Choosing a solicitor

Blue_bell_20

Hi, we have an offer on a house accepted. We now need a solicitor. The only issue is we have no idea how to choose one. Is there a recommended list on this site? 

 We have a mortgage advisor, who recommended one solicitor based on their house sale. That solicitor closed early for Christmas. Which is understandable but we thought we would look around while waiting 12 days or longer for a quote. 

I have also asked friends how they chose theirs, however they don’t sound good. (One used their EA for everything due to financial reason/persuasion, one said theirs was very slow, one was linked to a new build/the developers).

I guess it could be an open question, how did you find your solicitor? If it was just from searching online, did they turn out ok? 

Maybe we are overthinking it, and just going with the recommended one will be ok (as long as the quote isn’t too expensive). We are in West Yorkshire, although I’ve heard the solicitor doesn’t need to be local. Also the mortgage may be with TSB, I’ve read that the solicitor needs to be on the lending panel. 

Blue_bell_20

Oh and thanks in advance for any advice. 

Thrugelmir

 Property transactions can be painfullly slow. There's numerous parties involved in the process. 

Personal recommendation. Failing that. A reasonably sized local firm on your lenders panel that has a conveyancing department/team. Ask a few for quotes. 

theartfullodger

Don't use those recommended by estate agent or mortgage broker/lender.  They will be working for them predominantly rather than you.

Ask your mates

Seashell517

Some advice here: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/find-the-right-solicitor-or-conveyancer

It's definitely an area where cheaper almost always isn't better, especially if there is anything slightly non-standard about your case, and while they don't need to be local it can be advantageous not to need to wait for the post and to be able to pop to the office.

NatNat77

We're using simply conveyancing and despite having to pause everything while we wait for our buyer to sort their mortgage I've been really impressed with them so far. We're almost at exchange stage on our purchase. Our vendor is using them too and they're also impressed. Seem on the ball, they're very responsive and have a fab online portal. I found them online and their quote was reasonable. I found this board after starting the process and have seen horror stories about online conveyancing "factories", not specifically about simply I hasten to add, but I ut I have no regrets at the moment! If I'd read these boards a few months ago I may have been put off

teachfast

The advantage of a local solicitor is that you can go to the office if they are unresponsive (covid permitting, of course).  Just the fact that they know this gives you a slight advantage.

Unfortunately, my experience with the conveyancing solicitor on my sale was awful.  They were unhelpful, arrogant and dismissive.  I felt patronised and like every little scrap of information they deigned to lob me from the table was a huge favour, not part of an important and professional two-way dialogue.

In general terms remember that they are almost all overworked, with huge case loads at the moment.  This means their attention to customer service can be weak.  We went with a recommendation from our IFA, but it wasn't a firm one - just that he hadn't heard anything bad about them (has now!) and they were in the town near us.

I really can't describe the stress the whole process put us through, compounded and not helped by our solicitor.  His dithering and lack of urgency ensured we spent 7 full weeks living out of home as we had to break the chain and he didn't even start searches on our new house until after we left our house on completion, despite this being a last minute decision to prevent the chain falling apart.

My advice to avoid all this would be:

1) Ensure you meet and speak with the actual solicitor you would be assigned.
2) Check their terms of service and whether they have some sort of charter for responding (meaningfully and in a timely manner if possible) and whether they pride themselves on helpfulness and effective communication
3) Find someone who has no vested interest who has used them - for conveyancing - and recommends them.  I'd go with close friend or family recommendation if I was to choose again
4) Check with them what their covid contingency plans are - ours used Covid as the 'go to' excuse until I pointed that out to him

Getting these things right can save so much stress, frustration and even anger in the long run.

The profession seems to be full of charlatans who operate in a cavalier way, communicate badly and simply don't care.  My experience was awful and you don't have to speak to many people or read many forums to find out this is certainly not atypical.  They know you're too far into a long process time-wise and financially to find someone else easily, and that in many cases they have your money which they take their fees from.  It really is a disgrace and needs a complete overhaul in my opinion.

Blue_bell_20

Thank you all for replying, it is very much appreciated. I will contact a few more friends and we will look into a few local firms for quotes. I will also look into the link posted above.

NameUnavailable

First make sure whoever you think of using will be acceptable by your mortgage company! They will have a 'panel' so I would maybe seek recommendation from them first.

As for online v high street I really don't think it matters. My last solicitor was literally down the road and yet I never met with them, it was all done via email anyway, and most 'online' conveyancers use solicitors who have high street offices, just not your high street.

davidmcn

NameUnavailable said:

First make sure whoever you think of using will be acceptable by your mortgage company! They will have a 'panel' so I would maybe seek recommendation from them first.

Lenders aren't going to "recommend" anybody - they'll (normally) have a vast list of firms whom they consider "acceptable" (for their own purposes), and that's it. If you want to know whether a firm is on your preferred lender's panel, it's going to be easiest just to ask the solicitors.

NameUnavailable

davidmcn said:

NameUnavailable said:

First make sure whoever you think of using will be acceptable by your mortgage company! They will have a 'panel' so I would maybe seek recommendation from them first.

Lenders aren't going to "recommend" anybody - they'll (normally) have a vast list of firms whom they consider "acceptable" (for their own purposes), and that's it. If you want to know whether a firm is on your preferred lender's panel, it's going to be easiest just to ask the solicitors.

OK, see if whoever you think of using is on your lenders panel OR ask you lender for a list of solicitors to choose from.