conveyancing

bouicca21

Daughter is buying her first flat. Ringing round solicitors has produced suggested fees ranging from £450 to £750 plus VAT. The cheapest offer is from the co-op who say they outsource to a firm called Optima. Any thoughts on this arrangement? Seems daft to go for the expensive option but does outsourcing involve any significant risk?

G_M

You cannot compare prices on the basis of a single figure. You need a full breakdown of what it includes/excludes.

eg - does it include acting for the mortgage lender as well, or will this be extra?
Is there an extra fee fo completing th SDLT form or is this included?

So
a) get a full written breakdown of the quote and
b) read this to look for 'hidden' extras!

lzcook

The outsourcing isn't so much the issue as the quality of the work. Buying a house/flat will probably be the biggest investment in your daughter's life. Personally I'd seek personal recommendations and go for someone who will do a good job over whoever who will do the cheapest job. If Optima do a good job, then that's great but otherwise I'd consider it money well spent to ensure that the job was done properly and any issues were uncovered and resolved at the time of purchase rather than causing problems further down the line.

DVardysShadow

bouicca21 wrote: »

The cheapest offer is from the co-op who say they outsource to a firm called Optima.

I would avoid anything which smacks of 'out sourcing' or of bulk conveyancing.

bouicca21

Oh, how right G_M is. The full breakdown of costs has arrived and it turns out that each solicitor is quoting on a different basis, some with fees, some without. Only one has pointed out that since she is buying a share of freehold and joining a management company, there will be additional costs associated with that.

Unfortunately we don't know anyone who can give us a recommendation. The snotty patronising one who seems to think he would be doing her a favour by taking on the work is clearly out though.

seven-day-weekend

My son has recently purchased a flat and his conveyancing costs were around £1000.

BUT he used the Senior Partner of a firm of solicitors who is also a Conveyancing specialist, he went into great detail about the lease, and made sure that there was permission from the Management company in place and a FENSA Certificate for the new windows, got figures from the management company about projected future charges....well worth the extra money for the thorough job that was done.

We personally have used him several times for conveyancing issues.

If you are in or near Wolverhampton I can recommend him.

monkeyboy72

For my sale and purchase (currently going through) I typed into google 'solicitors (name of town)', I then saw about 10 firms I recognized and went to their 'contact us' page and copied into the message box the same message which contained sale price, purchase price whether it was a freehold/leasehold and both properties mortgaged, within 24 hours all 10 had emailed me direct with quotes and they all pretty much said, no hidden costs and no sale no fee, I was well impressed (although strangely all 10 quotes where within £100 of eachother!!)

Flat_Eric

My preference has to be for a firm that is local to you/to the location of the house that is being bought. I feel a solicitors local knowledge is invaluable. Also being able to pop into the office to get something signed/to collect something/to be able to sit in front of your solicitor and have him/her explain stuff has got to be better than only being able to speak to someone over the phone.

You can get lists of solicitors in your area from the SRA website (Solicitors Regulation Authority). I would as the other poster suggested contact a few and ask for some quotes.