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conveyancing no sale no fee vs local
bobwilson
Posts: 595 Forumite
Had a number of buyers who agreed a price but then changed their minds weeks later. So far in total between agreed sales & lost second bidders due to time, I've lost 7 confirmed buyers. Now that I'm doing it all again, the pool of buyers left is very small... it ended up in the same bidding war as before- went to the highest bidders. But this is the third time it's happened.
My question is, should I go with a no sale no fee conveyancer or a local one?
The local one is about 3 x the price (about £3k including disbursements), and I have to pay regardless. This would be a huge struggle to pay if it fell through due to the sol fees and *could* send me bankrupt.
The no sale no fee ones seem pretty pathetic, they either have loads of bad reviews or all good reviews that appear (at least to me) to be fake. I tried contacting one that was recommended (simply conveyancing), and there was no reply. Not good.
The third complication is that the buyers have already hired and paid a fixed fee factory conveyancer for their "fast" service option- about £1k which is dirt cheap but they can't get a refund- so if I went with the expensive local one I trust, their end could destroy the sale anyway. It might be better to go with the no sale no fee one considering how bad theirs is anyway.
Or- the awfulness of both could combine to make things worse. Who knows?
It's like trying to predict the future. If money wasn't an issue, I'd pay my local one but unfortunately I only have just over £3k in my account, which is why I'm selling.
FYI- lots of bad advice floating around MSE forum these days suggesting that sales never fall through because of the conveyancer. This is such terrible advice. Having bought & sold more times than I can remember, a slow sol can indeed affect the outcome and cause sale to fall through. Had that a number of times. Took a lot of effort on my part to persuade other side to hang tight. From both sides of the seller / buyer position. The ones that almost fell through due to conveyancer were always ones where at least one side was using a factory sol.
I guess no one on here will have any decent advice anyway... I just have to decide and risk it either way.
Partner thinks I should go with the no sale no fee one because money is tight. My gut tells me to go with the local one I trust, despite the risk.
What would you do?
My question is, should I go with a no sale no fee conveyancer or a local one?
The local one is about 3 x the price (about £3k including disbursements), and I have to pay regardless. This would be a huge struggle to pay if it fell through due to the sol fees and *could* send me bankrupt.
The no sale no fee ones seem pretty pathetic, they either have loads of bad reviews or all good reviews that appear (at least to me) to be fake. I tried contacting one that was recommended (simply conveyancing), and there was no reply. Not good.
The third complication is that the buyers have already hired and paid a fixed fee factory conveyancer for their "fast" service option- about £1k which is dirt cheap but they can't get a refund- so if I went with the expensive local one I trust, their end could destroy the sale anyway. It might be better to go with the no sale no fee one considering how bad theirs is anyway.
Or- the awfulness of both could combine to make things worse. Who knows?
It's like trying to predict the future. If money wasn't an issue, I'd pay my local one but unfortunately I only have just over £3k in my account, which is why I'm selling.
FYI- lots of bad advice floating around MSE forum these days suggesting that sales never fall through because of the conveyancer. This is such terrible advice. Having bought & sold more times than I can remember, a slow sol can indeed affect the outcome and cause sale to fall through. Had that a number of times. Took a lot of effort on my part to persuade other side to hang tight. From both sides of the seller / buyer position. The ones that almost fell through due to conveyancer were always ones where at least one side was using a factory sol.
I guess no one on here will have any decent advice anyway... I just have to decide and risk it either way.
Partner thinks I should go with the no sale no fee one because money is tight. My gut tells me to go with the local one I trust, despite the risk.
What would you do?
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Comments
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I've had a sale fall through because of slow, lousy solicitors... but I'd still use no sale no fee solicitors over local ones, as the local ones representing our buyer were also shockingly slow and unhelpful for the buyer.
A lot can go wrong, if you lose your £3k where would you stand going forwards? At least if your sale falls through, which I hope it doesn't, you'd be much happier knowing you'd used the no sale no fee solicitor!
And remember, no sale no fee has to work hard to get your money... the other one won't give a monkeys if your money is safely in their pocket and the situation goes pete tong.0 -
I refer business to a firm of no sale no fee solicitors. And to be honest there is 1 person who is absolutely brilliant. She keeps me updated, comes to me first for documents to speed things up, replies to the other side pretty much immediately. Clients always give good feedback.
The others in the firm are fairly poor though and I hate when my person is on leave as my cases grind to a halt.
There is also a local solicitor firm who have been around for a few hundred years and are completely embedded in thr town. Same story though, 1 or 2 are really really good, the rest just don't get any good feedback at the end. They are not no sale no fee.
Moral of the story, one doesn't automatically mean it will be better or worse than the other. It comes down to the individuals working the case0 -
We used a no sale no fee company and found them really quick and efficient. Possibly just our individual solicitor who was really good, rather than the company as a whole, but we'd definitely use one again. We used My Home Move Conveyancing, for reference.0
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Even if you have to pay something, you would generally expect to pay a reduced fee if the transaction is abortive (as they'll have usually done less work than the average completed transaction, and there's no responsibility element i.e. nothing you can sue them for afterwards).The local one is about 3 x the price (about £3k including disbursements), and I have to pay regardless.0 -
The important question is one you don't mention... Why?Had a number of buyers who agreed a price but then changed their minds weeks later. So far in total between agreed sales & lost second bidders due to time, I've lost 7 confirmed buyers.
Is it being downvalued?
Is the survey throwing up an issue?
To lose one buyer happens. To lose SEVEN shows there's a problem.
It won't make the slightest difference to whether you sell or not. Not if you've had seven people walk away from the sale. Sort the actual cause out.My question is, should I go with a no sale no fee conveyancer or a local one?
Or shove it in a (proper) auction, then it's somebody else's problem at hammer-fall.
No, it's just an oversimplification.FYI- lots of bad advice floating around MSE forum these days suggesting that sales never fall through because of the conveyancer. This is such terrible advice.
Because the buyer gets bored and walks away. Perhaps their chain is at risk of falling apart as other buyers get bored and walk away from them.Having bought & sold more times than I can remember, a slow sol can indeed affect the outcome and cause sale to fall through.
The important question is why so slow? Incompetent sol? Or simply that there's some external factor slowing things down? The best sol in the world can't speed those up.
Well done. Normally, people keep the flounce in reserve, at least until they realise the answers aren't what they want to hear.I guess no one on here will have any decent advice anyway... I just have to decide and risk it either way.0 -
FYI- lots of bad advice floating around MSE forum these days suggesting that sales never fall through because of the conveyancer. This is such terrible advice. Having bought & sold more times than I can remember, a slow sol can indeed affect the outcome and cause sale to fall through.
Fake news item of the day.
If you want a quality personalised service be prepared to pay the cost. Solicitors earn money from being productive. Sitting around doing nothing is not an option.0 -
No sale no fee - herm.... if they don't spent much time on you, I guess they feel they can offer that.0
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