Dilemma - conveyancing costs of £3k

ey143

I was going to use one of the convenancing firms from conveyandcompare for a house purchase price of £750k. The total cost all in was circa. £1,400 (I need a firm with 4 reglated principals for First Direct).

I also work for a bank in which I can get a preferential interest rate (long story short, I havent decided which I bank I want to go with as both offer distinct advantages e.g. offset at a high rate or lower interest rate with cap repayment).

Anyway, my employer will force me to use a London based conveyancing firm to cover my employer's legal costs (approx. £600 +VAT) or I can use the same firm to ALSO handle my legal affairs and they representing us both will cost me something slightly over £3,000 with none of the guarantees offered by compareandconvey.co.uk e.g. no completion fee etc. He tells me they are a normal firm and their rates are competitive.

If I choose my own firm, I would therefore pay the £1.5k from compareandconvey and the £800 for the bank's fees.

Am I being silly farting around to save £800 to £1000 by using two legal firms instead of the one in the scheme of things when my property cost is so high. I'm just being careful with the money but I dont like the sound of this snooty guy who cannot give me a clear reason as to why he has to charge so much more (toffee nose type "we are good" and dont operate like conveyancing factories). I can see myself getting wound up everytime I call to speak to him for an update.

At the same time, I dont want to !!!! him off if he thinks I'm being cheap and therefore using two firms so he slows things down between my other lawyer and the banks....or do bank lawyers not do that much compared to a buyer's conveyancing firm? I know he has central London overheads.

Anyway, is £3k a normal price for convenancing for old school type firms?

Thanks.

G_M

Bit of a confusing post but as a general guide:

* why pay more for conveyancing than you need?
* shop around
* compare like with like
* eg does the expensive one include Stamp Duty? If not, seems very expensive, but without checking....
* Do any of the quotes have 'hidden' extras? Have you checked?

Read:

http://www.theadvisory.co.uk/conveyancing-quote.php

Dan-Dan

G_M wrote: »

* eg does the expensive one include Stamp Duty? If not, seems very expensive

3k for convenancing including SD on a 750k house ? sounds like a bargain!

G_M

Dan-Dan wrote: »

3k for convenancing including SD on a 750k house ? sounds like a bargain!

Good point.

But 3k for convenancing excluding SD on a 750k house ? sounds like a rip-off!

ey143

Stamp duty alone is going to cost me £30k, so no the £3k does not include stamp

But my point is this. If I go with my employer (a bank itself) I have to pay their legal fees, so thats £800 (inc vat). Compareandconvey average quote (for only my legals) is £1,500 (all in). So total is £2,300. What is the downside, there will be two legal firms so could therefore slow things down a bit.

The circa. £3k (hard to compare like for like cos they guy hasn't given me a full written breakdown would cover my employer's/bank legal costs and mine.

G_M

Presumably your bank has a panel of solicitors? Get hold of it and ring round for quotes.

Or just ring some solicitors, ask for quote, + ask "Are you on xxx bank's panel?"

ey143

My employer/bank uses the one, expensive firm. Hence the reason why I'm in a dilemma as to whether to use the same firm to represent both the bank and my legal side or just use them only for the bank's.