Solicitor scribbling on Contracts??

Y

Yvonne 062

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Hello

I am hoping someone can advise me with this. We finally signed contracts on the sale of our house yesterday, buyers had already signed their end. Our solicitor noticed when we were in with him that the buyers had paid a bit under the usual 10%, but the figure appearing on the contract was 10% of the purchase price. So he scribbled it out and wrote over it. We pointed out that he hadn’t actually taken into account the refundable deposit that they had paid a few weeks ago, so yet again he scribbled out the amount and wrote over it. It all looked very messy and we asked him if he was sure it was ok to be making changes after the buyers had already signed. He said everything was fine because the purchase price didn’t change.

Can anyone confirm that this contract is still ok?
Our solicitor seems to be a little incompetent and 2007 also appeared several times on the contract and he had to change it to 2010!

I’m really worried that we will find out in a few weeks that the contract is not valid and I’m due a baby in 10 weeks!

Any help would be much appreciated….
 
"Our solicitor seems to be a little incompetent"

Its not starting well then!

Look, life is not perfect. If the price is the same, the price is the same.

How do you know your buyers won't pull out for any number of reasons? Its a really crap world out there with contracts falling like ninepins.

If you want perfection, change solicitors now to one of the really expensive, really big firms like Cox's, Frys, McCanns etc.,etc. You will get perfection, you will get the minutest attention to detail and you will pay expensive fees to match.

mf
 
Hi MF1,

Thanks for the reply - we are not looking for perfection just some reassurance that the fact that the deposit amount being changed twice on a contract already signed by the buyers will not affect its validity.

Wouldn't the buyers lose their deposit at this stage if they pulled out?
 
You need to talk to your own solicitor. Only they know what is in the contract and what the actual state of play is.

If you do not trust your own solicitor, you need to move solicitor to someone you do trust.

mf
 
mf1 said:
If you want perfection, change solicitors now to one of the really expensive, really big firms like Cox's, Frys, McCanns etc.,etc. You will get perfection, you will get the minutest attention to detail and you will pay expensive fees to match.
Click to expand...

I am surprised at you mf1, our experience with the big boys is that a competent one man (or woman :)) show can give a far better service.
 
OP I think you're worrying needlessly. Your solicitor thought there was an error and scribbled out the figures so it made sense, happens all the time. What matters is the purchase price, you have proof of deposit(s) paid and so does the other side.

As the purchasers have paid over the 'real' deposit and signed the contracts they can not pull out now without losing their deposit.

MF1 - you are far far better than the big boys, without the prices to match.
 
Hi Bronte,

Thanks alot for the reassurance - I suppose having got to this stage with the sale is a little surreal and I'm worrying that it will all go belly up over some small detail!

We really like and trust our solicitor by the way and he has pushed this sale through really quickly for us so we will be settled in another house before baby arrives. Maybe we just got him on a bad day yesterday as all our dealings with him before then have been 'perfect'.

Thanks!
 
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