Conveyencer/solicitor reccomendations

armour999

Hi all,

I need to instruct a legal firm to sell a house and to buy a flat.

I'm tempted by the 'no sale no fee' model as I used it once before (when trying to sell a house) and the sale fell through on the day of exchange. I remember only being £8 out of pocket.

Any reccomendations?

Chris.

armour999

Just did a search on 'conveyencing supermarket' and within 5mins one of them - a firm called HomeLegalDirect - called me to get my business. Their quote is competitive too. In fact it's the cheapest of all.

They do no sale no fee, said I'll have the direct number of my assigned conveyencer and told me that both sale and purchase will cost me £1265 including disbursements. Seems too good to be true. Is it? and does anyone have any experience of HomeLegalDirect?

EssexHebridean

Recommendations? Yep - avoid conveyancing factories like the plague for a start - they are cheap for a reason, and if you want a solicitor to go above and beyond when needed, you are unlikely to get that from one of these firms. If it seems too good to be true that may well be because it is! 

Ask family/friends for recommendations of local firms who they’ve used. Your matter will be dealt with by a named person and that person will stay the same throughout,  they will care more because they are likely to have a stake in the business and it’s reputation, and often you’ll find if a transaction fails at an early stage they’ll charge a remarkably small amount just to cover the actual work done, plus of course any disbursement costs incurred. You’ll also be able to go in and see them for AML checks etc, meaning you won’t have additional costs for verification of ID. 

Can I ask - are you selling through an agent? If so, how much are you going to be paying that agent? Ask yourself how many years the agent spent studying to qualify for their role, and what level of responsibility they have to take over the whole thing also - then compare their commission with the legal fees of a good, reputable local solicitor. Hopefully the legal side of things will then feel less like something to try to do on the cheap.

Edi81

Ask friends or family that have moved recently. That’s what i did both times I’ve moved and worked out well. One friend told me to avoid their solicitor (estate agent recommendation) as it was so bad! 

If no one you know has recently bought then start with local firms or look on local Facebook communities for recommendations. 

Both times I bought were through non local firms - 70 miles away but I could easily travel to them if required. 

EssexHebridean

Recommendations can definitely go both ways! 

Another one - it’s often best to swerve using the firm your lender recommends. Often these are the huge impersonal “factory” type firms. Instead ask the solicitor you choose to confirm when you first call that they are on your lender’s panel - they can act for you in exactly the same way if they are. 

Tiglet2

armour999 said:

Just did a search on 'conveyencing supermarket' and within 5mins one of them - a firm called HomeLegalDirect - called me to get my business. Their quote is competitive too. In fact it's the cheapest of all.

They do no sale no fee, said I'll have the direct number of my assigned conveyencer and told me that both sale and purchase will cost me £1265 including disbursements. Seems too good to be true. Is it? and does anyone have any experience of HomeLegalDirect?

Are you sure it includes disbursements?  Often these are unknown until the transaction is underway, so firms don't usually provide a quote that includes them.