Has anyone have experience of Home Property Lawyers

Statex2_2

I have sold my house and having my arm twisted to use the estate agents conveyancers, Home Property Lawyers. I searched them online and the results are poor . Out of 6 reviews 5 gave them only 1 star and all said they were useless. The estate agent is obviously getting a kick back because he said if I don't use them I will be charged a marketing fee of £200 plus £80 for the Epc . Reports state that the staff are just office staff and not qualified conveyancers.

I have cheaper estimates and good reports for another firm that I want to use.

I also spoke to an independant estate agent and he said they were not very good. The last thing I want is problems with the sale. 

MikeJXE

I am in my 10th home and in my opinion get your own solicitor/conveyancer you will be in control then 

eddddy

Statex2_2 said:

I have sold my house and having my arm twisted...

... he said if I don't use them I will be charged a marketing fee of £200 plus £80 for the Epc . 

So just to make sure, does the contract you agreed to say you have to pay the £280 in fees, if you don't use their conveyancer?

(I expect you now realise that the time to challenge/negotiate the fees was before you agreed to the contract and agreed to pay the fees - rather than now.)

In your position, I guess I might be tempted to "put the £280 down to experience" and chose a good conveyancer and move on.

propertyrental

Agents must be members of one of two ombudsman schemes. Which one  do they belong to? For example

TPOS Code of Practice here 

5n Where your Terms of Business include options for sellers to use associated and/or recommended services (such as conveyancing), sellers should be presented with the opportunity to actively opt-in to use the service. Requiring sellers to actively opt-out of any additional or recommended service should be avoided. Charges made for not using a service must be disclosed in accordance with the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team’s ‘Guidance On Transparency of Fees Involving Property Sales’4.

GUIDANCE ON TRANSPARENCY OF FEES INVOLVING PROPERTY SALES

Example Five: Opaque Pricing

An estate agency charges an initial fixed fee for marketing a property for sale. The seller is invited to use a “partner” for additional services (such as conveyancing) for a further fee. Should the seller decline to use this partner, the consumer is charged a fee of a different description by the estate agency.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

The estate agent should not declare the marketing price to be the “fixed fee” as that amount will only be payable if the seller does not accept any offer. Where additional services fees are fixed, it is legitimate to advertise the additional services inclusive price as the fixed fee. Where additional services fees vary per transaction, it is legitimate to advertise the non-use fee inclusive price as the fixed fee.

NameUnavailable

Statex2_2 said:

I have sold my house and having my arm twisted to use the estate agents conveyancers, Home Property Lawyers. I searched them online and the results are poor . Out of 6 reviews 5 gave them only 1 star and all said they were useless. The estate agent is obviously getting a kick back because he said if I don't use them I will be charged a marketing fee of £200 plus £80 for the Epc . Reports state that the staff are just office staff and not qualified conveyancers.

I have cheaper estimates and good reports for another firm that I want to use.

I also spoke to an independant estate agent and he said they were not very good. The last thing I want is problems with the sale. 

Read your contract, did you agree to those terms? If so you have the choice to go with their firm or pay the fees and choose your own.

FWIW I've used expensive local solicitors and cheap online firms and found them pretty much of a muchness. Your case is one of very many they're dealing with and they are generally reactive in terms of service. You need to keep on top of them - chasing for updates etc.

TripleH

A poor conveyancer can cost you a sale / a lot of money by not doing their job properly/delaying things so you loose out in other areas.

We lost out ona purchase because our conveyancer advised us the lease was defective and onerous. Everyone else buying in the building that we're aware of used the recommended solicitor and either accepted the lease or the rogue promise that the defect element would be fixed before completion (we don't regret missing out on the purchase).

This will be a major transaction so you want someone who will act and advise in your best interests. You are also likely to be paying an element of your fee to cover the backhander to the estate agent.

