Pressure into Estate Agent's conveyancer

MercilessKiller

Hi There

I currently own a HTB flat which I've just accepted an offer for (HURRAH)!

The Estate Agent has linked me up with ConveyChoice who have provided a quote for BPL Solicitors to do the conveyancing (through ConveyChoice). The legal fees total at around 3k for both selling my current flat and buying a property of around a similar value (between £340 and £380k) inc VAT

Within 1 hour of accepting the offer the estate agent pestered me to "strongly" suggest I use them due to the close relationship to ensure they have control over everything (even though we haven't found a place to buy yet - and the place to buy will be in a very different location in England).

In addition, from what I can see online the reviews of BPL are pretty disastrous (though conveychoice may have the flexibility to use a different one if I request?)

I suppose I'm wondering what other people's experience and advice is. The fee doesn't sound like it's necessarily cheap but if ConveyChoice as some form of intermediary are going to look after me throughout the process and hold close relationships with the agent and the solicitor, is that a service worth paying for?

I'm aware that there is a payment that goes through to the Estate Agent from the conveyancer as a referral which was mentioned in an email for transparency too.

First time I've ever sold a property so thought it's best to check. I could always wait to make an offer somewhere else and get some quotes in the local area to handle both the buying and selling, but my estate agent for selling seems to suggest we need to instruct his choice sooner rather than later to avoid delays when I do find somewhere....

Thanks!!

G_M

Ignore the EA and find your own local solicitor. One you've met. Yes, pop in and have a chat! If the solicitor won't meet you,find another one.

Albala

The EA is working for the seller, definitely not for you. I would never use a conveyancer linked to the estate agent I was buying through, not ever.


(Oh, and there is absolutely no reason for it to be faster to use their conveyancers. A decent local solicitor should be able to do anything just as fast. Ask around for recommendations if you can. We are paying more than that quote for our solicitors, but they came highly recommended, and have been (so far) excellent through a very tricky purchase, and worth every penny so far. As they do everything electronically, and immediately, nobody could have been faster even if they had been sitting on the HA's lap. Solicitors/conveyancers mostly deal with the other 'side's solicitors, so being cosy up with the EA is irrelevant to how fast things go- the key thing is to get a good one, not a physically close one -a good solicitor will be faster than a lousy one.

MercilessKiller

Albala wrote: »

The EA is working for the seller, definitely not for you. I would never use a conveyancer linked to the estate agent I was buying through, not ever.

Maybe I wrote it confusingly though it's my estate agent that's pushing me to this particular conveyancer. I haven't made an offer on another property yet

In this case would you use the one they're recommending or still find your own local one? If they've worked together a lot I'm wondering if that's an advantage over a random one in the area I'm buying.

I also have no idea if the £3kish fee is reasonable but will do a proper comparison once I've got my eye on a property to make an offer on. All just happened this evening

steampowered

The EA wants you to use them to get a referral fee. The going rate is £300 or so.

That is why the EA is so keen for you use their conveyancer.

The suggestion that the EA has a "close relationship" is just nonsense. ConveyChoice is a panel service. The EA won't have any relationship with the solicitor/conveyancer, in this case BPL Conveyancing, which would actually be doing the work.

Appoint your own solicitor/conveyancer directly.

Chandler85

Our estate agent in person recommended a couple of solicitors but then use some "service" that basically puts you in touch with the same solicitors. I tried contacting the solicitors directly, they replied saying we can't quote because this "service" had already contacted them on my behalf.


I just thought, well sod you guys then, I'll find my own. I don't need to fund companies who do nothing but earn referral fees and emailed to tell them I wasn't going to be uing them for that reason.

ACG

steampowered wrote: »

The EA wants you to use them to get a referral fee. The going rate is £300 or so.

The MAXIMUM is £300. We use a similar sort of system and we take £100.

The reason we do that is because we can upload your ID, we let them know the offer has been issued so they can crack on with it straight away, we push and chase for updates on the customers behalf if they want us to - saving them calling/emailing etc.

As it happens, us earning £100 is still usually cheaper than elsewhere, at £300 it starts to get a little on the high side.

But we do not push our solicitors. It makes no odds to me personally, to be honest I prefer it if the customers knows their solicitors as it means they should be fairly decent.

MercilessKiller

ACG wrote: »

The MAXIMUM is £300. We use a similar sort of system and we take £100.

The reason we do that is because we can upload your ID, we let them know the offer has been issued so they can crack on with it straight away, we push and chase for updates on the customers behalf if they want us to - saving them calling/emailing etc.

As it happens, us earning £100 is still usually cheaper than elsewhere, at £300 it starts to get a little on the high side.

But we do not push our solicitors. It makes no odds to me personally, to be honest I prefer it if the customers knows their solicitors as it means they should be fairly decent.

So this is interesting... is it possible to use ConveyChoice but instruct them to use a solicitor of MY choice? And if so is there any benefit to doing this rather than just instructing a solicitor directly? I'm being told by the EA that the relationship between them and ConveyChoice means the sale will be a smoother process. I just don't know if he's saying that to make £300 or if that's actually true.

I just always thought during this process I find a solicitor and instruct them - this middle man (ConveyChoice) - I'm not sure what value they're bringing necessarily other than potentially costing me more.

ACG

I do not have first hand experience of ConveyChoice but the one we use has about 20 firms on their panel. So you can in effect choose any of them, but their prices may vary.

It can be smoother, but it could also be hot air. We do have a point of contact at the firm we use. If the solicitors are not pulling their finger out we can get on the phone and get them to give the firm a kick up the ....

We send them maybe 5 cases a month, not massive numbers but that is potentially 50-60 a year. They want to keep us onside because they want those cases.

In reality, will the agents do anything besides ask for updates? 9 times out of 10 it does not need any pushing as they are conveyor-belt conveyancers so everything tends to be fairly slick anyway. Also, if a problem arises that needs checking with the lender, the agent can not do that. So I do wonder what help they will be other than ensuring it has not slipped through the cracks.

If they are well priced, I would go for it. If they are expensive I would find an alternative.

System

MercilessKiller wrote: »

So this is interesting... is it possible to use ConveyChoice but instruct them to use a solicitor of MY choice? And if so is there any benefit to doing this rather than just instructing a solicitor directly? I'm being told by the EA that the relationship between them and ConveyChoice means the sale will be a smoother process. I just don't know if he's saying that to make £300 or if that's actually true.

I just always thought during this process I find a solicitor and instruct them - this middle man (ConveyChoice) - I'm not sure what value they're bringing necessarily other than potentially costing me more.

probably not as they would have a panel that they use, if you're preferred solicitor is on that panel then possibly

MercilessKiller

Thanks for all the advice. It seems to pretty much go down to price and recommendations.

The solicitor they've put forward has AWFUL reviews but that seems to be from people who go direct rather than through an agent (which may be diff due to that relationship). I have no idea if the cost of £3k sounds high or low (it seemingly is around the max of £1.5k for buying and selling individually) so maybe on the high side but it's in and around London so maybe that's average. I'll do my checks on that once I find a property to make an offer on.

Really appreciate the help ! I Imagine I'll be back seeing as this selling business seems harder than when I was a first time buyer!