long distance solicitor?

steves_uk

Hi all,

My partner and I are in the process of offering on a flat. We've been recommended a good solicitor that's based in Exeter. We live and are buying in London. Is this too far? Is it best to have a local solicitor?

Thanks in advance.

CloudCuckooLand

Potential Leasehold/Freehold issues in London? I'd want a red-hot local expert.

joerugby

We've done both and found it much easier to deal locally. One example is that letters can be collected or hand delivered which saved time. It also helped that our solicitor and estate agent knew each other.

bandofbrothers

I agree that a good local solicitor is the ideal choice.

I prefer to hand deliver any paperwork which stops delays or lost post.

mufi

joerugby wrote: »

We've done both and found it much easier to deal locally. One example is that letters can be collected or hand delivered which saved time.

Couldn't agree more:).

Richard_Webster

I do get some clients from out of area and they often ask about the downsides of not using a local solicitor. I make these very points about not being able to pop in at short notice to sign things. I don't disguise it. Some see it as an issue, others don't.

So if these solicitors in Exeter have been recommended and OP has spoken to them on the 'phone and feels that they will give a good service, then as long as OP accepts that he can't pop in with stuff then why not use them?

zzzLazyDaisy

When I moved out of the area a few years ago to the place I am now, I started off using the local solicitor who had dealt with the purchase of the house I was selling.

But straight away we hit problems because the solicitor advised me that a coal mining search was not necessary (the area I was moving to was a mining area, and the disused freight line ran along the boundary of the house, so it was certainly necessary).

Then shortly afterwards a problem cropped up with the wording of the easement over the neighbours land which provides access (and without which my house would be landlocked) and the solicitor just couldn't understand the problem - which was immediately apparent on a physical inspection of the house and land.

I changed to a local solicitor (local to where I was moving) who had knowledge of the local area, and was a few doors down from the sellers solicitor. She understood immediately what needed doing and was onto it.

It was a bit inconvenient having to do a 60 mile round trip to deliver/collect documents, or wait for the post, but well worth it for having a solicitor with a local presence.

mchale

Go with the recommended good solicitor, my brief is 300 mile's away but I know when I contact him he will normally get back to me within a couple of hours

FTBFun

I bought a leasehold property in London and used a solicitor in Leicester. Had no problems whatsoever.

My local solicitor didn't even bother returning my call with a quote.

Nuttyneddy

I would go with a good solicitor rather than a local one.

ETA - I'm not suggesting that a local one is not likely to be good of course! But if you have a good one who is not local I wouldn't let that put me off. We are moving 200 miles away so our solicitor is not local to the house we are buying, but we decided that was less of a problem than trying to use a different one for our sale as for our purchase.

Wyndham

I've always used long distance solicitors as my dad is in the business and he makes recommendations which are local to him (he may even have worked for them at some point). So I've never had a local one and it's all been fine.

Currently buying a flat, and using a long distance one again who acted for us 6 years ago. The only difference I've noticed so far is that he's now on email, which can only speed up certain parts of the process!