What's the process?

ontheditch2

Recently gone sale agreed on a property.
Paid deposit.
Sales agent emailed to say to get the engineers report and valuation done in 5-10 days.
Our solicitor said not to do either until she had gone through the contract as she would have specific queries for the engineer.
The solicitor has the contract 2 days but the estate agent is badgering us to get the other things done. Saying the solicitor has nothing to do with the engineers report etc and that is for us.
My hut is telling me to listen to the solicitor and do things as she advises and tell the estate agent that also but it's just a bit unnerving when I am getting conflicting advice from 2 professionals who both claim to know what's best.

Obviously we want to get it sorted as quick as possible but it is only 3 weeks.
Has the estate agent a right to be pressuring us like this? Or am I just being over cautious?

I'd be grateful if anyone can offer an opinion or what steps you took in your purchase?

Sarn

We got our surveyors report done before we had our solicitor in place. We did it within a few days of going sale agreed. It gives an idea if we want to continue before incurring additional cost. It also provides reassurance to the EA that you’re less likely to pull out.

whiskeyman

Im not sure what questions your solicitor would have for the engineer?
It's not really going to impact their area of work.
Is the house old or in a rural setting?

I'd push with the engineer's report. It's in your best interests. If it shows up something of concern, the whole deal may be off anyway.

Valuation is more for the bank, so could be done independent of the solicitor.

Did you get a recommendation of this solicitor?

ELM327

Above everything else, listen to your solicitor
The EA works for the vendor, not you. Remember that

antix80

Sounds like your solicitor wants to be able to add "sale subject to engineers report" in the contract, but I doubt that would fly with the seller.

On the other hand, the estate agent is expecting you to pay €500-1000 for an engineers report and the seller is still under no legal obligation to sell to you. It's a tricky one.

As the solicitor has the contract, it's out of the estate agent's hands. Let your solicitor handle it from now on.

BrokenArrows

The estate agent just wants to progress the sale as quickly as possible so they can get their comission.

There is no direct need to get your solicitor involved in the survey, but no harm either if they notice something in the contracts.

ChewBerecca

Only thing I can think of is if the solicitor finds potential issues with planning which the engineer might be able to confirm/investigate.

It's also a few hundred euro spent that may be a waste if the solicitor finds something fundamentally wrong with the sale.

Listen to your solicitor, but if you trust your engineer then proceed with your survey. A good engineer should cover most points.

Bank valuation only lasts 4 months so just be careful scheduling this as you may have to spend another 150 or so if the process drags out.

Claw Hammer

The contract may well have special conditions regarding planning, extensions or method of construction. It would be wasting your money to have a survey done and for the solicitor to raise some further queries later that the engineer has to go back to the property

ontheditch2

Thanks everyone.