Countrywide Property Lawyers

emmin

Hello - I am a first time buyer & decided to go with CPL to act as my conveyancer when I was in the estate agents. I paid a total of £200 when I was in there (£50 admin fee for them and £150 for local searches) and have now had the intro pack through with the anticipated costs, which I thought seemed fairly high. Ive come into work this morning and read the reviews on them elsewhere and am now thinking I may be better off moving to another solicitor but was wondering if anyone had any experience of doing this and if there were any problems. OR if anyone has had any good experiences with them (I know people only tend to comment when its bad news)...

Any advice anyone can give me re. this would be great.

Thanks!

Xinpei

Hi, I was in the same boat. Ring up your local solicitors for several quotes. Ask if they charge for 'acting on behalf of the lender'. CPL was wanting to charge me £300 for that. My local solicitor said they will not charge for this. Ask for the quotes in writing.

In the meantime, ring CPL to put your case on hold. When you decide with another solicitor, ring them up again, tell them you will like the £150 back. The £50 is admin fee so you wont be able to get that back. Get the name of the lady/man you spoke to and ask them very specifically when you can expect the £150 back into your account.

I think CPL is quite expensive myself. They quoted me £1600 for everything. I am going with a local solicitor for £700. I don't know if they will provide a better service (not having used them!) but I cannot imagine the local solicitors be so much different that it warrants a £900 difference.

Oh, just to add, I received the £150 back into my CC within 3 days. So upon cancellation, make sure you check this happens or ring them up again.

Good luck..

emmin

Thanks Xinpei - I have spoken with a local solicitor and their charges are about £500 less so I have instructed them. They are who my dad uses for his business (different dept I know but makes me feel somewhat reasured). I have asked my mortgage advisor to contact CPL & my lender but may contact them myself as well now. I'll let you know how I get on! Thanks again

Richard_Webster

I think it may have been a disciplinary offence for connected estate agents not to attempt to sell CPL's services.

Running_Horse

The search button is a wonderful thing.

goldy26

Xinpei wrote: »

Hi, I was in the same boat. Ring up your local solicitors for several quotes. Ask if they charge for 'acting on behalf of the lender'. CPL was wanting to charge me £300 for that. My local solicitor said they will not charge for this. Ask for the quotes in writing.

In the meantime, ring CPL to put your case on hold. When you decide with another solicitor, ring them up again, tell them you will like the £150 back. The £50 is admin fee so you wont be able to get that back. Get the name of the lady/man you spoke to and ask them very specifically when you can expect the £150 back into your account.

I think CPL is quite expensive myself. They quoted me £1600 for everything. I am going with a local solicitor for £700. I don't know if they will provide a better service (not having used them!) but I cannot imagine the local solicitors be so much different that it warrants a £900 difference.

Oh, just to add, I received the £150 back into my CC within 3 days. So upon cancellation, make sure you check this happens or ring them up again.

Good luck..

I thought CPL had a fixed fee for conveyancing. They quoted me £703.83 for a property worth between 175k to 280k.

robert.grant

do NOT use CPL.
I am in a chain where the people buying my house and their buyers both use CPL - they are an utter shambles. There is no point of contact, everyting is done remotely, CPL does not chase anything, relying on other people in the chain to advise them For instance people at the bottom of my chain found the inventory list had been lost in CPLs system and this was 10 weeks into the transaction. so back to sqaure 1. use a local solicitor who may be more expensive but at least you are in control (as far as you can be).
or speak to a local solicitor about CPL - they all HATE working with them.
CPL is a rip off and an extension of your estate agent - why anyone would follow an estate agents recommendation for a solicitor is beyond me.

bridgendgirl

Buyers should not have to pay for searches anyway....thats why the Hip was brought in. The seller provides the searches.