FTB, offer accepted today, now need solicitor/conveyancer

jedi_cooky

hi, first time buyers had offer accepted on house today, paid more than really want to so now need to save some costs on the legal stuff!

firstly what is the difference between a solicitor and a conveyancer? have read a few things about conveyancing warehouse and they seem very competitively priced.

the legal stuff in theory should b straightforward, we are ready to move out of living with respective parents and into new house and the sellers are going into rented property so there is no chain. should it be straightforward enough to go for a 'cheaper' legal mob, or should we be paying more than the 595.88 they are quoting (excl. stamp duty) ?

much obliged for any advice!!!

mchu6am4

It would help if you gave a breakdown of the quote - eg does it include searches and which one etc.

Also, u may want to state what part of country u live in for people to recommend a decent solicitor etc.

It is worth going with a decent solicitor that will try to get things done quickly and accurately rather than trying to save £100 or so and end up with a lazy sod! Its not worth it as its the most important purchase of your life and u don't want to screw it up by saving a few pounds on the legal work etc.

Ash

Daisies

That seems quite low for conveyancing, I paid about £1000 last June, for a very straightforward purchase - FTB with finance in place and no chain as I bought from developers. As I didn't know the area and didn't know anyone to ask for a recommendation I chose 3 solicitors/conveyancers at random and rang them all up for a quote and then based my decision on how efficiently/speedily they dealt with my enquiry and how good the information they sent through was. I went with the middle one in the end (all were between £900 and £1050) because their quote was broken down to show the cost of all the searches and everything else involved, and they'd been very prompt and efficient on the phone. They were excellent all the way through and everything went according to plan (although probably the others would have been fine too!).

You don't have to be a solicitor to be a conveyancer (I used a conveyancer who was part of a firm of solicitors) or the other way round! What I did find was a big help, and others have said the same, is to use a local firm because they really know the area and are used to dealing with the local estate agents. My conveyancer had been working here for 20+ years and had already conveyanced most of the houses on my street, some several times!

jedi_cooky

here is the breakdown:

legal fees 245 +vat
land reg search fee 4
land reg fee 150
local authority search fee 115 (estimated)
telegraphic transfer fee 35
bankruptcy fee 4
total 595.88

depending on the lender says may need environmental search @ £39, coal mining at £24 and drainage at £47. but even if it has all of those thats still only £705

it is a house in oadby, leicester for £179k

thanks for any advice!!

mchu6am4

jedi_cooky wrote: »

here is the breakdown:

legal fees 245 +vat
land reg search fee 4
land reg fee 150
local authority search fee 115 (estimated)
telegraphic transfer fee 35
bankruptcy fee 4
total 595.88

depending on the lender says may need environmental search @ £39, coal mining at £24 and drainage at £47. but even if it has all of those thats still only £705

it is a house in oadby, leicester for £179k

thanks for any advice!!

The quote seems excellent - its about £150 less than what I'm paying on a £160k house - but you need assurance the conveyancer is good and will handle your case efficiently (fast) and accurately. Unfortunately, I'm not from Leicester area and cannot recommend a good conveyancer but maybe someone else on the forum will recommend a decent one from experience.

shelly

Hubby says your quote seems good. We are using the conveyancing warehouse for our sale of current property and purchase of new one. They were £300-£400 cheaper that at least 2 local solicitors. We haven't completed or exchanged yet but so far they have been brilliant. Kept us up to date by mail, phone and text.

jedi_cooky

great, thanks for that. have read quite a number of posts about them and so far havnt read too much bad about them, they are constantly praised for the efficiency and ease of service so sounds good so far. and you can save money by doing your own stamp duty land tax online, which can be done a a couple of weeks after completion which will help the cash flow!!!

Phirefly

Try running a quote with abodeconveyancing.co.uk. their quote was the cheapest for us and its been very palinsailing so far. Good luck

jedi_cooky

have just got a quote from them and its £702 inclusive of everything, they say that there are absolutley no hidden costs that could possibly appear later on, seems very reasonable.

so they are doing a good job with yours so far then Phirefly? anyone else used abodeconveyancing and have any comments on them???