Conveyancing Charges - opinion required.

WindyMiller_3

Hi All,

Ive gotten some quotes for conveyancing, some local and some internet based such as "legalmove" and "conveyancingwarehouse".

The local solicitors are working out at approx 540 +vat, the internet options come in at approximatley half this!

The property is being sold for 125k and the costs ive quoted are for selling only.

This seems to be quite a large difference in prices, I know there have been threads on using internet conveyancing but none ive seen going through to completion.

Just wanted to gauge peoples experiences/opinions on this from the board. To throw something else into the mix - I dont work where the house is being sold, so its mainly via email that I would like to be communicating.

Any opinion on whether the internet based is worth a chance? Also - what about in house solicitors i.e. with the EA ?

Thanks

Windy

dfarry

WindyMiller wrote:

This seems to be quite a large difference in prices, I know there have been threads on using internet conveyancing but none ive seen going through to completion.

Indeed...although in my case it has more to do with the dire performance of two other solicitors rather than Conveyancing Warehouse...if we don't exchange by the 31st August and complete by the 5th September it looks like the chain will collapse. This would have never happened if the two other solicitors further down the chain had done their jobs properly to start with!

chivers1977

I am going with CW after reading dfarrys long thread....

tigerminxy

I'm getting my conveyancing done for £500+vat, and that's with a discount because my mum works for the firm. This is just for a sale, as I'm already installed in a different house, and it's a simple freehold affair, so your quote seems quite reasonable to me.

If I were in your current position, I'd first make sure your quotes are like-for-like, checking things like disbursements, funds transfers fees, &c. as this may account for the huge difference in quotes.

Then, as you're doing now, solicit testimonials from people who have actually used the services.

As for communicating via e-mail, I don't see a problem with that in this day and age. In fact, I think I'd prefer it if my solicitor used it instead of snail mail, as it would help speed things up. Not sure about the legal position of e-mail but I'm sure giving a quick answer to be followed up by a letter would be better than the snail mail ping pong that can happen during house sales.

As for using the estate agent-affiliated service, I can't really think why that would necessarily be a problem. If anything, you could argue that it might speed things up since there's an established communication link and an even bigger incentive for the EA to make sure the deal goes smoothly. The buyers of my house are dealing with the EA conveyancing service and, from my point of view, I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for the fact that the EA told me.