Warning in the North over one-stop house buying ‘disaster’

The one-stop shop approach to buying a house is a recipe for disaster, lawyers claimed today.

Representatives from the Law Society warned Assembly members against efforts to forge closer links with surveyors in a bid to make purchasing property a less harrowing ordeal.

Responding to the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland’s report on improving the house buying process, they told the Social Development Committee that independent professional advice should be maintained.

‘‘The skills of a surveyor and the skills of a solicitor are two different ones,’’ said society representative Brian Walker.

‘‘If you want to combine the two that’s a recipe for disaster.’’

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Belfast) stressed he was not advocating having solicitors carrying out surveys but merely vouching for those who did this work.

His suggestions that lawyers in England and Wales favoured this approach was rebuffed by Mr Walker, who pointed out that a pilot scheme in Bristol found it slowed the house buying process.

Society President John Neill added that drawing together solicitors and surveyors, along with estate agents, financial advisors and lenders would create a conflict of interests.

‘‘In all of this process you need an independent ringmaster,’’ he said.