Legal Agreement - Friends Buying - Solr advises legal agreement is a 'waste of time'!

[Sweet Pea]

Hi,

I wanted people's advice regarding a legal agreement between two friends buying a property. I am a first time buyer and am buying an apartment with a friend. We decided to get the cheapest Solicitor we could find for the conveyancing. We are both very adamant that we want a legal agreement drawn up between us. I looked at the Draft Legal Agreement Between Friends on the askaboutmoney site to try and give me some idea of what should go in such an Agreement.

He advised us that we were wasting our time drawing up a legal agreement. That it would be like a prenuptial agreement - it has no basis in Common Law and so would not stand up in court. I was amazed as I am constantly reading in the paper/hearing from friends that it is very important to have something in black and white. He insisted that there was absolutely no point but eventually conceded that if we were that adamant about having one drawn up, we could write it ourselves and he would 'cast an eye over it'! I'm not at all happy with this as I feel we are not aware of all the legal 'what-ifs' etc. and it's risky writing your own Agreement as you could end up implicating yourself unwittingly in the future to your own disadvantage.

My parents were subsequently with their own Solicitor as they are selling their own house - he is a family friend and is a partner in a very reputable firm. They asked him about my situation. He advised that it is absolutely vital that we get a legal agreement drawn up. That he would advise it even for engaged couples as he has seen so many cases where there has been war if things go wrong and nothing is written in black and white. He said the problem with some of the 'cheaper' Solicitors, is that they will only do the bare minimum for their fee and will not go the extra mile. He was not suggesting that I go to him or anything so it wasn't like he was trying to get my business..

To this end, I'm prepared to go to the family Solicitor and pay that bit extra for peace of mind and I would go with what he has advised rather than what the original Solicitor told me. I want to get full legal advice and not just be told to draw up my own agreement. What do you all think and what would you advise me? Is the first Solicitor correct in that there is no point in us having any sort of legal agreement between us?

Thanks

 

[ubiquitous]

pay peanuts and you get a ....

Your family solicitor sounds like someone whose advice you could trust. If I were in your shoes I would treat his advice as carrying far more weight than that offered by the other guy, which doesn't really seem to add up in terms of common sense. After all a partnership agreement is an integral and essential element of business partnerships - banks often won't lend to a partnership without first seeing the partnership agreement.

To suggest that the concept of a partnership agreement "has no basis in Common Law" is laughable in my (admittedly, non-legal) opinion.

 

[woods]

Any written agreement has legal standing. I think that the reason that a prenup is the exception is that it is overridden by statute law.

 

[Sarah W]

I actually don't think an agreement set up between people buying a property together would be cast iron legal document if things went horribly wrong. For me it's more of a matter of agreeing exit strategies if one party wants to leave or sell and an acknowledgement of the finances going into the house. Circumstances can change dramatically - both financial and personal - and it really wouldn't be able to cover every possible scenario in an initial agreement. Having said that I would still recommend them as something to refer to you when you are no longer speaking to each other!!!

Sarah

www.rea.ie