Lawyer or just Conveyancer?

gatita

Please be kind, I am a very old lady! I want to sell my bungalow and move to a flat very nearby. My query is, is it a stupidity to just have a Conveyancer, rather than a Solicitor? no mortgage involved.  I was hoping this would save me quite a bit of money?  I would be very grateful for your opinions please. 

yksi

Why pay for a solicitor when all they are doing is conveyancing? Go with your instinct and if you can find a conveyancer, that is all you need. The trouble is that right now they're all pretty busy. I went with a trainee solicitor and I do wish I'd done what you have in mind!

greatcrested

Licenced Conveyancers may be cheaper, but don't just assume that. Check!

Provided both the sale and the purchase are straightforward a LC should be fine.

A solicitor's wider training and experience might be helpful if either transaction is in any way complex.

Lack of mortgage is immaterial.

Scotbot

If you are moving to a flat it will almost certainly be leasehold. You need to understand what that means for you so you need someone who has experience of leasehold purchases. Leaseholds are more complex than freeholds. I would avoid the online conveyancing shops myself.

gatita

Scotbot said:

If you are moving to a flat it will almost certainly be leasehold. You need to understand what that means for you so you need someone who has experience of leasehold purchases. Leaseholds are more complex than freeholds. I would avoid the online conveyancing shops myself.

Yes it is a NEW leasehold, 999 years. No ground rent, just split 50/50 building insurance, and any maintenance also split with both parties agreeing on a price.  Is there anything else I should be wary about>  
Thank you all for your input, it is much appreciated.

macman

Get a conveyancer you can actually communicate with locally. Not a national conveyancing factory, which is just 20 clerical staff with one licenced conveyancer overseeing them. 

Scotbot

gatita said:

Scotbot said:

If you are moving to a flat it will almost certainly be leasehold. You need to understand what that means for you so you need someone who has experience of leasehold purchases. Leaseholds are more complex than freeholds. I would avoid the online conveyancing shops myself.

Yes it is a NEW leasehold, 999 years. No ground rent, just split 50/50 building insurance, and any maintenance also split with both parties agreeing on a price.  Is there anything else I should be wary about>  
Thank you all for your input, it is much appreciated.

You need to look at what the lease says about increasing ground rent and service charges. You also need to check if there are any rules that would bother you, for example most leases stipulate whether pets are allowed.  What about car parking? If it is new presumably no cladding isddues but you certainly need to check. Ask for a copy of the lease and read it very thoroughly, 

greatcrested

There's a difference between 'a licenced conveyancer' which is a guy with a specific training and qualification, and who might work independantly, or for a local firm, or for a national company, and 'a conveyancing shop or warehouse', which is a company, usually online, which offers a cut-price service, often employing unqualified admin staff to do most of the work, overseen by a single Solicitor or Licenced Conveyancer.

kinger101

Don't use a conveyancing warehouse.  It isn't worth the frustration.  Personally, I think a local solicitor is worth paying a bit more for.  The extra couple of hundred quid you might pay isn't much in the scheme of things.  

Worth getting personal recommendations if you know anyone who's completed recently.

steampowered

Licensed conveyancers can be absolutely fine. 

Going with a firm of solicitors does not guarantee a good service. For conveyancing work, many firms of solicitors will have one solicitor supervising a team of paralegals, so going with a firm of solicitors does not necessarily mean that a solicitor will be doing the work.

You can get bad licensed conveyancers like you can get bad solicitors. It's worth checking review online if you can.

Tiglet2

Licensed Conveyancers have spent a few years training in conveyancing law before qualifying.  Solicitors have spent a few years training in lots of different aspects of the law before qualifying.  While a Solicitor is senior in the pecking order to a Licensed Conveyancer, it is not sensible to instruct a Solicitor who is not an expert in conveyancing, but is an expert in, say, family law for example.  Whoever you decide to go with, look at reviews on Trustpilot and get recommendations from friends.  Personally, I would go with a local Solicitor/Licensed Conveyancer that you can pop into to drop papers off etc.  Many of the conveyancing factories offer cheap fees but take on a large volume of work in order to make a profit, but that also means minimal contact time with you as their client.