Buyer's questions without a solicitor

woebetide8 · 2024-10-26T07:00:25+00:00

So... as I posted a few days ago our buyers wanted £30,000 off after their survey, but we held tight and told them we would only take £4,000 off for the damp, which they are considering. They had their survey done really fast and although we have a solicitor in place they have not hired one yet BUT this morning our EA forwarded a load of questions they sent her late last night and it's all about planning consent, boundaries, certificates, gas boiler services, etc, stuff that should really be asked by a conveyancing solicitor during the sale. We don't have the answers to most of it, and want to go back and say, "get a solicitor" because this buyer has already been exhausting and they haven't even agreed a price since the survey. Do we have to do our own conveyancing at this point – shouldn't they have a solicitor on board to do that? I can sense they are going to be a pain so want the solicitors to deal with this one now. Any advice on when that should happen?

CooksDryMeasure · 26/10/2024 08:01

They don’t have to have a conveyancing solicitor, you can do the conveyancing yourself. You could say you’ll only deal with a solicitor but they aren’t obliged to have one.

MinnieMountain · 26/10/2024 08:04

They’d be stupid to buy without a solicitor. They have to have one if they’re getting a mortgage.

Tell them questions like that have to go via their solicitor.

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:05

MinnieMountain · 26/10/2024 08:04

They’d be stupid to buy without a solicitor. They have to have one if they’re getting a mortgage.

Tell them questions like that have to go via their solicitor.

My parents who have bought and sold a lot of houses just said the same thing to me. They also said it can mean the buyer is not serious if they haven't hired a solicitor as these days you often have to slap down a retainer.

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HellsBalls · 26/10/2024 08:09

@woebetide8 but you do have all of that information to hand?
If it’s simply sending an email with ‘Boiler serviced 2023, we own the right hand fence, planning permission dl/123456’ etc then just do it.
It sounds like basic information you should have prepared anyway.

Changingplace · 26/10/2024 08:13

Some of that information, like boiler service you’d have to provide to a solicitor anyway. I’d give them the info you have to hand but the stuff like boundaries comes up from the searches doesn’t it? So send those requests to your solicitor to handle.

Eviebeans · 26/10/2024 08:17

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:05

My parents who have bought and sold a lot of houses just said the same thing to me. They also said it can mean the buyer is not serious if they haven't hired a solicitor as these days you often have to slap down a retainer.

Show quote history

I have bought and sold several times always with a solicitor on both sides. In my view paying the retainer to the solicitor on the part of the buyer and seller signals commitment and intent. If they do not commit in this way they could very well do this with more than one property with no consequence for them.
Don’t entertain time wasters.

Flubadubba · 26/10/2024 08:21

Surely your solicitor would know if they have one? They would have had to correspond to someone.

Might be worth going to yours with the questions and providing any responses by that route, making it clear that enquiries come via the solicitor.

MinnieMountain · 26/10/2024 08:25

They will need their solicitor to do searches too which cost £350ish upfront.

I understand not instructing one until they’ve had a survey, but your buyers need to get moving now.

Have you completed the fixtures and fittings and property information forms for your solicitor?

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:29

HellsBalls · 26/10/2024 08:09

@woebetide8 but you do have all of that information to hand?
If it’s simply sending an email with ‘Boiler serviced 2023, we own the right hand fence, planning permission dl/123456’ etc then just do it.
It sounds like basic information you should have prepared anyway.

We have given answers to the boiler/the UPVC window guarantees and other small stuff that we have in a file, but a lot of it falls under solicitors searches...which includes questions about what we are leaving and taking in the property which from memory is the first form you fill in the sales pack from your solicitor! Maybe they have not done this before although their age would suggest otherwise...

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Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:30

MinnieMountain · 26/10/2024 08:25

They will need their solicitor to do searches too which cost £350ish upfront.

I understand not instructing one until they’ve had a survey, but your buyers need to get moving now.

Have you completed the fixtures and fittings and property information forms for your solicitor?

Yes we have but the buyer hasn't got a solicitor so not sure if they have received it. Our solicitor has just said, "waiting for their instruction"...

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HellsBalls · 26/10/2024 08:33

I would avoid involving your solicitor (costs) until they make another offer you accept. At the moment they are trying to avoid costs and to see if there are any obvious issues. Once they are happy I’m sure they will appoint a solicitor.
So if it’s an email, just do it.

Flubadubba · 26/10/2024 08:36

If they haven't instructed them, maybe respond to each enquiry that it us either in the solicitor's pack or that this will be covered by their solicitor's searches.