Statex2_2

I have sacked the estate agents conveyancing firm as when I tried to phne them all I received was a recorded message and I NameUnavailable said:

Statex2_2 said:

I have sold my house and having my arm twisted to use the estate agents conveyancers, Home Property Lawyers. I searched them online and the results are poor . Out of 6 reviews 5 gave them only 1 star and all said they were useless. The estate agent is obviously getting a kick back because he said if I don't use them I will be charged a marketing fee of £200 plus £80 for the Epc . Reports state that the staff are just office staff and not qualified conveyancers.

I have cheaper estimates and good reports for another firm that I want to use.

I also spoke to an independant estate agent and he said they were not very good. The last thing I want is problems with the sale. 

Read your contract, did you agree to those terms? If so you have the choice to go with their firm or pay the fees and choose your own.

FWIW I've used expensive local solicitors and cheap online firms and found them pretty much of a muchness. Your case is one of very many they're dealing with and they are generally reactive in terms of service. You need to keep on top of them - chasing for updates etc.

NameUnavailable said:

Statex2_2 said:

I have sold my house and having my arm twisted to use the estate agents conveyancers, Home Property Lawyers. I searched them online and the results are poor . Out of 6 reviews 5 gave them only 1 star and all said they were useless. The estate agent is obviously getting a kick back because he said if I don't use them I will be charged a marketing fee of £200 plus £80 for the Epc . Reports state that the staff are just office staff and not qualified conveyancers.

I have cheaper estimates and good reports for another firm that I want to use.

I also spoke to an independant estate agent and he said they were not very good. The last thing I want is problems with the sale. 

Read your contract, did you agree to those terms? If so you have the choice to go with their firm or pay the fees and choose your own.

FWIW I've used expensive local solicitors and cheap online firms and found them pretty much of a muchness. Your case is one of very many they're dealing with and they are generally reactive in terms of service. You need to keep on top of them - chasing for updates etc.

I have sacked Home Property Conveyancing and complained to their head office. The estate agent said that the firm had been taken over by  a different firm of lawyers but when you phone them you are redirected to the original firm, who never seem to answere the phone.

Statex2_2

The terms of the contract state that if you do not use their conveyancer  an additional payment of  will be made for marketing. However I think the estate agent rep has slipped up because written on my contract is a hand written note stating that the fee is 1%. Underneath where it states the marketing fee a hand written note states 
" included in the 1% fee".

eddddy

Statex2_2 said:

The terms of the contract state that if you do not use their conveyancer  an additional payment of  will be made for marketing. However I think the estate agent rep has slipped up because written on my contract is a hand written note stating that the fee is 1%. Underneath where it states the marketing fee a hand written note states 
" included in the 1% fee".

Your post isn't very clear. 

Are you saying that the printed contract says you have to pay £280, if you don't use their conveyancer - but a handwritten note on the contract essentially says you don't have to pay the £280?


However, you say you've sacked the conveyancer. So presumably you'll have to pay them for the work they've done so far - and their fee will probably include the commission to be paid to the estate agent.

So the estate agent might get their commission from you via that route.

Statex2_2

They had not done any work at that time and I was advised that no further charges would be made by the conveyancers. We will have to see what happens when the sale is finalised with regard to the estate agent. Who's performance is poor and I would not recommend them to anyone. 

The small print is 5 pages and all sorts of terms and conditions. When i recntly spoke to the owner of another independent estat agent recently, he said that they will not enforce  any of it because it is too expensive to take anyone to court.

A small hadwritten note on the bottom in s box left blank for the amount of commission to be entered states " 1 % and marketing fee included"

eddddy

Statex2_2 said:

The small print is 5 pages and all sorts of terms and conditions. When i recntly spoke to the owner of another independent estat agent recently, he said that they will not enforce  any of it because it is too expensive to take anyone to court.

Hmmm.. so you're relying on the opinion of  a competitor estate agent.

I'd suggest that's not the most reliable opinion you could get.



So it sounds like your strategy is simply to not pay the £280, and hope that you don't get taken to court. I suspect you'll get lots of debt collection letters and phone calls.

And FWIW, the fee to take you to court would probably be £35 - so it's not that expensive.  https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees