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 pull out, this seller is ridiculous.

You'll have more trouble down the line.

There will always be a reason why your own chosen solicitor is not good enough I bet, even within the radius.

My hunch is the estate agent is trying to manipulate both parties, so I would want to contact the seller directly as well.

But that’s not what the reduction was offered for though? I can understand their frustration - you accepted a £1.5k reduction in exchange for using a local solicitor and then you don’t use a local solicitor. There seems to be a communication issue between you and the EA/seller and it sounds like you have all annoyed each other so probably best to call it a day if you’re not that keen on the property.

It is not remotely normal or reasonable for a seller or estate agent to make these demands. I've never heard anything like it and it would make me lose trust.

I get what you’re saying, but I suppose local is quite a subjective term. A solicitor 20/30/40 miles away to me is local (but I know that’s my own personal opinion!)

@Dotto it is and there are lots of examples in this thread from people who would also refuse to sell their houses to people who insist on using shoddy online conveyancing farms.

I don't believe them, to be honest. A solicitor will have a firm, address and insurance whether acquired via local recommendation or online broker. As they are all broadly as shit / good as each other, why pay more just to sing to someone else's tune?

From their perspective, they think you haven’t played with a straight bat and the seller has responded by rescinding their original offer. If I thought a buyer had behaved in the way they probably think you have, I too would think you were trying to pull a fast one. Whether or not you want to try and clear up the misunderstanding depends on whether you actually want the house. If you do, explain that you want to use the solicitor in the next town and are therefore happy to proceed without the £1.5k price reduction. Alternatively, insist on the £1.5k reduction and instruct a local solicitor (ie in your city) as that’s the condition the reduction is attached to.

Try not to get too bogged down on who is right or wrong. If this is your dream house, you will have forgotten all about this interaction in a year’s time.

explain that you want to use the solicitor in the next town

This got the OP 'told off' by the EA. This is not remotely acceptable.

A good, local solicitor is worth so much more than an online conveyancing factory. I personally am happy to use an online conveyancer because I’m also a property solicitor, I have good local
planning knowledge and I can shadow their work. I have yet to come across an online conveyancer who hasn’t made a mistake that I have had to correct.

Thanks for your point of view. To be honest the whole thing seems a bit ridiculous in my opinion and I am withdrawing my interest. I have a gut feeling there may be more demands down the line if I do proceed.

Can I also just add neither were conveyance factory types! Both firms came with good recommendations to me.

They sound batshit.

I’m not sure what other demands there might be down the line but, yes, it’s important to follow your gut. It won’t feel good to buy a house from someone you think is trying to swindle you.

I have yet to come across an online conveyancer who hasn’t made a mistake that I have had to correct

My broker keeps an eye on the conveyancers whose services I contracted online, but she's only had to step in once to push things along.

I have only had one mistake in 7 transactions and it was easily remedied myself as they are all duty bound by a code of practice.

They are nothing to be worried about IME.

Estate agents always have a relationship with a solicitor or two that they'll try and push you towards.

You are ENTIRELY within your rights to go with whomever you chose. I actually ended up with a company recommended by my (really excellent) mortgage broker.

Unless its the total never find again rock bottom price lucky to find it house. I'd refuse point blank

Agree with this. Lots of agents are wary of low cost conveyancers who are actually shit, cause a lot of stress and delays and don’t have the skills to sort things out when something complex happens. They lead to failed sales or extremely stressful sales.

We asked for details of our sellers’ solicitor and to approve them before proceeding with our purchase, same for our buyers. It’s not necessarily a case of them forcing their people on you - you may thank them later!

Thinking about it I think the estate agent has made promises to the vendor hence the solicitor drama and not wanting it to be a firm that potentially could take a while. The vendor did make a comment when I viewed that the EA had said he’d get it to completion within four weeks. The vendor then laughed so I did think it was a joke at the time but now I’m thinking maybe it wasn’t…

Have to agree with this, if they are nuts at this stage, they don’t get any less nuts as the sale progresses.

There will be other houses, owned by non-crazy sellers who are minded to sell. There’s a reason this one has been on the market for six months.

I don't agree.

The gap between a decent solicitor and a crap one is positively vast.

100% !

For what, out of interest?

Absolutely correct.

I wonder if the buyer is wanting them local so they can hassle them in person, especially if they want a quick exchange/completion?

We went local when moved to our second home as had useless solicitors with our first time buyer purchase. That way could drop off documents in person and actually talk to someone rather than getting told "someone would get back to us" or not answering their phones.

Took roughly the same time to completion on second go with the local ones and polite hassling - despite being in a chain, it being during Covid and over 2 of the lockdowns and Christmas period in between. When the first time we had no chain, just poor solicitors, but thankfully were able to roll our rental contract on a couple of extra months.