I would be putting pressure on them.via the EA to engage a solicitor ASAP to prove that they are serious. It's normally the first thing you do, even if you ask them to hold off doing any chargeable work until survey or mortgage is secured.

Are they FTBs, by any chance? If they are, your EA should be guiding them through more.

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:36

HellsBalls · 26/10/2024 08:33

I would avoid involving your solicitor (costs) until they make another offer you accept. At the moment they are trying to avoid costs and to see if there are any obvious issues. Once they are happy I’m sure they will appoint a solicitor.
So if it’s an email, just do it.

I do get that but we lost the house we wanted to buy and are now facing a quiet winter house search, so hoping they will just crack on with it so we can offer on something before it's a completely dead winter market!

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Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:37

Flubadubba · 26/10/2024 08:36

If they haven't instructed them, maybe respond to each enquiry that it us either in the solicitor's pack or that this will be covered by their solicitor's searches.

I would be putting pressure on them.via the EA to engage a solicitor ASAP to prove that they are serious. It's normally the first thing you do, even if you ask them to hold off doing any chargeable work until survey or mortgage is secured.

Are they FTBs, by any chance? If they are, your EA should be guiding them through more.

No, they are middle aged...

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MinnieMountain · 26/10/2024 08:37

That’s fine then OP. You’ve done as much as you can. Tell them that your solicitor is waiting for details of their solicitor. Repeat until it happens.

needhelpwiththisplease · 26/10/2024 08:41

Tell EA that all information will be passed on at an appropriate time, once they actually agree to the new price.
Have they actually got a mortgage in place?
Is their property up for sale?
Can they afford your home without 30k knocked off?

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 08:58

needhelpwiththisplease · 26/10/2024 08:41

Tell EA that all information will be passed on at an appropriate time, once they actually agree to the new price.
Have they actually got a mortgage in place?
Is their property up for sale?
Can they afford your home without 30k knocked off?

Apparently they are "porting their existing mortgage" ... I am not sure how that works? I asked the EA what their budget is but they won't tell me. I find that a bit odd... When I have signed on with EAs to view property they always ask me what my ceiling price is....

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needhelpwiththisplease · 26/10/2024 09:05

@woebetide8 it means they are transferring the same mortgage and T&Cs .
They still need to have a mortgage in principle and valuation to do this and it normally has a timeframe

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 09:29

I just wish they would hurry up as the winter market looms after an already eerily quiet Autumn one, during which there has been hardly anything on worth looking at. I'm worried that at this rate I will be selling to them, and then won't find anything until the Spring when prices might have shot up again to compensate for the higher stamp duty costs, so I'll be selling low and buying high?

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Wibblywobblybobbly · 26/10/2024 09:35

If they are porting their mortgage they will have to involve a solicitor who is on the mortgage lender's panel of approved solicitors. The mortgage company will require searches to be done and appropriate enquiries to be made via the solicitors. Your estate agent needs to earn their commission and work out what's going on and if these buyers are proceedable.

Wibblywobblybobbly · 26/10/2024 09:37

Also what's to stop you offering on a property you like now? You technically have a buyer so you're proceedable.

Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 10:42

Wibblywobblybobbly · 26/10/2024 09:37

Also what's to stop you offering on a property you like now? You technically have a buyer so you're proceedable.

There just isn't very much out there to look at to offer on... Maybe the budget will change that, or not?

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Original poster

woebetide8 · 26/10/2024 10:43

Wibblywobblybobbly · 26/10/2024 09:35

If they are porting their mortgage they will have to involve a solicitor who is on the mortgage lender's panel of approved solicitors. The mortgage company will require searches to be done and appropriate enquiries to be made via the solicitors. Your estate agent needs to earn their commission and work out what's going on and if these buyers are proceedable.

I was wondering what the estate was doing for their commission... good point...

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OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared · 26/10/2024 10:51

Is your house still on the market? I thought the house would not be listed as "under offer" or "sold subject to contract" until the buyers had instructed a solicitor. If I were you I would ask the agent to (re)list the house as available until they have agreed the revised price and instructed a solicitor. When that happens you will get a memorandum of sale and can change the status to SSTC.

When we instructed our solicitor they sent us a load of paperwork to complete, have you received that yet?

OverwhelmedAndUnderprepared · 26/10/2024 10:52

And yes, our agent does financial checks at offer stage - they want a mortgage in principle or proof of funds. Otherwise the offer is meaningless isn't it?!