Conveyancing - cheap AND competent? - a pipe dream?

waynehayes

Just wondering why solicitors don't phone or email each other?

Ilian2008

Hello. I get really annoyed that Solicitors on the other side dont answer my calls (I am one)or email me either.To be fair 50% do but where i work, I have had a few local solicitors on the other side of loads of transactions and ive never even spoke to them because they never come back to me. I speak to their secretaries who seem to be under tremendous pressure all the time. poor sods. All i can hope is that I look better to the agents and their clients and they come to me afterwards.

JayZed

Yes, on our last purchase we used a very good local solicitor, but our purchasers (FTBs) used some !!!!less idiot. Our solicitor was constantly chasing her for long overdue paperwork, but she never answered the phone or returned phone, fax or e-mail messages. Our solicitor was tearing his hair out, but there wasn't really much more that he could do. The whole chain came within a hair's breadth of collapsing because of her incompetence and/or laziness.

JayZed

Oh, come on, I can't say f-e-c-k-less?!

Pssst

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If you manage to buy a house without using a solicitor then if later you can't sell it because of a legal problem a solicitor would have spotted but you wouldn't have spotted, you have only yourself to blame.

I'm not saying for one minute that you should not engage a good local solicitor/conveyancer. What i am suggesting is that the process has been streamlined but that conveyancers do not always pass on the resultant savings to clients. They prefer to make it seem like hours of work at a Dickensian desk,using pen and ink on ancient parchment by flickering candle light.

sezzyburke

I have had personal dealings with this firm. Has anyone actually complained to the SRA about them?

pete1717

enion wrote: »

We are currently using a solicitor firm in Cardiff. I'm not sure to what extent they can be recommended as we're still only at the beginning of the whole buying thing (contracts not even seen yet) but so far they seem ok. They are at jmdlaw.co.uk (I hope I'm allowed to post this?)

They weren't recommended to us but instead what we did was:
* from the Law Society's website (lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law) we chose about 20 odd solicitor firms that had websites (so that we could check if they definitely do conveyancing)
* then we emailed most of them with specific requirements (no sale no fee, will reply to emails promptly etc.), specified what we're buying and for how much and asked for quotes
* compared the quotes we received and the time it took them to reply
* took the lowest quote we received and asked the best firm to match it
* they said ok - so we chose them. Coincidentally the best firm also was the first one to reply to us.

Of course this is not a foolproof method but probably next best thing to having the conveyancer recommended to you...

Hey, dont forget the Council for Licensed Conveyancers website too !!

Foggy

I used a small local firm when buying my house. They said at the the start the legal fees would be £295 +vat plus searches/fees and the total would be just over £600.

The Land Registry fee was increased to £200 from £150 but that was out of their control I suppose. Anyway it cost me £655 all in.

VickyG_3

Actually I used BestConveyancingQuotes, they are part of Wolstenholmes Solicitors. They carried out my HIP together with the conveyancing for the sale and purchase. Anthony Danvers handled my case, he was one of the most professional people I have had dealings with in a long time. The service was excellent, and he responded to any questions I had promptly and efficiently. Best of all is the price, I would happily recommend them to anyone without any reservations

Gwenrose

We've gone with 'abode' again. This is our third lot of buyers, the times before the buyers pulled out due to various problems with morgage etc. Abode, set you up with a conveyancing solicitor on line, we're with 'Beaumont Legal' and I've so far had no reason to complain. Plus, they will email you every thing if you ask so you can sign and return by post. I can phone them any time and to date they have been very good. There is one set fee, unless major complications arise.

My friend used them for her house sale and said it was the best thing she had ever done and would recommend them every time.

I expect some one might have had problems, but so far so good, fingers crossed, this time we should be moving end of August, as our solicitor has completed every thing in four weeks and she emails the other solicitors.

Should add, just search for 'abode' on line and they will give you an instant quote on line, just follow through from that. Good luck.