No Move No Fee Conveyancing

blawford

Hi,

I have just had an offer accepted on a house and I am trying to get the conveyancing organised.

The sellers weren't starting looking for somewhere else until selling their house so we are likely to have to be patient while they do. I am therefore trying to minimise the risk of too much outlay before things get moving on their end, while at the same time not allowing things to stand still so they get worried about our commitment to the sale.

To this end I have been looking at online conveyancing, especially those that have some sort of 'no completion, no fee' guarantee. I have come across http://www.compareandconvey.co.uk/ which is recommended through http://www.theadvisory.co.uk - which as far as I have read is an impartial source - does anyone know any different?

So I realise that going with an online conveyancer/solicitor is probably going to have mixed reviews but what are people's opinions regarding it against my situation above?

Is the 'no completion, no fee' guarantee worth having, or just a gimmick. I am guessing that this will only cover the solicitors fees and not any further outlays such as searches?

I will basically take any advice you can give me based on what I have said above, many thanks!

ACG

You will probably pay more by having that guarantee but it protects you - so its swings and round abouts.

Personally I would speak to smaller local companies. You tend to get better service, just ensure they are on the lenders panel.

blawford

Here is the quote from the aforementioned site for a £300,000 purchase price:

Purchase conveyancing costs: £459.00
TT Fee £10.00
VAT on costs @20%: £93.80
Land Registry Fee £135.00
Local Authority Search £73.54
Bankruptcy £4.00
AML £14.40
Personal Water and Drainage (Con29DW) £30.65
Environmental Search £53.16
Final Land Charges Search £4.00

Total £877.55

You will also be liable to stamp duty on this purchase: £9,000.00

Total including SDLT £9,877.55

The following things are included
No completion = No fee service
Redemption of your existing mortgage
Professional indemnity insurance
Dealing with your new mortgage lender
All postage and printing
Completing Stamp Duty Land Tax Return

Small print
All disbursements to be paid for if property transaction does not complete.

This conveyancing illustration has been provided through the Legals Direct solicitor comparison programme.

The programme has the sole purpose of comparing the costs of solicitors and licensed conveyancers and introducing conveyancing clients to UK based licensed conveyancers and solicitors.

We will require a payment on account of £120 (this amount is included in the above total cost and is not an additional payment)

Land Registry Fee It has been assumed that the documents submitted to the Land Registry will be done electronically. However, in a small number of cases, the Land Registry will not accept documents electronically (such as if a lease has too many pages or a plan is too large) and there will, in these cases, be an additional fee payable to them if the forms have to be submitted in paper form.

No completion no fee service
No completion no fee cover is valid only in relation to the first abortive sale / purchase of your property. If this sale / purchase proves abortive and a new buyer is found, this firm reserves the right to charge for each subsequent abortive transaction.

All solicitors or licensed conveyancers who provide illustration within this panel have signed a contract with us to commit to providing the highest levels of service and totally transparent illustration. If any additional work is required as a result of a request from your lender or due to the geographical location of the property in question (which could not have been foreseen at the time of providing an illustration) then this work will be discussed with you first.

The Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007 is published by the Solicitor Regulations Authority. We comply with, and are subject to, the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007. We will ensure than any referral we make will be to an independent professional from whom you will receive impartial and confidential advice. Under the duty of disclosure required to be made for introductions, we must inform you that the solicitor / conveyancer will pay a referral fee for promoting their services. This fee will be paid by the solicitors themselves and not by you. Your chosen solicitor / conveyancer will pay us a fee of one hundred and seventy eight pounds plus VAT. This cost is paid for the promotion of their business via various distribution channels, maintaining accurate information within our panel, ongoing development and monitoring the quality of individual partners.

Can anyone spot anything I should be weary of? The only thing I saw was "All disbursements to be paid for if property transaction does not complete." - what does this mean?

I also assume the fees include the solicitors acting on behalf of the lender as well?

This quote was from a company called Ingrams, which was the cheapest of the ones they offered, the others being 'Edward Hands & Lewis', 'Mark Swatts Morse LLP', 'Butterworths', 'Stephensons' and 'Mackenzie Jones'. The top price being £1,057 of fees. Anyone got any opinions on any of these solicitors?

Any help appreciated, thanks.

ACG

Stephensons dealt with the purchase of my property. Couldnt fault them, they even got in touch with the vendor after the sale to tell him to stop coming in MY house - long story. They did not charge any extra for that, they just did it.