Local solicitor or not ?

dodgy_gooner

I am about to buy a property which is about 100 miles from where I currently live and wondered whether it is best to get a solicitor close to my new property or one local to where I currently live ?

Also the sale does not involve estate agents and i wondered if this changes the process at all ?

Any advice would be greatly received.

zzzLazyDaisy

I bought a house last year a couple of counties away. I used a solicitor close to the house I was buying, and was very glad I did. There was a problem with the right of way over a shared drive, and something on the local search that was unclear and I did not really understand. The solicitor had lived and worked in the area for 20+ years, she knew the local area, was known to the other solicitor and the estate agents, and managed to sort the problems out. Also the property is in a coal mining area - the solicitor that I first approached (near my home) did not know anything about coal searches and had never heard of red ash (a problem peculiar to the area where the new house was). The only down side was that I had to travel to the solicitor's offce a couple of times, but I didn't mind as it gave me an opportunity to check out the local area, measure up for curtains, etc.

Spendless

Hi

When we bought this house we used the solicitor the estate agent recommended which was in another county.

It meant we had to wait for things to come out via post to sign and return, rather than being able to pop into the office.

If you're buying a property in a different town though, presumably you'll be going there from time to time anyway and also he/she would be more likely to know the area as the previous poster has said.