Online conveyancing

Okrib

I was an agent and every experience I had with an online conveyancer was a nightmare.

It's the biggest purchase of your life and people think nothing of increasing offers by thousands of pounds, but want to scrimp on a solicitor to save a few hundred pounds? Total false economy.

To clarify, I worked in London and exchange was expected in 4-6 weeks and this was normal - unless one of the parties was using an online firm, in which case it would be 3 months plus.

AlexMac

As I've said before, our kids purchase was delayed by 3 months or more as their vendor, who was trying to save money, used an online shop (one of the 20%). They (the vendor's side) couldn't handle the kids' solicitor's queries arising from the unusual tenure. (They were buying a 100-year old leasehold House with odd features to the vague lease which their own solicitor demanded be sorted prior to exchange).

So the vendor had to sack their conveyancer and start again. Our kids (having bought a gem of a house and having sold their own place at such a good price that they didn't dare lose the sale by asking their buyer to wait) had to move 90 miles into an off-season short-term let to catch the school term.

But the one you choose may well be an 80 percenter and the transaction so simple that it's worth chiselling £200-300 off the price.

Tom74

I used an online conveyancer for a recent failed move and have decided I will use a local firm next time. The online conveyancer was efficient enough but I found it frustrating that he had no understanding of the area or feel for my situation (or indeed a feel for the transaction itself - I sensed things were going wrong long before they as professionals seemed to). It was very much a 'production line'.
Perhaps there will be other problems with a local firm but I certainly wasn't impressed enough with the online experience to stick with it.

dave_wilson

lt we sold a house in 2016 with online conveyancing company based in Leicester and easy peasy,just printed certain paperwork, no probs,!!BUunfortunately we are now having nightmare with another outfit,only because we would speed things up by using same company as the vendor,should have gone back to the company we used to sell, advice ,reallt check out the reviews on companies 1st, only bit of advice I can offer,but also compare prices(get loads of high street solicitors(they don't have to be local as you don't actually need to go, there) some are on par with some online outfits,just do the homework& reviews

DottieDam

We went with online company and regret it. If we ever try and contact them (a mammoth task in itself) they are extremely rude and we struggle to get a minute of their time. As FTB it's quite infuriating because we don't know the processes or what to expect and sometimes just two minutes of their time would be of great help to know what to do next.

Our Estate Agent has even complained how rude they are! I think a smaller firm wouldn't get away with treating clients so rudely (and I'm talking high school level snark!) and might have more time for individual cases. At the very least having an office to go into and arrange a chat would have been helpful when not being able to contact them via email or on the phone!

I'm sure if we knew the process and had a straight forward case then we wouldn't have to speak with solicitors (I think it's probably the overworked paralegals we speak to not actual solicitors) and everything would be OK.

In the end I'm not sure how much cheaper our solicitor will work out as we have had a few phone calls where they say this has turned up it will be more money and when we ask what it is they huff and say it'll be explained in the bill.

csgohan4

I went with an online conveyancer RMNJ, I had to do all the chasing as the buyer it was frustrating being held up. Despite their good reviews, will use a local one next time.