Online conveyancing vs Traditional 26 November 2016 at 2:45PM in House buying, renting & selling 8 replies 1.3K views

efchutchy

Hi all

I wondered if anyone had any experience of using an online conveyancing company for selling a house? If so which company was used and how long did it take to get everything done? Was there a lot of chasing involved etc?

I'm toying with the idea to keep costs down.

fed_up_and_stressed

Did it once. Never ever again.

Kyresa

You get what you pay for. If you want to join the factory line and speak to a different person every time, then you go "cheap". Use one of those lovely online referral companies who take even more of the fee from the conveyancer too... then you can guarantee you'll join the high volume no personal service queue

Alternatively, pay the proper fee for the job to your local high street conveyancer who then doesn't have to operate a factory service

As someone on here wisely once said, whilst your matter may be the utmost priority to you, your conveyancer is not only working on your case

tom9980

is it really that expensive to use a decent recommended local solicitor? when buying in 2014 it cost me around £800

AnotherJoe

Kyresa wrote: »

You get what you pay for. If you want to join the factory line and speak to a different person every time, then you go "cheap". Use one of those lovely online referral companies who take even more of the fee from the conveyancer too... then you can guarantee you'll join the high volume no personal service queue

Alternatively, pay the proper fee for the job to your local high street conveyancer who then doesn't have to operate a factory service

As someone on here wisely once said, whilst your matter may be the utmost priority to you, your conveyancer is not only working on your case

Are you stating that a local high street one will only be working on your case? If not, then that what does that mean, because of course a local firm will also be working on more than one case at a time !

My daughter used an online mass market one a couple of years ago, it was fine. Her 'case" had a specific person allocated that she normally spoke to if she needed to and it all went quickly without issues and most documents were uploaded electronically.

I've also read a few accounts here where someone is using a local solicitor who then is ill or goes on holiday and they are stuck, so its not necessarily always plain sailing locally. The one upside is, if they are local you can go and see them personally if things are not going to plan and you dont have to post any documents that do need to be originals.

Kyresa

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Are you stating that a local high street one will only be working on your case? If not, then that what does that mean, because of course a local firm will also be working on more than one case at a time !

My daughter used an online mass market one a couple of years ago, it was fine. Her 'case" had a specific person allocated that she normally spoke to if she needed to and it all went quickly without issues and most documents were uploaded electronically.

I've also read a few accounts here where someone is using a local solicitor who then is ill or goes on holiday and they are stuck, so its not necessarily always plain sailing locally. The one upside is, if they are local you can go and see them personally if things are not going to plan and you dont have to post any documents that do need to be originals.

No, it means that your high street conveyancer will have on average 30 - 40 ongoing files whereas your factory will have on average 100 as they have to keep the churn going because they are barely covering their costs

david1951

If things go smoothly then online is usually fine. If not, then having someone responsive to deal with a pushy estate agent or an unreasonable vendor is very useful and, in my opinion, worth the extra money.

nmjams

I played with the idea of going down the online route but decided on a local conveyancer instead.
Set fee of £775 inc vat.
While i was sat in her office i asked a question that i really wanted an answer to asap, the vendors solicitor was also local and both had got to know each other over time so she was able to pick up the phone and ask there and then and got the answer i needed to put my mind at rest.
We also agreed on a completion date there and then.

efchutchy

Thanks all for the advice / stories. Will go with a proper high street conveyance company. The one we have now been recommended with is 615 excluding VAT