Seller won’t accept my offer unless I change solicitor

[Random100]

First time buyer

Had initial offer rejected. I offered more and this is still under consideration.

I’ve received an email from the estate agent today (who is good friends with the seller apparently) that they both won’t accept offer or work with me at all unless I change my solicitor. Apparently the firm I use has bad reviews. The estate agency has of course recommended I use one of their recommendations (!!)

I’ve been personally recommended my solicitor by two people I know well.

They seem rather pushy and I’ve already had two calls from the EA about it already this afternoon.

So I’ve just had the estate agent on the phone querying who my personal recommendations for the solicitor were. He was berating everything I said, trying to guilt trip me into changing solicitor.

the vendor has agreed to knock off 1.5k if I change solicitor.

I really like this property and it’s well within my budget. I am not sure what to do now.

Effectively that 1.5K is your legal fees paid for on a house you want to buy. Change solicitor. But NOT to any recommended by the EA - choose your own.

Forcing you to use their solicitor is illegal, what exactly have they put in writing? “We think you should use Joe Bloggs solicitors” versus “we have had very bad experiences with your solicitors and want to you find someone else” are very different.

Agents upselling solicitors they pass on recommendations to can get £200 up to half the entire price of the conveyancing costs in kickbacks (which is not illegal). If they are trying to force their solicitors on you, ask yourself how good they will be if half their costs are getting paid to the agent.

You could call their bluff: tell them you will switch to Let’s Move Convyancing. A firm I have used in the past who still have five star reviews across every single platform. They will have no reason to complain about bad online reviews. Then you can simply appoint whomever you like and say you changed your mind - it’s just a way to filter out whether they are going to try to force another firm on you. Because if they make it a condition of a sale that you use theirs that IS illegal and you can get the ombudsman all over their arses.

Or you can suck up whatever dross they are forcing you to use and enjoy the £1500 off the house.

Btw, this is becoming increasingly common. What is unusual/stupid is them putting it in writing.

Not sure what you mean by "who you use is confidential to you"?

The EA will need to produce a sales memorandum, which includes details of the buyer and seller, as well as which solicitor is representing each party. You're not going to get far if you refuse to advise which solicitor you have appointed as it's "confidential"

I'm pretty sure there's no need to declare an interest that an EA happens to be friends with the vendor.

Relation or business associate yes, but friends no.

For 1.5k if you want th4 house I’d just change.

So I have proposed a new slightly reduced offer with me switching to another solicitor firm.

the vendor has accepted my offer but won’t work with me unless I use a local solicitor and not one of these ‘conveyencing firms that are all over the country’

She wants to know the solicitor’s name before she takes the property off the market.

Op, by taking 1.5k off the price of the house that’s how much they’ve valued your intelligence and common sense to be worth. I’d be walking away and looking for something else.

And just to add that I wouldn’t be taking part in whatever game they’re playing for any price.

Why the hell would you that? The seller is batshit and likely to try many other stunts along the way. I'd honestly look elsewhere, this seller is a nightmare and the estate agent is unprofessional.

That seems an odd take.

It sounds less like: "I [seller/EA] want you to use xyz solicitor]

and more:

"Please don't use a conveyancing factory, use a local solicitor, I'm not bothered which one."

I would look for somewhere else if I were you. These people are strange and I suspect if you give in now. there will be other odd demands coming your way.

Personally, I'd be accepting the terms if I wanted the house. I wouldn't chose the solicitors recommended by the EA - want to be sure the solicitor is working for me. But really, property-buying advice everywhere will say that those nationwide call-centre conveyancers tend to be rubbish and local solicitors are a better choice. This vendor is generously giving you some money to pay for a better quality service - it's a win-win really.

I am happy to take a local solicitor if needs be, I am just wary of future demands from the vendor and estate agent.

The EA is now pushing their recommended solicitors once more. I’ve given quite an assertive response that I won’t be using a recommended one by them and will be revert back to them in due course with who I have appointed.

The property is ideal for what I want and it’s well within budget so I am happy to change firms if needs be however it is frustrating me somewhat that they’re doing this. The property has not had an offer in six months(!!) surely they shouldn’t be pissing me off? 😂

To be honest I completely understand that. I have been round the houses trying to get quotes from about ten firms (within my county) and thought I had finally found a good one. It was the only one who actually bothered to return my call to ask if we need to start the process now (unsure if 4 or 7 month completion) and I was about to pay them. Then someone on here said “these conveyancing factories often get an administrator to do the work” and I thought “well mine isn’t a conveyancing factory.” Nonetheless I decided to look at who they had assigned to me, and she was listed as a conveyancing executive. Basically, an administrator. I want a lawyer looking at my stuff. So I nope’d right out of there and looked at all the little local firms, instead of trying to find one via the CLC.

