made an offer or not, let alone whether had their offer accepted.

The thing is although all sellers say they are serious, but the reality is about 1 in 3 of them pull out (ok, buyers do that too), so I have to take their words with a pinch of salt.