Choosing Conveyancing Solicitor

deepam

Hi,

I have been taking quotes for conveyancing from 2-3 high street companies where I live. The quote is around £1900. I then did a search online (used comparison site) to find quotes and got the cheapest quote from a company called 'My Law Matters' of around £1200. After searching 'My Law Matters' online, I found that their office is actually in Waltham Cross which is around 70 miles from me. They also have good reviews on Trust Pilot.

Does it really make a difference as to where the Conveyancing Solicitor is in respect to the property? And does it really matter if its a big firm or a small firm? since both are unknown to me. Are there any pointers I should be aware of?

walwyn1978

Cheaper can mean a conveyancy farm, where your case isn’t handled by one person but whoever is ‘up’ that day. Check out on here how many people lowball their conveyancy costs and then are saying they never hear from their conveyor, simple things take ages to resolve, etc etc. 

TrustPilot reviews mean nothing. Lots of companies have excellent TrustPilot reviews and shocking customer service. Some of the reviews may be made up to promote the company. 

I would do more research on My Law Matters before committing to them. 

musehead

It doesn't matter where the firm is.

Especially if your transaction is simple, it could very well be fine to go with a cheap (but well reviewed/recommended) conveyancing farm type of place.

I went with a well reviewed local solicitor and I am currently regretting it a bit, they keep making mistakes, asking the same questions again many weeks later, etc, and sometimes don't respond.

Thrugelmir

Ensure the quotes are like for like when making comparisons. 

Mahsroh

For me location makes no difference. I recently sold a property in the West Midlands and bought in the south east (whilst living in the south east in a rental property). My buyer was based in the west mids. My vendor was relocating from the south east to Wales. 

My solicitor was based in West Midlands
my buyers was in Cheshire
my vendors was in Greater Manchester. 

Made no difference whatsoever. 

I would not trust reviews on Trustpilot (ironically) as already said. Personally I looked at smaller conveyancing firms (Local to where I was selling on the basis that the West Mids would likely be better value for money than the south east). I then looked up Google reviews and went for the 2nd cheapest (of 4) on the strength of the Google reviews. 

They did a good job. I wouldn’t say they were amazing but I was content with the service they provided.