Solicitors are they more of a rip-off than IT contractors?

[Martin@AS Financial]

Well my experience of the solicitors so far has been far from encouraging.

I went for the one recommended by the estate agent for the house we are buying. For anyone that is interested the estate agent gets a £500 kickback for the recommendation.

Had to get rid of the first solicitor because they managed to get my name wrong 3 times and on the 4th try managed to get the misses name wrong. Also, they managed to add up their fees incorrectly (by a fair amount in my favour).

So, anyway after reading NLUK post, I decided to not take chances and got rid of them. Changed to another solicitor and they seem better so far. Managed to spell our names correctly and everything, so all looking rosey.

Still think its a big con, and sending out 40 page docs when only 3 or 4 are required just seems to be padding the work out.

I will bore you all with my upcoming house move... look forward to more moaning about solicitors, house moving companies and internet speeds at the new house.

What's the fastest anyone has managed to complete a sale and buy a house? Is November looking realistic?

Yes - November should be realistic although a lot will depend on your buyers solicitor being pro-active. Your solicitor will have submitted a request to the local authority for the searches to ensure nothing is going to be built in or around your property that could have a future affect on the value. These can take a while to come back sometimes as local authorities tend to work at their own pace.

[woohoo]

For what it is worth, I am paying £2.1K including VAT with £500-ish of that being land registry fees. It's the stamp duty bit that gets up my nose.

We are paying more that than around 2.5k including VAT. But we are paying extra because our house is on a long lease and the same for the house we are buying. Also, we have land with our house that we own.

Yeah, the stamp duty is a kicker!

[woohoo]

Yes - November should be realistic although a lot will depend on your buyers solicitor being pro-active. Your solicitor will have submitted a request to the local authority for the searches to ensure nothing is going to be built in or around your property that could have a future affect on the value. These can take a while to come back sometimes as local authorities tend to work at their own pace.

Good to know November is possible. On holiday around that time so want things to be sorted before preferably.

[Paddy]

Well my experience of the solicitors so far has been far from encouraging.

What's the fastest anyone has managed to complete a sale and buy a house? Is November looking realistic?

Less than one week from making an offer. Contacted the search company direct and all searches done in 24hs. Solicitor cost £1,200.00 to do it quickly.

[woohoo]

Less than one week from making an offer. Contacted the search company direct and all searches done in 24hs. Solicitor cost £1,200.00 to do it quickly.

You sound like a man that knows how to sell and buy a house. Good on you sir.

[Martin@AS Financial]

Good to know November is possible. On holiday around that time so want things to be sorted before preferably.

Fingers crossed for you but November gives you more than enough time. Are you going to try and exchange contracts prior to your holiday?

To be fair, once you have had your offer accepted, your mortgage offered and a more in depth survey carried out (if not done through your lender), there isn't really more for you to do as everything is in the hands of the solicitors unless they flag any problems.

[woohoo]

Fingers crossed for you but November gives you more than enough time. Are you going to try and exchange contracts prior to your holiday?

To be fair, once you have had your offer accepted, your mortgage offered and a more in depth survey carried out (if not done through your lender), there isn't really more for you to do as everything is in the hands of the solicitors unless they flag any problems.

Yup would like to exchange before the holiday, it’s surprisingly stressful buying a new house and selling.

The buyer is really keen, already enrolled their child in the local school, the letter came to the house. Just chasing up our survey.

The new solicitors seem more on the ball, they tend to answer email questions straightaway. So fingers crossed.