DIY Conveyancing - Is It Wise?

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DIY conveyancing is possible. If you are sharp, not put off by legal jargon and willing to deal with the large amounts of paper work involved then it might be safe not to hire a professional conveyancer or solicitor. However, it is always advisable to think about this very carefully as conveyancing is a complex and time-consuming business.

DIY Conveyancing: Potential Pitfalls

Whilst we understand the desire to keep the cost of moving home to a minimum, there are a couple of issues that you need to be aware of before undertaking your DIY conveyancing; negligence and insurance. Solicitors and licensed conveyancers have negligence insurance, which as a private individual you do not have. If you were to make an error over the course of your DIY conveyancing, you will be held personally responsible. For example, suppose you made a mistake in the conveyancing of the property which you are selling - if your buyer decides that your mistake has had an impact on their property, you would be held responsible.

Conveyancing is a competitive industry and the recent growth in popularity of online conveyancing has brought costs right down. In short, professional conveyancing has never been as affordable as it is now. You may save a few hundred Pounds by doing your own conveyancing, but this could turn out to be a false economy, for example you could find yourself involved in costly legal disputes over boundaries, discover that there is a new road planned to be built opposite your home, or even that the seller did not have the legal right to sell the home. You should also consider the potential cost of making a mistake and losing your buyer.

In reality very few home buyers will carry out the conveyancing service themselves. Many mortgage lenders will insist on employing a solicitor to protect their interests as they do not want to risk having poor conveyancing work. Furthermore, the other conveyancers involved may not be happy with you doing your own conveyancing, and may even reject your offer on this basis.

There are some cases in which DIY conveyancing should be avoided at all costs, for example, if the property is being sold by a separating couple, if the property is not a freehold, if the property is unregistered, if you are only selling part of your property, or if the property is not a residential house.

DIY Conveyancing: Saves Time and Money?

It is not strictly true that you're going to save time and money by doing your own conveyancing. Obviously the main reasons that people consider DIY conveyancing are because:

1. By looking after your own interests, you will give your transaction 100% of your attention.
2. Any tasks can be addressed as soon as they surface.
3. It doesn't cost anything.

Clearly, even the most pro-active conveyancing solicitors are going to struggle to offer such a personal service. However, conveyancing by its very nature involves many different parties - so no matter how efficiently you manage to progress your own case, you'll only proceed at the speed of the slowest link in the chain.

A straight-forward conveyancing matter will take a private individual around 20-30 hours to complete. If you're buying and selling then you'll obviously need to double that timescale. Should your transaction become more complex than you initially expected, you could find yourself bogged down in legalese and paper work.

DIY Conveyancing: Worth the Effort?

If you consider all of the costs associated with moving house - things like estate agent's fees, stamp duty, searches, surveys and removals - DIY conveyancing is surely the riskiest and most time-intensive task - not to mention the least financially rewarding (as you're only going to save a few hundred Pounds).

When you consider that conveyancing is cheaper than it has ever been and then factor in the potential pitfalls above, you will probably come to the conclusion that DIY conveyancing simply isn't worth the hassle. If you absolutely need to save money, you may be better off considering making savings on other aspects of the moving process. For example, you could save thousands by selling your property privately or even hiring a van and doing your own removals.

To keep your conveyancing costs down use an online conveyancing solicitor - most online conveyancers offer a price beater service, so get as many quotes as you can before making a decision.

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