Online conveyancing recommendations

lesley1966

Hi

I'm looking for recommendations from people who have used online conveyancers. I've trawled through lots of MSE threads and found a few odd recommendations scattered around! I'm hoping to pull all recommendations together in this thread - hopefully it will be useful for other readers too.

Please don't post saying local solicitors are best - I've considered all that and want to use an online conveyancer. I'm just looking for good and bad stuff about online conveyancers. I'm thinking of using Abode Conveyancing.

Cheers

Lesley

lil_miss_17

We used cms to find a cheap conveyancer in Harrogate. I'd recommend them.

bride_on_a_budget

Hi,
we got about four quotes from reallymoving.com ranging from £1000-£2500 for selling our house and buying another.

i hope this helps
Bride on a budget

Richard_Webster

Read everything on their website including their terms and conditions. They sometimes hide extra fees there. If you don't know about conveyancing they can easily imply that some things are optional that they charge extra for like completing in less than 3 weeks from exchange - that happens in 90+% of cases. So you get the bill at the end and it wasn't as cheap as you thought.

This doesn't mean that all "on-line" firms are like that but you do have to be careful.

lil_miss_17

The ones we used, cms, are intermediates and provide you with quotes from proper, non-online solicitors (well, ours is anyway).

Richard_Webster

Read everything on their website including their terms and conditions. They sometimes hide extra fees there. If you don't know about conveyancing they can easily imply that some things are optional that they charge extra for like completing in less than 3 weeks from exchange - that happens in 90+% of cases. So you get the bill at the end and it wasn't as cheap as you thought.

This doesn't mean that all "on-line" firms are like that but you do have to be careful.

haddock22

Ive just found a buyer for my house and intend doing my own conveyancing(have done this 3 times before) but have just been informed by my estate agent that my buyers conveyancer solicitors have told them that my buyers mortgage company do not want them to talk to me as they want me to use a solicitor.Can they do this as i dont really want to use a solicitor/conveyancer but dont want to lose the sale?

AnnaFS_2

I, along with a number of others on here, decided to bit the bullet and go with conveyancingwarehouse aka Roberts of Macclesfield. Everyone else has said good things about them so far, so I couldn't believe it when they sent me my pack today, with extra charges already included in the quote! They claim it's all automatically generated so they didn't know I didn't have a mortgage to redeeem, upon which I pointed out that I had already answered that question on-line when getting my original quote.... now they are saying everyone has to pay £15 + VAT for postage, and that the quote is only an estimate....... (yes, pointed out I had already read all the stuff in the pack about extra charges etc....)..... but it wasn't a good start....(In any case it sounds like I may have to pay £15 + VAT over and above the orginal quote) :-(

But what is much more worrying to me right now, and has taken yesterday out of my life, is the fact that they are demanding ID I simply don't have... (and nor do loads of others, especially people who live around here!):
I have a very old full passport but it expired a very long time ago....
I have a full driving licence but it doesn't have a photo on it....
I don't have a UK Forces ID card as I have never been in the Forces....

They are now telling me that I have to get a passport photo and get it signed by a practising solicitor, a doctor, an accountant, a high street bank manager, or an IFA who is certified under the money-laundering regulations.....
I rang up my local surgery and the receptionist said that the doctors no longer sign any of these things (very sensibly, the passport regulations were changed some years ago so that people could get stuff signed by all sorts of professionals and also local business owners :-))
I rang the solicitors back, and she suggested that I went to see a local solicitor (even though I pointed out that currently I don't know any local practising solicitors, so they would be charging me to sign something that they can't 100% testify to as I am a stranger to them in any case), then she suggested that I went to the Police Station (as they would be less likely to charge me (fantastic double-entendre!)).....
I think she is getting the guidelines for certified copies of documents you don't want to put in the post completely mixed up with alternative methods of proving your identity (see next para).
I am convinced that they are wrong: I have looked up the Law Society Guidelines and also the list of acceptable persons to certify a photo for a Driving Licence.......which ought to be sort of equivalent (and if this goes on I will have to apply for a photo driving licence which will take 3 weeks and hope I don't loose my very hard to find buyer in the meantime.......). I did say to her that I do have 3 personal friends who are in fact GPs, but they all live some distance away, so I would have to put stuff in post, and this in fact contravenes the DVLA Guidelines, which say "local Doctor"! But she would accept a photo from them (I'm not even sure why we are back to photos, as they aren't relevant.....).... Doh!

I could get my photo signed by a Qualified Pharmacist who is a long-standing friend and signed my son's passport application in the summer, any of about 5 qualified architects, my local Vicar (I am on the electoral roll of my Church) plus about another 6 "Ministers of Religion" of various denominations, at least 4 qualified Civil/ Structural Engineers, at least 10 Town/ Borough Councillors (even though they are now all on the opposite side to what I used to be lol!), a couple of JPs, at least 20 still currently teachers and/ or lecturers (although they keep making us all redundant), at least 10 long-standing local business owners etc. etc.........

I also have a photocard from Derby University, plus one on my Railcard, but apparently they don't count either!

I'm really sure that all this is totally wrong, and the Law Society guidelines lay out discretion (but I can't find any further links from there).....

Can anybody help/advise as this is really doing my head in? :-( Nobody at all is buying houses where I am selling and I am so scared of losing this buyer (I've had to take a massive cut off the asking price). And yet I am scared of making more phone calls/ sending more e-mails to conveyancingwarehouse arguing about this as they could say it was making my case more complicated and charge me extra.... :-(

Sorry Richard but your quote was way way above what I found: you are in the South after all!

dwsjarcmcd

Add www.compareconveyancers.co.uk to you list to try. They give the best of both worlds, in that you can choose a solicitor based on locallity, or one further away based on price. But they are predominantly High Street solocitors, but they are priced to compete online.

dekh

Abode are an intermediary. They take a big chunk of the fees to pass you on to someone else.

AnnaFS wrote: »

now they are saying everyone has to pay £15 + VAT for postage,

Report them to the SRA postage (like indemnity insurance) is part of the natural conveyancing proces and can't be charged separately.

AnnaFS wrote: »

But what is much more worrying to me right now, and has taken yesterday out of my life, is the fact that they are demanding ID I simply don't have
.
.
.

They are now telling me that I have to get a passport photo and get it signed by a practising solicitor, a doctor, an accountant, a high street bank manager, or an IFA who is certified under the money-laundering regulations.....

Money laundering regulations mean that if the solicitor doesn't see you and proof of ID in person then you must provide certified ID 1 for proof of ID and a different one for proof of address.

And contrary to what they tell you IFA can NOT certify jack.

Best bet is the desk sergeant at your local police station.

Don't put your originals in the post!

lesley1966

Thank everyone for your responses. We have gone with ARC Property Solicitors, and will give feedback once its all finished (still need a buyer...).

Cheers

Lesley