How to choose a solicitor?

Mallowmarshmallow

Hello all,

I'm looking for some advice please. In the process of selling my house, I have agreed to use the solicitors affiliated with my estate agents.

When buying my new property, which solicitor is it adviseable to use? Are there any reasons it is not adviseable to use the same solicitors who are involved in the selling of my other property?

If so, where should I be looking for a good solicitor?

Sorry if these are fairly dim questions - my first property was all organised through the company building the properties, so I am now feeling like a real beginner!!

Also, if there is anything else (other than full mortgage application, which I am proceeding with) that I should be doing immediately, I would greatfully receive any advice.

Many thanks.

kingstreet

wayneandhannah wrote: »

In the process of selling my house, I have agreed to use the solicitors affiliated with my estate agents

Can you explain what you mean by this? Is this the agent's in-house conveyancing warehouse operation, or a local firm recommended by the agent?

Sammie_UK1

I've always found that the conveyancer recommended by the EA is always the most expensive.

Go to this site: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law

Select "Coneyancing Residential" as the Area of law, stick in your postcode and you will get a list of Law Society approved conveyancers. Click on the firm and the next page will list their email address.

Draft an email and address it to all those you want a quote from all in one email. Addressing them all in one email makes it more competitive as the other conveyancers can see who else has been asked to provide a quote and they can see that you are shopping around for the best deal.

[FONT=&quot]Dear Sir/Madam[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Please could you provide a conveyancing quote for the purchase of a property in *Enter Town", UK/Scotland (details below). Please could ALL disbursements be detailed along with it's respective fees.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Property Details: 1 Something street, somethingville, SO1 1AA[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Purchase price: £135000[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Mortgage: Required[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Buyers: First time buyers (no previous property to sell)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Leasehold/Freehold: Freehold[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No Of buyers: 2[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
If you require any further details, please contact me via email or on 01234 123456.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Thank you


Sit back and have a cuppa...

You'll get several quotes emailed back within 24hrs and you can pick and choose the best one.

SIMPLES!!
[/FONT]

kingstreet

Sammie - I'd have asked for quotes for a sale and a purchase, so the OP can compare with the estate agency "recommended" conveyancer.;)

I'd also suggest emailing solicitors in slightly different towns, as my experience suggests if you email three in one town, they'll come back with about a fiver difference in the fees when a solicitor in the next town over charges £200 less for a sale and purchase...

G_M

1) shop around
2) don't use the agent's prefered - who do you think ultimately pays his referral commission?
3) use same agent to buy/sell: less communication involved, cheaper, easier
4) make sure quotes are like for like - watch out for hidden extras

Yorkie1

Also, ask around for recommendations, and I eventually chose my solicitor after speaking to them over the phone - one was approachable, the other one I couldn't even understand the receptionist!

Richard_Webster

One basic thing - if you are seeking to complete the sale and purchase at the same time then you need to use the same solicitor for both - you simply wind both solicitors up and cause more phone calls and confusion if you use two separate solicitors.

You need to choose a solicitor that you are happy with to do both.

Mallowmarshmallow

Thank you all for your advice.

I had meant that I was planning to use the solicitor recommended by the estate agent, however I have not yet agreed anything so I thank you all for talking some sense into me.

As the sort of person who compares how many sheets of toilet roll I get for my money in the supermarket, I realise that I had lost track of my senses by just going for the easy (or lazy) option!

Thanks all for your advice, and Sammie for the website. Tomorrow I shall be emailing around to find myself a local solicitor, and asking around to see if I have any friends who can recommend someone for me.

Thanks again for talkking some sense into me!!

Richard_Webster

Tomorrow I shall be emailing around to find myself a local solicitor, and asking around to see if I have any friends who can recommend someone for me.

Yes, that's the sensible thing to do - try to talk to them to get a feel as to whether you will be happy to deal with them and check whether there are nay "extras".

Millie_Millsters

I know it's against all the recommendations on here but when I was buying/selling last year, I figured the EA deals with solicitors all the time and would be the person who knew best who to avoid and who would be easiest to deal with.

I asked for the name of local solicitors they had dealt with, got quotes from all 4, plus a couple of others, and then made my own mind up which to pick.

Beware those who quote for postage and other nonsense separately and make sure you are comparing "like for like".

AdrianC

Unless you've got a one-off local independent EA, then the solicitor they "recommend" will be a big national churn-by-numbers outfit, with all that implies compared to a small, local independent solicitor.

We went with personal recommendation for a solicitor when buying 15yrs ago, and were very impressed. When we sold that house earlier this year, we used the same guy - but his business has grown and... unsurprisingly - it just wasn't the same personal, effective, timely service. For buying this place, we didn't use the same solicitor (very different part of the country), and went with a local recommendation for a small local firm. Again, superb service. He picked up a couple of minor details which'd been overlooked in the last couple of transactions for the place.