Following on from my previous post asking for advice on estate agents (https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...-Estate-Agents), I have gone with the top ranking local independent and haggled fees down to a reasonable fixed price I'm happy with.
I'm now looking at conveyancing. I've always used my family's solicitors as my dad was good friends with the partner, but they don't exactly exude efficiency and seem rather expensive for a job you could do yourself.
Are there any sweat-shop type places offering good service at a good price? Are there any pitfalls to doing this?
I've bought a number of properties over the last few years.
You really do get what you pay for. Conveyancers can really scupper a sale. I would happily pay more and speak to someone who is comeptent. Who is willing to pick up the phone and get things done.
Last time around my solicitor went on holiday for 3 weeks and I had to do all of the legwork myself, even going so far as going to my buyer's solicitors to pick up contracts and take them to my own solicitor as they were blaming each other for delays... I don't think anybody would be as bad as this.Originally Posted by eagletower
I was looking here https://myhomemoveconveyancing.co.uk/ - not sure if a dedicated conveyancing outfit might be better.
I don't think it's worth taking the chance on saving a few hundred when you're purchasing something worth tens of thousands.
You opinion may differ.
I'd look for a reliable solicitor in the local area.
Ask around for a recommendation. No one worth their salt should have gone away and not arranged for adequate handover.
I have always dealt with someone recommended. I think it's sensible to try to trim the fat with agents fees, but a bad solicitor can screw the whole thing up. This counts double if you're in a chain.
Ryan, can you empty your inbox please?
Thanks
^^^
I agree.
Scrimping on this will almost certainly not work well for you, as you are pretty well assured of poor service.
Paying more does not always result in a better service though, so go with a recommendation from someone who has used them recently and knows what they are talking about.
I have had one recommendation via PM (thanks), but I'd be interested in someone more local to North West UK if anybody has someone they've used before?
I used http://www.rmnj.co.uk/ 4 years ago.
Fantastic price, very straight forward, and you get to deal with a part of the company that specialises in just conveyance matters.
I bought a book on diy conveyancing many years ago when I bought my first house as I could barely afford to eat. Did my own conveyancing then and twice since. It is not as hard as people think. Worth getting an up to date book and having a look. I saved a lot of money.
Alternately, ask your agents they may know of a local solicitor who does conveyancing at a sensible (well as sensible as a solicitor can be!) price.
Trying to save a few quid on conveyancy is unwise IMO. Deal with a local firm thst has a good reputation, I’m a firm believer in face to face dealing where possible and if there are delays/problems it’s easy to do the chasing up.
House moving always involves costs and it’s unwise to pennypinch. Deals often fall through due to poor communication; use a local estate agent and a local solicitor, that allows you to keep close to what’s really going on.
Paul
In fairness the first time I did it was not penny pinching but necessity as I did not have the money. I realized though it was a relatively simple job so did it twice again. I had my own interests at heart and did the work diligently and competently, one sale I pulled from when I discovered that the house should have had a larger garden as half had been sold where another house, without planning, had been built across a water course.
If you have the time and are not a half wit I would recommend it. Time though is generally the factor. The local solicitor is key though, some-one you can easily contact, avoid like the plague groups where a team does the work.
Dealt with a local solicitor firm for the purchase of a new-build property in the 1990s - royally shafted for fees and at the time did not have the experience to question it. I am not convinced myself Paul that there is necessarily an advantage to using a local firm and it does not always follow that they will be accessible. I think having lived and transacted abroad where a conveyancing agent instead of a generalist solicitor is the norm has changed my perspective.
Some mortgage lenders will insist you use a conveyancer if you’re getting a mortgage .
I bought a BTL, an ex council house. It had been improved (heating system replaced I think) by the council prior to the tenant buying it from the council. I was buying it from that person. This was discovered in the searches the solicitor did.
What I didn’t know, and the solicitor did, was that there was a possible claw back for part of the cost of the improvements the council had carried out if the tenant subsequently sold the house within a set period. If that had not been discovered by the solicitor I would have been liable for the claw back payment to the council.
So the vendor had to settle the matter with the council as part of the sale agreement. As it happened the council waived the cost, but it could have been different. I now have the paperwork from the council that proves all of this, so nothing to come back and bite me.
I’d say the solicitor earned his bread on that one.
I think I used them about 9 years ago and they were excellent.
I also tend to agree with you.
After 12 weeks of conveyancing, the entire duration the chain being a nightmare due to some really bad solicitors and estate agents below us (our buyer's), the chain has collapsed.
I used RMNJ as recommended above who have been just-about okay. They don't seem to cause any delays with passing on information or actioning things, usually within 24 hours they have done their bit and it's back off to the other party so things can be quite quick if you're on the ball giving them what they need, but if you need to contact them with some matter that's not directly part of the process they're working through it is infuriating waiting for a response. It can be 2 or 3 days sometimes, which can cause a delay if you're asking for clarification about what you need to send them in response to something.
I think next time when looking for a firm to use my first question would be what is the average caseload per operative and second how many qualified staff do they actually have - this would be a good indication of your chances of good service, but it seems conveyancing has become a volume game mostly, and price is no indicator of a different service. The worst aspect to it is the other solicitors in the chain - 1 bad egg like we had and you're all screwed.
I've used small local solicitors before now and both times they were slow, but more than happy to speak to you or see you in their offices (because you were paying for it), and as I detailed above once my solicitor went on holiday to play golf in the middle of the process and there was nobody left to speak to who could do anything - my case was stalled the entire time.
Next attempt at selling I will be clear that they have to use a decent one.
This experience has made me quite motivated to become a licensed conveyancer and prove that it can be done right though, so maybe I will change career.
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