Conveyancing a Sale. DIY instead of solicitor? I am tempted to try it.

[Sheilablessus]

A long time ago we did our own purchase, it worked fine.
Wondering if anyone tried it recently.

I’m a conveyancing solicitor.

I did my DM’s probate application because it was straightforward and the government has forms and advice online to allow for that. You will note that they don’t for conveyancing…

This is very foolish. But no one can stop you if you want to.

I think £1500 is a bargain personally, you are paying for experience.

@takeaflight

Why not have a go !

Solicitors will always recommend using solicitors, however it’s more than likely you will get a clerk or at best a conveyancer. The idea you will have redress in the future may not always be the case. I have personally experienced a solicitor running for the hills when an issue raised its head, even though it was covered on signing the contract initially. Also a solicitor registering a sale only in my name as opposed to joints names with my wife, caused me several thousands of pounds In accountancy fees sorting the issue out with HMRC 6 years later. A friend only found out after replacing windows in the front of his house, that it was listed and he had to have windows remade into the the original style, the solicitor had died and who ever had taken on the practice didn’t want to know. Another friend had lease issues that had been incorrectly worded, again causing extra expense and in his case time problems.
If it’s a fairly straight forward transaction and you feel confident then why not, if you are borrowing then I think you will find the lender will want a solicitor on your behalf, which of course you will have to pay their fee.

What is a clerk? Do you mean articled clerk?

@Sheilablessus

What annoys me is that they charge according to cost of house. What nonsense! In a sale which is what we are considering, it is so simple. The house has been sold many times in it's life. There are no searches obviously and all details are on Land Registry. No lender involved. Why are they talking about £1500. That is a bundle of money for two or three hours work.

But you will happily pay the estate in excess of 1% plus vat no doubt? A person with no skill or liability.

As a conveyancer this annoys me.

Sorry, Estate Agent..

I would pull out of the sale if you were self representing. And I don’t think I’d be the only one.

You run the risk of your transaction not proceeding

Another solicitor here who wouldn't dream of doing my own conveyancing. Put bluntly, if it goes wrong I want someone to sue.

@Sheilablessus

What annoys me is that they charge according to cost of house. What nonsense! In a sale which is what we are considering, it is so simple. The house has been sold many times in it's life. There are no searches obviously and all details are on Land Registry. No lender involved. Why are they talking about £1500. That is a bundle of money for two or three hours work.

This is because you are also paying indirectly for insurance (via a claim against your solicitor) in case anything goes wrong and the higher the property cost, the more exposure there is. Like if you getting travel insurance for a weekend away or a world tour- the latter would cost you more…

Not a solicitor. Been a mortgage broker for years. I would definitely be telling anyone to instruct a conveyancer or solicitor.

I’m “at work” now doing training, so I’ve looked up our requirements for non-represented sellers.
As a minimum you’d have to send us a Land Registry proof of ID form, make the contract more complicated, add to your buyer’s conveyancing fees, get an up to date copy of your title from the Land Registry and had your mortgage already paid off (or we’d do it for you and charge you).
Still sound easy?

Not a chance and would pull out of a purchase. I'm a non-practicing solicitor and know "how" but definitely would want someone to sue.

My solicitor in my recent transaction was worth every penny!

I'm a solicitor and don't do my own conveyancing!

Trust me, it's money well spent.

Also, it's not 2-3 hours work

P.s some solicitors will refuse to deal with someone on the other side doing their own conveyancing.

JUST PAY FFS. £1500 is not unreasonable for specialist advice and protection. Would you perform your own surgery?!

Ok, Thank you all for the replies to me query. I am surprised that no one has been positive toward me.
No one has addressed the point that solicitors feel entitled to charge according to value of house. It isn't harder to work on a house that costs £500k than on one at £250k is it?
No ideas how many hours work is involved. That is a secret so that the cartel is maintained and extra profit ensured.
Saying you would not accept me on the other side of the transaction is blatantly unfair. Is it illegal?
One of the reasons I am considering this is because of delays currently in the system. Admittedly mainly on the buy side, and I am selling.

It costs more because the financial risk is higher. I'm afraid I find your approach extremely arrogant. People spend years training to do this. Never skimp on proper professional or legal advice, it's a recipe for disaster.

When you sell a property you answer a series of questions about it. If you make a mistake with the answers you might be sued by your buyer. If you instruct a solicitor they will protect your position so you will never be at risk of a claim. Or, if your solicitor makes a mistake and does not protect your position, you can then claim against your solicitor. Either way you are protected against anything going wrong. But do it yourself if you want to.. most solicitors liken doing your own conveyancing to doing your own brain surgery which says it all I think….

The arrogance is unreal. You're kidding yourself if you think this is easy and/or not worth paying a properly qualified person OP. I'm guessing you don't object to estate agents charging based on property value?

As a buyer I wouldn't go anywhere near a sale where the seller wasn't using a lawyer. If you aren't prepared to pay for that what else won't you pay for? How many botched jobs are there in the property, waiting to be uncovered?

Absolutely no way would I consider my own conveyance - sale or purchase. Not a solicitor but a surveyor.

Presumably you have enough legal experience to be able to answer the legal questions correctly that your buyer’s solicitor will ask of you? You’re not doing any searches, but your buyer will be. What happens if your buyer’s solicitor interprets an aspect of the title differently to you, how would you get them comfortable in a legal sense? (Hint: telling them the house has sold many times won’t cut it!) How will you arrange indemnities if you are unable to agree to something?

They charge more per property because that’s how their PI insurance works. There’s more risk for them on a £1,000,000 property than a £100,000 home.

Solicitors are a cartel? Even though conveyancers exist so you don't actually have to use a solicitor?

I am just about to have a licence to alter prepared by a solicitor - something I did consider doing myself but would be pretty much googling templates and hoping I've covered myself. Even though I've been qualified for 10 years, I decided I wouldn't do it because actually, I know very little about property law. And as you're talking such high prices, there is no way I'd want to mess it up over a couple of hundred pounds.

Saying you would not accept me on the other side of the transaction is blatantly unfair. Is it illegal?

Of course it’s not illegal or unfair. Before exchange you can drop out of a transaction for any reason you like. I would not deal with a vendor who isn’t using a solicitor.

@Sheilablessus

Ok, Thank you all for the replies to me query. I am surprised that no one has been positive toward me. No one has addressed the point that solicitors feel entitled to charge according to value of house. It isn't harder to work on a house that costs £500k than on one at £250k is it? No ideas how many hours work is involved. That is a secret so that the cartel is maintained and extra profit ensured. Saying you would not accept me on the other side of the transaction is blatantly unfair. Is it illegal? One of the reasons I am considering this is because of delays currently in the system. Admittedly mainly on the buy side, and I am selling.

Of course it isn't illegal. Nobody is forced to buy your house and if they consider buying your house when you're doing your own conveyancing too big a risk, they are perfectly entitled not to buy your house!

A lot of conveyancing work involves undertakings re the production of documents etc.

An undertaking from you is worthless.

I don't think any lawyer acting for a buyer would be happy to transfer money to your personal account!

As lawyers we have insurance if it goes wrong. Therefore the risk costs more £ if it goes wrong hence the higher price.

If you're happy to do it, then why not?

If you think buyers will be put off, then maybe an online conveyancing service is a compromise?

@Blankscreen

A lot of conveyancing work involves undertakings re the production of documents etc.

An undertaking from you is worthless.

I don't think any lawyer acting for a buyer would be happy to transfer money to your personal account!

As lawyers we have insurance if it goes wrong. Therefore the risk costs more £ if it goes wrong hence the higher price.

Doesn't everything have to go via the Land Registry though?