Do I really need a lawyer? Or do it yourself in 21 days?

M

mancino

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In the UK I found the following article:

"It is no longer essential that a lawyer be involved in a conveyancing transaction. Lawyers used to be the only people able to transfer property titles, which made it impossible to purchase a property without employing a legal professional. However, this is no longer the case, and it is now possible, in theory, to manage the legal side of things yourself."

(Reference: http://www.ourproperty.co.uk/guides/lawyersolicitor-p1.html )

Is it possible to do it yourself in Ireland?

How risky would be to do it yourself considering:

->The property is new.
->In the development there are other 180 apartments sold.
-> The DCC and the Bank have their own lawyers checking their interest are covered...

I would seem to me that the property checks are not very complex in nature... any good website to a do it yourself checklist?
 
Well in my opinion you would be a very brave man to undertake the conveyancing yourself on your own property. Consider a number of things. This is probably your single largest investment and if there is a mistake made it could be very costly to repair. And if purchasing from a developer who in the best of times are known to take short cuts, could you imagine as things are getting tougher how you might be literally swindled
 

I'm generally a DIYer for as many things as possible.....but there are times I reckon it pays to leave it to the professionals. A mistake could be a very expensive lesson!
 
mancino -- as well as all the other points, I do not think the Bank will lend the money unless they have legal undertakings from a solicitor acting for the purchaser. What is the point in spending a few hundred thousand Euro on a property and trying to save €1500 on the conveyancing. Are you cracked ??
 
I work with intellectual property and have seen that licensing contracts are usually tailored to many different conditions. I don't know about (real state) property, but the contract for renting an apartment is just a template which you can reuse from other letting. What would be so specific in a property transaction that would need to pay a few thousand euros?

Investor information used to be expensive but now is cheap and sometimes free on the Internet, and the UK seems to be putting in place an online system for property transactions. Maybe using lawyer is a legacy of and old system...

I agree that the peace of mind is a big factor. My query is about finding out how complex the process really is.
 
Not to belittle your thoughts on the conveyancing process, I deal in the property business and believe me it can be a real torment. I would not and have never seen an individual take on the conveyancing process. You would be better working out a deal with your solicitors rather than trying it yourself.
 

I agree with mercman, with an apartment there could be numerous problems especially as it is a new development, do you know about transfer of common areas to management companies, lease maps, how about registrations? Apartments are registered different here than houses, it is a complex enough proceedure and as the article says if you get it wrong you could be brought to court also it states that the vendor only has to answer questions you ask. Unless trained you wouldn't even know what questions to ask or what could be wrong with Title (in a new development probably a booklet - 100+ pages), I wouldn't temp to DIY conveyancing. In Ireland you still require a Solicitor anyway.
 
See this post and the overall thread in which it appears. Dates from a while ago but I don't think that much has changed since. In the UK I think that the system was changed to allow non solicitor conveyancing agents (?) to operate but that sort of change did not happen here. I doubt that DIY conveyancing is possible or, even if it is, advisable in Ireland.
 
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