Am I being over cautious?

paulj2021

Hello, hopefully sometime soon someone will make an offer on my house and then I will need to appoint a conveyance company. My concern is, with many of these companies being online, I will at some point need to send my financial details in an email to people I’ve not met, and this gets me nervous because of all the online scammers out there. Am I worried about nothing or should I instead find a local firm of solicitors instead and deliver my financials to them by hand?

Ramouth

If you are worried about it then yes, use a local firm.  We were able to arrange a time to meet somebody at the office so that they could take copies of proof of address documents while we waited outside (it was during a lockdown).  This made me more comfortable - not because I didn’t trust the solicitor but because there was enough information to steal our identities if the package was lost in the post.

babyblade41

Try and use a local solicitor who is recommended .. far better than an on line conveyance firm IMO

Irishpearce26

babyblade41 said:

Try and use a local solicitor who is recommended .. far better than an on line conveyance firm IMO

I've used an online conveyancer twice now and they have been great with both sales completing within 13 weeks with no issues. My worry with local firms is resource especially in times like these when they are over loaded things tend to get missed or take forever.

AdrianC

Why on earth would you use a solicitor you don't trust implicitly...?

user1977

paulj2021 said:

Hello, hopefully sometime soon someone will make an offer on my house and then I will need to appoint a conveyance company. My concern is, with many of these companies being online, I will at some point need to send my financial details in an email to people I’ve not met, and this gets me nervous because of all the online scammers out there. Am I worried about nothing or should I instead find a local firm of solicitors instead and deliver my financials to them by hand?

The companies aren't "online", they're just not (necessarily) local to you. There's no fundamental difference in how different conveyancers do the job, and much of it still can't be online and needs to involve post (and phone calls). And of course for the past year or so your "High Street" solicitor has probably being doing the job, online, from their spare bedroom.

The main "online scam" to be aware of, whoever you use, is somebody masquerading as your solicitor and giving you false bank details - so just double check before you send money that you're communicating with the correct party.

btcp

are you having a mortgage? my lender only allowed a solicitor firm which is registered on their list. I had mine (not local but used previously) and was more worried they are not on the lender's list but the were. It could serve as a validation of their credibility. The other option is using a solicitor that your EA recommends. 

user1977

btcp said:

are you having a mortgage? my lender only allowed a solicitor firm which is registered on their list. I had mine (not local but used previously) and was more worried they are not on the lender's list but the were. It could serve as a validation of their credibility.

Generally, conveyancing firms of any size above "one man band" are likely to be on the panels of most of the main lenders - so (while you ought to check it) this is only really a concern if you're dealing with particularly small firms or obscure lenders.

The other option is using a solicitor that your EA recommends. 

Generally to be avoided - especially if by "your" EA you mean the other party's EA! It means your solicitor is more interested in the ongoing relationship between them and the EA than in representing your interests.

TBagpuss

OP, I'd suggest using a local-to-you solicitor if you can - they are likely to be familiar with the area and with local agents, which can help things go more smoothly, and you can drop sensitive stuff in directly / check that the address you have is correct.

Most solicitors will discourage you from sending bank details by e-mail and will normally not send their own that way.
If you are concerned, you can make sure you send financial details by post rather than e-mail.

btcp

user1977 said:

Generally, conveyancing firms of any size above "one man band" are likely to be on the panels of most of the main lenders - so (while you ought to check it) this is only really a concern if you're dealing with particularly small firms or obscure lenders.

then they are not scammers - even if the firm is small, they probably had to go through some check to get on a reputable lender's list.

user1977

btcp said:

user1977 said:

Generally, conveyancing firms of any size above "one man band" are likely to be on the panels of most of the main lenders - so (while you ought to check it) this is only really a concern if you're dealing with particularly small firms or obscure lenders.

then they are not scammers - even if the firm is small, they probably had to go through some check to get on a reputable lender's list.

I don't think the OP is concerned about the solicitors being scammers but about somebody else intercepting their information.