I found one last week and they have thus far been responsive and really pretty good. The woman dealing with the sale heads up the conveyancing dept. And as a bonus (which I hope isn’t a false economy) they are over £400 cheaper.

The advantage of having a little local firm is you can turn up on their doorstep if you aren’t getting a response.

So, yeah, what the seller is saying makes complete sense to me (but I would have given you a different opinion just a fortnight ago!).

I just made sure my lady is registered with the law society, which she is.

I would always recommend a local solicitor firm over a generic conveyancing company

Things may go well but if they don't it's much easier with someone he knows your area and someone you can meet face to face with, drop documents into their hands ...

I'd use a local solicitor but I would NOT be forced into using one pushed by the seller's side. There's a massive conflict of interest there. Change to local business and get it all sorted.

Again, that seems a slightly extreme reaction to what is being asked!

Of course none of us hear know exactly what has been said, so as ever it is difficult to be certain about the situation.

But, seems as though the vendor and their EA are trying to push towards a different solicitor in general, rather than one other solicitor in particular.

Not sure why some posters seem to suggest reporting the EA.

I've never had a problem with an out of area solicitor / conveyancing factory. They are generally more efficient, quicker, better value for money and usually no-completion no-fee. If you go via a broker, the broker can pull strings to get them moving if necessary.

I have however had a problem having to pull local firms up myself on their expensive, antiquated and out of touch practices when working for family members.

The seller is a snob.

Why shouldn’t the EA say who the solicitor is? The agent is contracted to the seller; they have to pass on information, surely?

I’m also baffled by the PPs saying that your solicitors’ details should be confidential. How would that work? Nobody - including the seller’s solicitor - would be able to write to your solicitor.

I think some people must think house buying is like organising a coup in a Central American country.

This is strange. I doubt any of this is coming from the vendor- I really doubt it.

When I bought my second property, I found these:
1.EA was DESPERATE to continue with me as I was an honest straightforward buyer with no chain and everything ready: huge cash deposit and huge mortgage in principle. So an expensive property which would mean a lot in commission for them to even pay staff salaries.
2.It was at the time property prices had been very high but slowly starting to drop gradually (much like now) but banks not lending as lending criteria were tightened.
3.I was even scolded (It felt like( by EA as soon as my offer was accepted to not talk to other EA about same property. I see he feared, as place had been on market for many many months and owners desperate to sell, EA might either convince owner to drop me, or drop the price further and I go with new EA. I felt harassed by EA immediately after offer accepted and I had done nothing wrong nor spoken to anyone. However, I understood the tough market he was in and that he was desperate for the sale, so doing all he could to protect this sale.
4.He also wanted me to change mortgage adviser- not pushing it, as I said I was happy with my own. Again, I took this as he wanting to use someone he trusted to push the sale through.
5.Surveyor- again, he wanted to recommend someone. I refused and googled my own based in the area.
6.I am sure he must have mentioned solicitors, too, but my solicitors were 50% ready, just waiting fir me to find a house I wanted. EA also saw evidence of that pretty soon.
7.My sale was done within 3 weeks. EA said owners were so touched by the honourable way I conducted everything and wanted to meet me to thank me in person. I was too busy to meet them on day of completion.
8.I still see the EA- it is a central area- and wave at each other.

--
Yes, it is unlawful to insist you use a specific solicitor.
I would walk away, no matter how much wanted that house.
If you really want it, insist you find another solicitor of your own choice.

Ugh, I hate estate agents.

Did you post this on Reddit? If not, someone’s in the same situation and there’s good advice on there too.

It now sounds as if they just want you to use a local conveyancer rather than an online one. If that is correct, and they don't insist on their own solicitor, it sounds reasonable.

Both myself and DP have been involved in home purchases in the last few months - in both our cases, our ex's used online conveyancing outfits and in both cases it cost £000s in onward costs due to the unnecessary cockups they made, one was Optima Legal, the other I can't recall. So if it's being suggested you move away from one of these, I totally endorse it. We both used local firms and that worked brilliantly but they were hampered by the extraordinary ineptitude of the conveyancing on the other sides.

Has to be the same one, surely? Too much of a coincidence otherwise.