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I am in the final stages of buying a house. My solicitor has given me bank details and requested that I send the full amount owed for the house + solicitors fees - mortgage. This totals around 120,000 so no small amount of money.

My solicitor seems to think that a direct transfer will be fine. I will go into the bank to do this and request the money be moved personally.

Does this sound acceptable, what concerns me is:

A: The solicitor could have given me anyone's bank details, is this the usual way to transfer the sum needed to cover the house minus the mortgage? (I currently have no reason to distrust them, they seem legitimate)

B: My solicitor has not told me an exchange or completion date, it seems odd to request the money before i have even exchanged contracts.

C: My solicitor wants the full amount now instead of the smaller deposit (10%?) used to tie me in to the contract once exchanged.

This is a UK property

mhoran_psprep
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lorless
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1 Answers1

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A. Bank transfer is the normal way to do it. The Law Society will (eventually) make good any losses incurred on money held by solicitors acting fraudulently, so your money should not be at risk, provided you make sure to transfer the money to the account number your solicitor gave you.

B. It's not just normal but essential to transfer the money before exchanging contracts, since the deposit has to be paid by your solicitor to the vendor's solicitor as part of the exchange process. You can't wait to pay the deposit until after you've exchanged, because you haven't exchanged until you've paid the deposit.

C. If you really want to put down the 10% deposit now and pay the rest upon completion, that should be possible -- talk to your solicitor about it.

Mike Scott
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