Online conveyancing - Abode

lisawaters

This company gets good write ups and seems reasonably priced. They say they use solicitors and I don't get the impression it's a call centre corporate.

Has anyone had any experience of using them, or can you direct me to an independent review source?

Thanks

mumoftwins

Beware of call centre type law firms as in my experience in Property Sales things can be held up when dealing with this type of firm.
It is often better to get a local conveyancing solicitor as should there be any problems its easy to to go and see them face to face or to collect paperwork from them. With a law firm that are miles away you have to rely on phone calls or the post and this can hold the process up considerably.

stu68

lisawaters wrote: »

This company gets good write ups and seems reasonably priced. They say they use solicitors and I don't get the impression it's a call centre corporate.

Has anyone had any experience of using them, or can you direct me to an independent review source?

Thanks

I am using Abode at the moment and so far so good, they have been quicker than the “local” firm I was using. The conveyancer will always answer my calls and e-mails (which is more than a could say for my last local company).

As you say they get a pretty good review and I did look around at a load of them and lots were not up to much (AA for one) but for the money they are charging and the service I have had so far I am more the happy.

lisawaters

Thanks. 1-1 then for and against so far!

I have nothing but awful memories of past dealings with solicitors. They never rang back, seemed slow and ponderous, and didn't seem prepared to kick !!! to get things moving. Maybe this bunch will be different? Also, one that replies to e-mail would be a huge advantage.

I also like the idea of being able to track progress online.

samminich

We are using them. They assign your case to one of the legal firms they use,we have been assigned on in Wakefield and they seem very professional.

We are ready to exchange and we can't fault them. We get text messages and online progress. On the occasions we have needed to deal with them a reply is usually replied to same day if an email. However yesterday as we discussed completion we got a reply in about 10mins.

If we move again I would definately use them again.

Gwenrose

We used ABODE and will stay with Beaumont Legal when another buyer comes in to play.

They were quick, emailed really quickly, paper work was flying and every thing was going well, until our buyer pulled out two weeks before exchanging, all of a sudden he wanted £15000 of the asking price, even though he had already offered the asking price.

Unfortunatly he was using Country Wide:rotfl: they wanted us to replace a wall where there had never been one and build a drop kerb, even though there has been a drop kerb since the property was built and the list was endless. Then we found out the buyer wanted to build an extension on the side of our house and a lack of honesty was seen.

Use ABODE, best solicitor we've ever used and would recommend any time, but you have to feel comfortable about it.

Good luck

dawsonio

I am currently using them, they assigned me to Beaumont Legal who seem to be a good solicitors

Phirefly

Hiya

Run a search on 'abode' on this board and you'll find plenty of positive recommendations.

They were by far and away the cheapest, were efficient and professional throughout and helped us complete within a month from offer accepted. Can't recommend enough.

Good luck

lisawaters

I'm using Abode and have been put on to Beaumont Legal. Do they use any other solicitors? Sounds like everyone gets Beaumont Legal!

So far so so, I had to bark at them for taking two weeks to tell me they hadn't had the seller's solicitor's details and I didn't like the tone of their reply when I complained, but someone else took over and was much more friendly and even apologised.

These are just people doing a job. Don't be scared of them, just be assertive and stick up for what you want. I'm hopeful that I'll have no more problems with them - even though the solicitor assigned to me pushed off for a week's holiday!

dweeby

We're using Abode, and apparently as usual - they assigned us to Beaumont in Wakefield.

We're less pleased with Beaumont. Everything has to be mailed (they send pre-paid envelopes), but I get the impression that after the many things we've received and returned, the postal process has delayed things slightly. Whilst everything has been "done", communication hasn't been so good. We haven't pestered them by any means, but several emails (same question) have gone un-answered. Always get thru' by phone tho'.

In summary Abode are cheap, but we are of the opinion that a (perhaps local) more expensive solicitor might have given a better service. Debatable whether we'd use them again (if we did it would be purely for cost reasons).

dweeby

Just to follow up on this, we completed yesterday - through Beaumont.

On the day our contact was very good, efficient and called me when appropriate. But he didn't always answer our queries (or are all solicitors like this?? on-line or not?).

And the bill will be nice and (relatively) cheap...