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telephone:
028 6632 4455

fax:
028 6632 9896

email:
law
@seymourmajor.com

SERVICES

Matters which are not our responsibility

(a) Financial Advice

Most clients understand that solicitors do not provide financial advice as part of their conveyancing service but sometimes the the dividing line over what advice solicitors provide on mortgages can be confusing. A good mortgage broker or a registered financial adviser will provide you will advice on the appropriate mortgage product and how the product works in terms of your wealth. Financial advice is also regulated and only those who have appropriate qualifications are legally allowed to provide that advice. Solicitors do advise on other aspects of the mortgage offer. It is our duty to help clients to understand the essential terms of the mortgage offer, including the financial terms. Unless the solicitor actually has a licence himself, he is not qualified to say that it is a good or a bad deal.

(b) Valuations

The fact that a solicitor is not responsible for advising on valuations is normally straightforward. A client should be able to make his own bargain and make up his own mind about the price that should be paid for a property.

Where there is difficulty is when clients are looking to invest and have been enticed to buy property from an agent who is not the ordinary high street estate agent. In many cases, the agent has approached the investor to sell the property, rather than the other way around. Often, the agent is providing advice to the buyer about valuations both in terms of capital and rental yield. The figures may or may not have been properly researched. At the moment, the law does not regulate people who provide advice about investment property.

Our experience tells us that all investor clients should now be counselled not to trust valuation figures received from an agent. However, there is not yet any authority which says that solicitors have a duty to provide that warning. It probably will become such a duty in the near future.