• DIY Conveyancing Advice

    By meetopes on 01st Feb 2017

    Dear sir or madam,

    Please advise me as I have been representing myself in my house sale and purchase and carrying out all the pre-contract conveyancing successfully, dealing with the contract documents, enquiries, searches, etc.

    However as we are now ready to exchange contracts, my buyers' solicitors have told me that I must instruct a conveyancing solicitor to handle the money transactions and various payments, and most importantly the undertaking to discharge my mortgage. That is because the buyers' lender has requested that.

    I know that according to the Law Society I am within my legal rights to represent myself and do all the conveyancing work for my sale and purchase.

    Can you please advise me what can I do now if I do not want to pay huge solicitors fees just to handle money transaction, which I could easily do myself. Also I have reassured them that I will be undertaking to fully discharge the mortgage using the Law Society form TA13.

    I look forward to your kind reply, with many thanks.

    Regards

    Mr F Kozmi

  • 1 Answers

    By Guest on 01/02/2017

    The reason they want an undertaking from a solicitor to redeem the mortgage is that such an undertaking is enforceable in the courts and is backed by the solicitor's professional indemnity insurance, or the solicitor compensation fund. So if a solicitor defaults on an undertaking to redeem a mortgage the buyer's solicitor knows that either the insurers or the compensation fund will pay. If you as an individual disappear into the sunset with the buyer's money and leave the mortgage unpaid there is no protection, so your undertaking has little practical value and if the buyer's solicitor accepts it and you don't pay, he will be guilty of negligence and liable to his buyer and lender client for the debt.

    You could ask if the buyer's solicitor is prepared to act as your agent and repay the mortgage before sending the balance of the sale proceeds to you but he might not be prepared to do that. Otherwise you'll need to instruct a lawyer.

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