Solicitor head aches

JSP440

So I had made an offer on a 110K flat. offer was accepted.

I then found a local solicitor, Quoted £1,100 paid the up front deposit to get the ball rolling, for a week later to be told that the vendor was already using these solicitors and that I would be refunded and have to find new solicitors. which is fair enough.

So I work away a lot, so instructed my Estate agent to go through their solicitors. quoted £1,150. 2 days later they call me to say they are panelling it out to one of their partners due to high work load. the partner got in contact and said the quote was now.... £2300... WHAT???

I contacted the solicitor and said I do not wish to continue at this price. they said ok fair enough.

So I then asked my mortgage company for a solicitor they would be happy with, they found me a quote with the company that had just quoted me (£2300) but this time it was £1100 more in line with the original quotes I have..... But the company have said they cant now offer the cheeper quote because i was originally quoted the higher price.

Will i ever find a solicitor??? I didn't think this was supposed to be the hard part

Shahni

Honestly, all of those quotes seem very expensive to me. For a flat around £110k I'd be expecting to pay more like £600-700. I'd also avoid at all costs the estate agent's solicitor.

Have you tried ringing round several local solicitors to get a few quotes? It shouldn't be difficult (or expensive) to get a solicitor to act for you.

stator

What an awful hassel, I'm sure you will find a decent solicitor for a lot less than £2k!
Look on places like Yell.com for reviews and pick a local firm. E-mail for quotes and I'm sure you'll get one good one.

G_M

Look - every time you get a referral from an agent etc you are paying their commission.

Find your own solicitor.

1) walk down your local high street & go into three solicitors firms. "I'd like to see a solicior about a conveyancing quote please."
2) Judge how happy you are by a) the recepionist response b) whether you see a solicitor or admin person c) how you like the solicitor
3) tell the solicitor the rough property price, the mortgage lender name, whether its leasehold, the local authority (all these can affect the price or whether they can act for the lender)
4) make sure you're given a written quote, broken down, and their terms of business
5) go home and compare
6) read

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

If you get an online quote
* yes it may well be cheaper
* check the small print as many things may be 'extras' not included in the cheap quote
* bear in mind with the high street, you can pop in with documents you've signed: no post delay
* you can go in and talk about anything you don't understand, or discuss complaints. Online is harder!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Word of mouth recommendation is always helpful- ask people at work. I paid ~£1500 for a reputable local firm in a posh bit of London (I was buying in a distinctly less posh bit 10 minutes down the road). £2300 sounds ridiculous.

TBagpuss

Phone several local solicitors direct. I would do this rather than walking down the high street - it's much quicker, you'll feel less pressured and a good solicitor will probably ask for your e-mail and e-mail you the quote as well as speaking to you by phone.

Estate agents recommendations are often based on commission (not always - the solicitors I use do not pay for referrals but they do get recommended quite a lot by agents because they are very good)

eddddy

JSP440 wrote: »

S
So I then asked my mortgage company for a solicitor they would be happy with, they found me a quote with the company that had just quoted me (£2300) but this time it was £1100 more in line with the original quotes I have..... But the company have said they cant now offer the cheeper quote because i was originally quoted the higher price.
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Just to explain what probably happened here...

The EA initially referred you to the solictor. That means the solicitor would pay the EA a referral fee...

...often that's around £500, but perhaps it's more in your case.

...and perhaps there was a second referral fee for the solicitors that passed your name on.


So, had you paid £2300, you would have got £1,100 worth of legal services - and the rest of your money would have gone to the EA (and maybe the other solicitor) for pretty much doing nothing.

Once the EA has passed on your name, the solicitor has to pay the fee if you use them. Probably even if you end up buying a different house through a different EA.

So it's never a good idea to use a solicitor referred by an EA.

Dird

Why aren't you using http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/ ?
I entered the house post code and emailed a generic message to the nearest 8 or so solicitors asking for a quote (describing the house a bit...£125k, freehold, semi).
I then chose my top pick from the few who replied within 24 hours (you don't want a slow communicator...someone didn't quote me until a week later...)

If you do it this way then don't tell the solicitors you want them until you've spoken to the mortgage providers. My first choice wasn't on their solicitors panel so I had to switch to the 2nd choice (take the details of your top 3 choices when you speak to the mortgage company)

G_M

eddddy wrote: »

Just to explain what probably happened here...

The EA initially referred you to the solictor. That means the solicitor would pay the EA a referral fee...

...often that's around £500, but perhaps it's more in your case.

...and perhaps there was a second referral fee for the solicitors that passed your name on.


So, had you paid £2300, you would have got £1,100 worth of legal services - and the rest of your money would have gone to the EA (and maybe the other solicitor) for pretty much doing nothing.

Once the EA has passed on your name, the solicitor has to pay the fee if you use them. Probably even if you end up buying a different house through a different EA.

So it's never a good idea to use a solicitor referred by an EA.

and the same probably applies with a financial adviser too.