Online conveyancing.. Worth it??

sarnydee

I'm in the process of selling my flat and wondered if anyone has experience of online conveyancing. Is it any easier than using a local solicitor and will it save me money???

teana

Ive been looking for a conveyancer too. In fact posted yesterday about finding a decent solicitor. For me whats important is peace of mind considering its my first purchase. There are some threads regarding online conveyancers-seems a mixed affair. But for me i dont mind paying a little extra for someone thats not going to give me headaches. I was given 2 recommendations from yesterdays posting which im following up.

sarnydee

Thanks for the reply. It'd be good to find someone who's actually used one and get their opinion!!

Dan29

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=218540

davef

Hi

Yes I had 'experience' of an online conveyancer (the largest in the UK ??)

Absolute nightmare - my house sale took 5 months and included
- unreturned calls
- lost post (legal docs)
- rarely being able to speak to the same team member/case officer
- rarely being able to speak to the 'conveyancer' working on my case. Mostly seemed to get through to legal assistants.
- delays in post
- e-mails not acknowledged
- they did not 'battle' on my behalf when the buyer stalled and kept raising every possible issue in order to reduce the selling price.

Need I go on. Yes the costs were cheaper but ultimately I paid more in the long run. I now use a local solicitor with a first class service. There is a big advantage in being able to pop in to a local office, sign docs, go over issues , hassle them if needed - you get the picture.

Tread carefully - is the house purchase worth the risk for a few hundred pounds ???? My recommendation is to ask family/friends for a local solicitor with a good reputation. Hope this helps.

Dave

sarnydee

Sounds like a complete nightmare!!

courtjester

You'd save a lot more money by selling the property privately using a decent online property service (agent fee savings in the thousands) rather than trying to save just a few hundred pounds trying to do your own legal work (with all the associated risks if you get it wrong)....

Agents don't do any legal work, so replacing their service is much easier and more cost effective than replacing a solicitor.

Canucklehead

Good evening: We have used Legalmove twice now...last March and just this week to sell and buy. We have been very pleased with the outcome...in fact our purchase was held up by our vendor's incompentent local solicitor...long story!

Hope your luck will be as good as ours.

arnie&caseysma!

My sister recently moved house and the people they were buying from used Conveyancing Direct, a company from Glasgow that they found online. Everything seemed to go fine, everything signed up 2 days before the keys were changing hands etc etc, and then on the moving day we found out they Conveyancing Direct had not requested two things that they should have and put a delay on the whole process. They then tried to put the blame on my sisters solicitors (a local well trusted company) who let them no that if they failed to sort everything out that day they would be in breach of contract and my sister would be with-holding money! Needless to say it finally got sorted (1 hour before close of business) and they got to move house.

My advice would be to use a local company that has been recommended to you and is well trusted. I would not give online solicitors a second thought - you never know who you are dealing with and how well they are going to do what they are being paid for.........

dfarry

Surprisingly there isn't that much info on MSE about peoples experiences of on line conveyancing so I am recording my experiences here... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=219221

Jorgan_2

When choosing a solicitor, be it online or the more traditional method, try & speak to people who have recently moved & get them to recommend somebody. A vendor of mine recently used an online company, nightmare from start to finish, paper work going missing, paperwork not sent out for signing, searches being delayed as they hadn't requested them for weeks.

Another vendor used a local solicitor, nightmare from start to finish, paper work going missing, paperwork not sent out for signing, searches being delayed as they hadn't requested them for weeks.

Others have used both local & online conveyancing & not had a problem. Just don't buy on price, look at the service levels they will provide.