Conveyancing Searches

ftb042019

Hi Everyone,

First time buyer here, buying with a mortgage so I know all searches have to be performed.
Our solicitor have just told me that they use a firm to do their searches and when I've researched said company the reviews are horrendous and the prices are really inflated compared with other firms.

Are there any companies or ways of getting the searches privately? I have had a google around but can't find a straight answer!

Thanks!

davidmcn

ftb042019 wrote: »

First time buyer here, buying with a mortgage so I know all searches have to be performed.

For starters, no you don't need to get literally every available search. So which ones are you being told you need to get?

need_an_answer

Searches are usually a standard cost or certainly within a specific ball park price.

How much are these inflated prices?

one suggestion would be to phone a few different solicitors for quotes and change solicitor rather than trying to privately do your searches.

Many solicitors will charge a flat fee for conveyancing with disbursements added separately

danlewi2

Worth remembering that for these types of companies -people will only leave bad reviews as they had a bad experience, no one goes 5* they did my searches perfectly and on time.

ftb042019

davidmcn wrote: »

For starters, no you don't need to get literally every available search. So which ones are you being told you need to get?

Just the 3 basic ones - no coal mining or extras like that. The local authority, environmental and water & drainage

ftb042019

need_an_answer wrote: »

Searches are usually a standard cost or certainly within a specific ball park price.

How much are these inflated prices?

one suggestion would be to phone a few different solicitors for quotes and change solicitor rather than trying to privately do your searches.

Many solicitors will charge a flat fee for conveyancing with disbursements added separately

We're already awaiting draft contracts with this solicitor and ideally don't want to start the process all over again with another firm. Thought that if they're using a seperate company to do the searches, is this something I can arrange myself?

In the reviews the searches are coming up to £900 - when I've asked around to others near me buying homes in the same area the max was around £500

need_an_answer

ftb042019 wrote: »

We're already awaiting draft contracts with this solicitor and ideally don't want to start the process all over again with another firm. Thought that if they're using a seperate company to do the searches, is this something I can arrange myself?

In the reviews the searches are coming up to £900 - when I've asked around to others near me buying homes in the same area the max was around £500

So basically if you are into the process of waiting for draft contracts etc you didn't research the cost of solicitors at the beginning?


I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing but at least you may now know that you shouldn't just go with the first solicitor you get a quote from.

Youre probably tied into a deal with this solicitor now so its something you may have to accept...others may well have paid cheaper for their searches,possibly what you need to look at it the total cost for the purchase rather than as individual element.

Yes someone may have paid £400 less for searches but they could have been being charged by the hour for the work rather than a fixed fee for example

davidmcn

ftb042019 wrote: »

Just the 3 basic ones - no coal mining or extras like that. The local authority, environmental and water & drainage

You don't need an environmental search. Even if you did, £900 is absurdly high.

Don't know about England & Wales costs, but in Scotland you'd be struggling to pay more than a total of £150 for local authority/water searches. Say £200 or so for a desktop enviro search if you want.

Tiglet2

Our firm uses an outside search company to do the searches for us. The three compulsory searches would come in at around £200, so £900 seems ridiculously high. The searches are required by the lender so any company providing searches would need to be acceptable to the lender. However, I would query that price with your solicitor.