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.

Just change the solicitors to the one recommended and they if there are hold ups, not your problem.

Yes it is me! Using a friends account but me nonetheless! (I don’t have a Reddit account personally) Some good advice on there too.

I have enquired at a couple of local firms and will see what I get back. If seller isn’t happy again then I’ll be pulling out.

Fingers crossed

Thought it must be!

As mentioned on Reddit, there's a big difference between:

"We don't want you to use the solicitor you're suggesting, you must use one we've suggested."

Which is conditional selling and therefore illegal.

And:

"We don't want you to use the solicitor you're suggesting, as we've dealt with them before and find them quite rubbish, please choose somebody else."

Not an unreasonable position to take on the part of the seller/EA.

I wouldn't use anyone recommended by the EA, but if the seller has offered to drop the price to encourage you to look for a different solicitor, it might be worth seeing if there is anyone else you'd be happy to engage. The seller's concerns might be legitimate, or they might be trying to get even more commission for their mate. But as per the experience of some others on this thread, if I were selling and the buyer was using the same bunch of incompetent numpties that my seller was when I bought, I wouldn't sell to them.

Something fishy is going on.

If they ring again get it in writing along with the reduced offer. Tell your solicitor this is going on.

Pass it under the nose of my your solicitor and then under the nose of the property ombudsman. This will be the first of many demands.

The only time one side can object to a particular solicitor is when they are using them: a conflicts of interest thingy.

The only time one side can object to a particular solicitor is when they are using them: a conflicts of interest thingy

Are you sure about that?

If they choose the seller can decide they don't want to sell to a particular person because their solicitor happens to be called Brian. I don't think there' anything in law that says the seller must go through with a sale to that person.

Conditional selling, where the agent says to a buyer "you must use xyz solicitors" is illegal however.

I too would refuse to sell my house to a buyer who insisted on using an out of town solicitor with bad reviews. Local solicitors help progress a transaction as they are usually familiar with planning and local title issues that an out of town solicitor might be oblivious about. All solicitors are required to act independently and in their client’s best interest so unless I was particularly wedded to a specific solicitor I would go with the one recommended by the seller if doing otherwise might potentially lose me the house.

Some solicitors are hopeless, know of one that asked for the grant of probate for someone who was still alive. It was being sold by the power of attorney, and this was from a conveyencer who alledgely has 20 years experience!!

If we were selling and found out anyone was using countrywide I would also do the same. They're forced to push upon people using their group estate agents and they are absolutely dire.

They also hunt down and get reviews removed they don't like from various platforms ( yes they can) so don't assume you're seeing the full picture

If a EA has recommended them they're probably getting a backhander. Id avoid like the plague.

There is a small firm of solicitors in our local market town who are painfully slow. If i was wanting to sell a property in a hurry their involvement would certainly be a deal breaker.
i don’t think it totally outlandish for the seller to veto a solicitor, but wouldn't like them picking one for me. Comes down to how bad you want the house OP.

When my DD was selling her house she lost her first buyers as their solicitor simply didn't understand the set up on the private estate and told the buyers that the property was unmortgagable. When she found a second buyer she asked them to use a more local solicitor who would understand the local covenants.

I wouldn't use EA solicitor (better to have your own) but equally use a decent solicitor not just a conveyancing factory (as they are not good!). You often get what you pay for - and spending a bit extra now could end up saving you lots in the future....

I don't feel anything fishy going on here - they've offered you money off so you can pay the extra to use a local solicitor as they'll probably be more expensive than the online one.

They've probably been burnt before by an online conveyancing firm, I certainly have. My purchase almost fell through and I was sent a notice to complete due to their incompetence. They constantly lied and said they hadn't received things I sent them, then kept telling me they were waiting on the contract from the vendor, when I knew it had been sent weeks before. Eventually the person I was dealing with went on holiday and what do you know.... the contract was sat on her desk 🙄 They take on too much work and just string things out to buy themselves more time.

Never again.

When we bought our house i used a sol who was recommended. They were slow and useless taking over 6 months for it to go thru. When i had to sell my fathers house after his death the estate agent i used pushed
us to use her husbands conveyancing service and i have to admit they were fantastic and the whole thing went thru in 6 weeks!! (After probate) so sometimes they are right to recommend. , have good working relationships ans communication etc..

IME, a recommendation is a good thing because it means there’s a clear line of communication between the EA and the solicitor. If the transaction stalls or there is an issue, the EA can chase the solicitor who, fingers crossed, will be well known to them so the legal work on their properties will be prioritised and dealt with quickly. Win win all round.

So I’ve changed solicitor, seller is still not happy and has asked for the original offer I gave, instead of a slightly reduced offer for changing solicitors. She wants me to use a local solicitor and has even established she wants one within a 30 mile radius. 🤨

Just pull out op.

Ridiculous. I bet she's had other offers that have fallen through due to her demands.

Run away, it's not worth it. She's obviously not serious about wanting to sell the house.

The estate agent has also ‘told me off’ for this. Absolutely ridiculous.

I would follow up your offer withdrawal with a letter to the seller, just in case it's actually still the Estate Agent lying and wanting a back hander from his own solicitor.

Jesus. Report them!

If you have this in writing, go to the property ombudsman. There is some sort of collusion going on and also walk away from the sale.

Whether this is actually ridiculous depends:

1. Is the seller backing out on the £1.5k reduction they previously offered for changing solicitors? If they can renege on an agreement so quickly I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
2. Are your new solicitors local solicitors as they requested? If not, you haven’t held up your side of the bargain.

Trying not to be too outing here but I was told off for using a solicitor firm in the next city along (one I’ve used myself before for other issues and a work colleague also recommended them). The estate agent and vendor want a solicitor from the city we’re in.

I don’t know if this is a game they’re playing but I am drafting up a withdrawal email.

Yep they’ve backed out of the 1.5k reduction.

I’ve only just been told about the 30 mile radius. I was just about to instruct a solicitor in the next city along, not too far distance wise!