Solicitor Fees - Conveyancing

Donk_2

Me and OH are FTB.

Buying a property for £98k, we have had a few quotes for conveyancing:

£1308 (from the vendors solicitor)
£770 (from the one my dad used)
£630 (from a company someone at work noticed were doing a fixed fee)

Im inclinded to go with Dads as comes with recommendation, but i don't really know what price we should be expecting to pay. Also, how can I be sure that the charges they quote upfront are all that they will charge? The quotes vary slightly on things included and i have heard stories of people being slammed with charges that they did not expect.

Advise please!

clearing_out_my_pockets

Have you checked whether you're comparing like for like? The higher one may include land registry charges, searches, etc whereas the others may just be the conveyancing charge. We're buying a house for £174,950 and paying £961 for legals (could have got it free through mortgage compamy but we need a fast turnaround so had to go local)

Donk_2

They all reemed off a list of charges ontop of their fee, including land registry and other stuff. I'm just worried that we'll end up paying over the top as soon as we say the words FTB!!!

lfc321

It's hard to give a definitive answer on the prices without knowing exactly what's included. However, as a general rule it is definitley a good idea to go with a solicitor who comes recommended.

Donk_2

OK thanks!!!

Cheesedoodles

We just purchased a house and I used the same solicitor my father in law has used on his house.... And they were very good. I could always get hold of them and they where pretty fast with getting things going. As a matter of fact, from offer to exchange was just 4 weeks!! In addition, they had an office location and I could pop in whenever I liked!

They are definitely not the cheapest solicitor around and I could perhaps have saved £3-400 going somewhere else. However, i prefer to pay the extra and know that my purchase is in good hands. After all, what is an extra £400 when you are buying a house!

I've seen many posts on MSE where people have used cheap online solicitors...and their experience isn't always good.