DIY Conveyancing (on a sale)

[Huge]

Which is why you shouldn't be conveyancing it yourself.

[Huge]

Never mind what my solicitor said, I wouldn't buy anything from someone doing their own conveyancing.

[Peter Crosland]

[djc]

Because what is considered a good lease changes over time as the law develops and legislation changes. So queries will be raised by the buyer over matters that were not an issue when you bought the flat.

If you must DIY, then you could start by reading all the docs available at

Personally I woul not buy an ex-local authority flat. There is no control over the service charges.

[Harry Davis]

unknown wrote in news:bcsms2Fl3snU1 @mid.individual.net:

Hi. I'm coming late to this thread, so I'm not sure whether you got a proper answer. I've done conveyancing as both buyer and seller several times.

I'd recommend Joseph Bradshaw's 'House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing': ISBN 9781906971809. It's written for people doing it DIY. My copy is the

6th edition. I think this is the latest one, but you will have to check. If you've done it before, that will probably give you everything you need for this simple task, which is even simpler when you're selling.

You could also get what the solicitors' clerks use: Frances Silverman's 'Conveyancing Handbook' (20th edition?) or Kenny and Hewitson's 'Conveyancing in Practice'. Silverman's book is basically the Law Society's practice notes, which used to be accessible free online, but which I don't think are any more.

Last I looked, the book on DIY conveyancing by 'Which?' was crap.

The solicitor for your buyer will probably want to hold the deposit.

If so, you should make clear in writing that that's fine, on the understanding that there will be no charge for holding it on your behalf.

Then, after completion, he'll probably try to pocket the interest. Don't let him.

When a solicitor did this to me, I told him he was in the wrong, and got a letter from his clerk saying they didn't 'normally' pay interest. Which gave rather a misleading picture of whose money it was, but illustrates solicitors' attitudes. Many are such money-grabbers that any amount of money that leaves their clutches causes them pain. It's like you have to prise their fingers off your money one by one.

I wrote a further letter telling him a second time that he was in the wrong, somewhat more strongly, and simultaneously, while awaiting his reply, I prepared a complaint to the Law Society. That esteemed professional body even had a standard form (!) for complaining about solicitors who try to grab the interest on other people's money without there being any agreement that they could do so. In the end, he coughed up, so I didn't have to make a complaint.

(BTW, for anyone who IS thinking of using a solicitor: haggle with them. They act professional, but the reality is that the rules of the souk apply. A friend of mine did this twice, getting solicitors down a fair whack from what they said was their 'usual' rate. He was canny enough to do this in writing. Lo and behold, on both occasions they grabbed the 'usual' rate instead of the agreed rate, and he had to tell them to give him his 500 back, which on both occasions they then did. Gotta laugh, really. They're so upright and law abiding, you know! No flies on them.)

Michael Joseph's 'Conveyancing Fraud' is very out of date, but still a good read. He says things like imagine if solicitors had conned everyone into thinking you needed to hire one of their fraternity to send in your passport application for you. Just think of all the calamities that could befall someone who did it for themselves. Not! Back in the 1970s the Law Society said oh it's fine to DIY so long as you can make 100% sure that you won't get any trouble over overflight rights, and other complexities which turn up in one in a million cases. Which is similar to what book agents say: by all means approach publishers yourself, so long as you know all about Estonian serialisation rights. But you're probably already sussed about all that stuff, so I'm doubtless teaching my grandmother to suck eggs!

Depending on what area you're in, you may also get half the property wide boys in the area home in on you, assuming you're in some kind of desperate financial trouble, and trying to buy the house for 70% of what it's worth. Most of them will have a solicitor on their team. There's more likelihood of this the longer your property stays on the market.

I hope it all goes well. Harry