Instructing a solicitor

[BWJA921]

My house is on the market but as yet not had an offer. While it has been on the market, I stupidly viewed some flats and fell in love with one. I put an offer on the flat and it was accepted (subject to selling my house). The flat has been taken off the market and the seller is waiting for me to sell. To show my commitment, the Seller has requested that I send solicitor details so they can draft a memorandum of sale and open a file. But I haven't got a solicitor as yet. Is it too early to instruct a solicitor (and pay a deposit) as I haven't even had an offer on my house yet?

I am completely new to this..please be gentle.😊

We were the opposite. Accepted an offer on our house and took an age to find a new home (thanks again to our buyers for their patience!)

You can instruct one now yes. Thats what we did for our sale and then also used them for our purchase.

I dont know how long your buyer is willing to wait but a timeline of ours
Offer accepted 1st January
Solicitor process stared Feb for that
Found a house April
Completed 3rd October (there were a LOT of complications... ours took an exceptional amount of time to be fair)

As long as your seller knows the score, that you cannot purchase until yours has sold,, it shouldnt be an issue. They just want to get rhe ball rolling as the process can be excruciatingly long in a chain

Thank you for your advice. It feels a bit weird paying solicitor £300 deposit when everything feels very up in the air.

I wouldn’t be instructing solicitors until the chain is complete.

Why do you want to move from a house to a flat though? Seems a bit of a backwards step.

Bit surprised the Seller has taken the flat off the market when you are not proceedable. The normal course of events is - you sell and you have to engage a conveyancer for the sale and then when you purchase (normally) you will engage the same conveyancer for the onward purchase. Not getting a conveyancer is a 'red flag' on serious intent to sell or buy.

If you aren't serious enough to pay £300, you aren't serious.

The sooner the vendor knows that, the sooner they can get back to looking for a real buyer.

I do agree with this. Your house hasn't sold so they are looking for some kind of commitment.
While they are saying yes to you they are losing other potential buyers. You could completely waste their time.

The money and instructing shows them some commitment.

It’s £300 not £3000. I agree refusing to appoint a solicitor shows a lack of commitment.