THE WEAK LINK IN THE CHAIN...

When your estate agent has found you a buyer the work of transferring

the title to the property begins under the auspices of solicitors or

conveyancers. It is vital that you pick a good one to act on your behalf

and you definitely want one that gets on with estate agents.

Whilst

some legal practitioners are only too happy to recognise that a smooth

sale requires the cooperation of all the parties to it - seller, buyer,

the other solicitor, surveyor, valuer and lender - there are some who

have a pathological aversion to dealing with agents (no smiles please, I

know the media myth that estate agents aren’t popular with anyone).

That sort of attitude is entirely unhelpful because the only people who

can talk to every party to the sale are the estate agents and if the

sale gets off track this ability can prove invaluable.

You might

think that once a sale is agreed there’s not much that can go wrong but

the fact is that holding the sale together is one of the most

time-consuming and skilful parts of an estate agent’s job. It requires

an intimate knowledge of the transaction process so that issues and

delays can be spotted before they become serious; a large helping of

psychology for when problems occur and need to be negotiated; excellent

rapport with valuers and surveyors to get reports through quickly; and

an ability to juggle the sometimes unreasonable demands of everyone! A

legal practitioner who begrudges engaging in this process is doing their

client no favours.

My advice is that, when choosing the firm who

will handle the legal work, you should ask them if they are willing to

take calls from your estate agent and to liase with them in progressing

the sale. If they prevaricate or say ‘no’ then find yourself another

company because the wrong choice at this stage could cost you a sale.

It’s why Harrison Murray only recommend legal firms that we know will

not be a weak link in the chain.

Nick Salmon

Director,

Harrison Murray Estate Agents.