Choosing a solicitor

earthdancer

What is the best way to choose a solicitor to do conveyancing? Do I ring a few up and ask for quotes? What sort of questions do I need to ask? Do solicitors work on a no sale no fee basis? Also, at what stage of the buying/selling process do I need to get a solicitor involved? Sorry, I'm a bit clueless so any advice would be very gratefully received.

ED

Gwhiz

earthdancer wrote: »

What is the best way to choose a solicitor to do conveyancing? Do I ring a few up and ask for quotes? What sort of questions do I need to ask? Do solicitors work on a no sale no fee basis? Also, at what stage of the buying/selling process do I need to get a solicitor involved? Sorry, I'm a bit clueless so any advice would be very gratefully received.

ED

Best way is to ask someone to recommend one to you. If not possible then certainly get some quotes and see who you seem to gel with. Although they should be much of a muchness for conveyancing I've used the same one for 18 years because he's great and talks English (rather than legalese)

SOLICITOR WILL CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WHATEVER - THEY ARE NOT TRYING TO WIN A CASE, THEY ARE PROVIDING YOU A SERVICE.

As soon as you have had an offer accepted you need a solicitor as there is no way to proceed to exchange of contracts (the next stage) without one.

shirlgirl2004

Not all solicitors work on a pay regardless system some do work on no sale no fee. I think mainly the online ones but you may find one locally.

AdrianW2

Gwhiz wrote: »

SOLICITOR WILL CHARGE YOU FOR THE WORK WHATEVER - THEY ARE NOT TRYING TO WIN A CASE, THEY ARE PROVIDING YOU A SERVICE.

Not true. Many solicitors provide a fixed price no-sale no-fee service. These, for example, http://www.brownssolicitors.co.uk/

Gwhiz wrote: »

As soon as you have had an offer accepted you need a solicitor as there is no way to proceed to exchange of contracts (the next stage) without one.

Again, not true, it's perfectly possible to do your own conveyancing. It might cause your mortgage company to up their fees though, as they may instruct their own rather solicitor rather than trusting you to do the work properly. It may also cause the other side's solicitors to huff and puff because they don't like their cartel upset.

Gwhiz

AdrianW2 wrote: »

Not true. Many solicitors provide a fixed price no-sale no-fee service. These, for example, http://www.brownssolicitors.co.uk/



Again, not true, it's perfectly possible to do your own conveyancing. It might cause your mortgage company to up their fees though, as they may instruct their own rather solicitor rather than trusting you to do the work properly. It may also cause the other side's solicitors to huff and puff because they don't like their cartel upset.

Ok ... but if your new to this I would not suggest doing your own conveyancing. I would also question the service levels of a no move/no win solicitor. (On this last point I have no basis in fact but I would not feel comfortable using one - I could be VERY wrong though )

DPX

I know several solicitors that work on a no sale no basis, but this mean they can still charge your for disbursements. Naturally they will not out themselves out of pocket. However there are over 8000 conveyancers registered with the law society so lots to choodse from. Recommendatiion is always a best bet. Ring round get some quotes and ask if they are No slae No fee and make sure that you know if the sale falls thorugh exactly how much you could have to pay...

Imp

Just about every time I have had to use a solicitor for re-mortgaging or buying/selling, I have had problems with no sale, no fee, fixed price solicitors. They have a motivation to do as little as possible to complete the sale. This is fine if there are no problems, but if there are problems then it can all drag on as they are reluctant to spend the required amount of time on it.

Two examples.

1) re-mortgaging from a SVR to a tracker, back when SVR was high. The solicitor delayed the process by about 3 months, costing us about £600 a month.

2) selling a house, the buyers solicitors failed to respond in a timely fashion to anything. The total process was extended by about 8 weeks, with a cost to us of about £500.

chickmug

From my point of view as an agent you must ask them if they communicate by email - many don't. And ask how soon they will get back when an email is sent. Some take days as they admit to not checking it very often or say their secretary checks it and she has been off.

Try and get one with a direct line so you know they are open to direct calls coming in to them. You may be the client but when ringing some switchboards you can still have a heck of a job getting through.

mose_2

As soon as you have had an offer accepted you need a solicitor as there is no way to proceed to exchange of contracts (the next stage) without one.


I have accepted an offer and have been told by my EA that i don't need to instruct one untill the buyer has had a survey done. Is this correct or not?

Thanks

chickmug

mose wrote: »

As soon as you have had an offer accepted you need a solicitor as there is no way to proceed to exchange of contracts (the next stage) without one.


I have accepted an offer and have been told by my EA that i don't need to instruct one untill the buyer has had a survey done. Is this correct or not?

Thanks

As an agent I must be careful what I say if I am going to contradict the advice you have been given by your agent! But you MUST sort out who (solicitor) you want to use and why not get them in place ready to act.

The secret is that they should not start work in earnest until you say it is OK. If you accept an offer the agent (well we do) should confirm the details and send a memo of sale to the buyer, seller and their two solicitors. To leave until after the survey is a very negative way of doing it - in my opinion after dealing with many sales over many yeras?