fatscoobyfella

Is it possible for us as the seller of a property,to have the same solicitor as the people buying our property?

Our buyers have asked this so that everthing can go smoother..IE..all paperwork will be in one place etc etc.

Will it come under the "conflict of interests" rule??Cant see why??But then again,what do i know!!

fast bloke

You wouldn't usually get the same solicitor do both parts, but it is quite common (in NI anyway) to get different solicitors from the same company to represent each party, so at least they can talk across the desk instead of sending letters all day. Wont matter anyway - they still find some way to screw it up

Jonathan Davies

It's possible. Whether it's a good idea depends on whether things get difficult between the parties... which is hard to say at the outset.

It ought to be fine to use different lawyers at the same firm. There's a slight danger that they'll be extra-**** to avoid any impression that they're not properly independent, but if everyone's sensible it ought to be ok.

For a bit of conveyancing, I'd get whoever I thought would do it properly. It might be smoother, but to be honest any lawyer ought to be able to do it. They'd be less likely to blame each other I suppose.

falkster

I was told you couldnt!!! I was buying my house and my usual solicitor was acting on behalf of the vender so couldnt represent me and none of the partners could! Maybe could be a conflict of interest or something.

chris singleton

The same solicitor/firm can only act for the buyer and seller if both are existing clients or if it is a family transaction.

If you are happy with your solicitor and want the matter to proceed smoothly, ask him or her to recommend another firm - they will have a pretty good idea of which local firms to avoid and which will help the matter progress quickly.

Chris

Jonathan Davies

Not sure about that ^^. The conflict rules of the law society are pretty flexible - if clients are informed and consent than away you go.

That doesn't mean that all firms like doing it. Often a small firm will not, because of the scope for confidential information getting into the wrong hands, but if there are separate offices etc then it's more workable. It does require people to be sensible though.

Falkster - yes it's a conflict, but if the vendor and lawyer had been happy to do it, it could have been done. But maybe the vendor wasn't happy with that, in which case the lawyer would've been right to say that you couldn't use him (on that occasion).

You can see how it could go wrong... seller tells lawyer something interesting that he doesn't want the buyer know, but seller's lawyer leaves the email or whatever around and the buyer's lawyer in the same office picks it up. Buyer's lawyer now has a duty to tell his client, so seller's lawyer gets it the neck for disclosing confidential info. In practice, the buyer's lawyer would probably decide he hadn't seen whatever it was he shouldn't have seen, but it's all a bit wrong really.

Terzo 333

I recently bought a house and asked the vendor's solicitors directly if I could use them - they said no as it is a conflict of interest. Surely if there was a way round it they would no about it or they wouldn't have done themselves out of a "sale"

fatscoobyfella

Thanks for all the replies fella's..

It was worth a try to keep everything "in house" at one solicitors but if it cant be done,it cant be done??

Anyone know of any cheap conveyancers in manchester/Solihull area then

Jonathan Davies

I have seen it happen many times in commercial transactions. It's definitely a potential conflict, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. As mentioned above, lawyers need both clients' permission, so it's quite possible - likely even - that they asked the vendors and they said no. Or that they wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict... some lawyers take their professional standards more seriously than others.

Jonathan Davies

I wouldn't use a cheap conveyancer to buy if I were you... to sell maybe, but as a buyer you need to know what you're getting. Title problems are a price issue.

fatscoobyfella

What do you mean when you say "title problems"??
Land boundary disputes??Freehold/leasehold issues??

From what i can gather,conveyancers and surveyers dont seem accountable for mistakes/problems after you have bought the house anyway..Seem like shilocks in cheap suits to me..

scoobyangel

after finding out the people selling the place we were buying were using same solicitor we had to change as it wasnt allowed to have just the one, made the sale 3 weeks slower cos they managed to lose all the paperwork when it transferred over!!

good luck!