Conveyancers/Solicitors choice and househunting

littleteapot

Hi all,

This is the first time I've had to manage a property move in-chain (previous two cases were chain-free and I lived with my parents until completion) and with a family including two very young children in-tow.

We've been rather taken by surprise with our house receiving an offer of the asking price from a committed and proceedable buyer on the first day it went on the market! It is a very sought after area for mature/retired people with not many properties on the market at the moment though.

I'm a little bit panicky as I feel there's a lot to organise very quickly and I do struggle with anxiety.

Firstly we've got to find a property to buy, and fitting viewings in is tough with me working full time and us having the two little children. Thankfully my manager is fairly flexible though with leave. How much time is a reasonable maximum to make our buyer wait whilst we try to find something we like? I'm worried about making them wait too long and the sale falling through as there isn't a huge choice of suitable property in our price range. But at the same time we shouldn't rush and settle for an unsuitable property.

Secondly, I'm uncertain whether to use the conveyancing firm which our estate agent has recommended, or to try to find a 'proper' solicitor independently. The conveyancing firm they are using is this one: Home - Move with Us. Anyone here heard of them or have any positive/negative experiences?

Their fees seem very reasonable and the benefit is that if the sale/purchase fails to complete there are no legal fees (other than a file opening fee, searches etc and some small disbursements). This sounds like a safe option so we can afford to start again quickly if it falls through. But on the other hand I'd feel more comfortable with a local solicitor that I can walk into if there are any problems.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Bigphil1474

We're just behind you at the minute. Property going on the market this week, so hopefully we are as lucky as you and get a buyer quickly. Our estate agent does conveyancing, but we're gonna shop around for a local solicitor and see what the prices are like. Never heard of movewithus, but I'd prefer local every time. 

We've already been online looking for suitable properties, and as soon as we have accepted an offer, we'll be viewing those on our shortlist. Rightmove is your friend - personally, I won't be viewing anything I don't like from Rightmove, and I'll be starting at the top of my list downwards - as soon as I get the right feel, I'll be putting an offer in on the first suitable property. I don't think there's a particularly time you can keep your buyers waiting, it's just quick as possible. They'll know you can't offer until you've got an offer, so it always takes some time. 

Grizebeck

Woooooooh!
Stay well clear. They use DC law a warehouse style conveyancing outfit. Part of the simplify group. Do not touch with a bargepole.
They get a payment for each recommendation to DC law

littleteapot

Grizebeck said:

Woooooooh!
Stay well clear. They use DC law a warehouse style conveyancing outfit. Part of the simplify group. Do not touch with a bargepole.
They get a payment for each recommendation to DC law

Thanks for that Grizebeck, you've saved me from another potential stressor!

mark_cycling00

Looks like a rebranding of the appalling "DC law" conveyancing company. (Reviews on Google maps for their stockport contact centre)

You really want to avoid saving a few quid but get stuck with call centre ops who never progress your sale, give you duff advice, delay your transaction for months, lose your chain of sale etc. Etc.

Just find a nice local solicitor who has some professional, hard working conveyancers (often mothers on flexible working) who will actually get things done and help you through the purchase 

littleteapot

mark_cycling00 said:

Looks like a rebranding of the appalling "DC law" conveyancing company. (Reviews on Google maps for their stockport contact centre)

You really want to avoid saving a few quid but get stuck with call centre ops who never progress your sale, give you duff advice, delay your transaction for months, lose your chain of sale etc. Etc.

Just find a nice local solicitor who has some professional, hard working conveyancers (often mothers on flexible working) who will actually get things done and help you through the purchase 

Thanks Mark for re-iterating what has already been said about this firm. I immediately became wary when I read in their blurb that they 'outsource' various aspects of the work 'so we can focus on blah blah blah for our customers'.

I think I'll go to a long established local conveyancing firm which has been recommended to me by a colleague and has their office 5 mins walk away from where I work. They are a bit more expensive and don't offer a no-completion no-fee service but as others had said it wouldn't be wise to skimp on this important aspect of the process.

mark_cycling00

Aha I was typing my reply whilst the others were posted.

Best of luck. My local conveyancer was the same price as DC law. 

thegreenone

Also remember that some of the very small independent EA's refuse to pay Rightmove's fees, so are not on there.  A friend found her forever home after looking through a local EA's website.

Check out the local EA's on a general search and cross match with Rightmove.  Not on there, visit and register.

eddddy

FWIW, the company you've linked to (Move With Us) describe themselves as a Conveyancing Panel Manager.

That typically means they don't do any conveyancing themselves - so they'll probably allocate customers to a company on their panel.

Move With Us are part of the Simplify Group. Simplify also own quite a few conveyancing companies/brands, so I suspect customers would be allocated to one of them. They include:

• Advantage Property Lawyers ·
• Cook Taylor Woodhouse Solicitors ·
• DC Law ·
• Gordon Brown Law ·
• JS Law.
• Premier Property Lawyers

But maybe they use independent firms as well.


Move With Us pay estate agents referral fees - which is probably a key reason why estate agents "recommend" them. Here's what a couple estate agents say...

If you use our Conveyancing Service we will receive a referral fee from Move With Us Ltd. Our average fee earned is two hundred and eighty five pounds. 

Link: https://manningstainton.co.uk/buying

We offer our clients an optional conveyancing service, through panel conveyancing firms, via Move With Us and we receive on average a referral fee of one hundred and ninety four pounds, only on completion of the sale. If you do use this service, the referral fee is included within the amount that you will be quoted by our suppliers. All quotes will also provide details of referral fees payable.

Link: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132682916#/

Hamlet22

1. sold first day - hold out for more mygoodness, or you could be losing £0000s

2. your buyers can wait for as long as you want, as you wont have trouble finding another buyer, clearly

3. dont use that recommened conveyancing. DONT. Look on Reviewsolicitors.co.uk in the town your live in  - ALWAYS

4. In future avoid the usual high street estate agent chains, use local independent (unless you are selling £1m and above them a premium chain - e.g Hamptons/Savills - is fine)

RHemmings

mark_cycling00 said:

Looks like a rebranding of the appalling "DC law" conveyancing company. (Reviews on Google maps for their stockport contact centre)

You really want to avoid saving a few quid but get stuck with call centre ops who never progress your sale, give you duff advice, delay your transaction for months, lose your chain of sale etc. Etc.

Just find a nice local solicitor who has some professional, hard working conveyancers (often mothers on flexible working) who will actually get things done and help you through the purchase 

It's interesting that on Trustpilot, DC Law have a good rating of 4.6. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.dclaw.co.uk 

Many of the five star reviews name a particular staff member, often very prominently like in the review title. It's always been my suspicion that reviews that mention <NAME> very prominently were written by <NAME> and when there are lots of those, I suspect deliberate manipulation. 

EDIT: DC Law has flagged 264 reviews, 99% of which were negative reviews. Most of those were removed, but mostly because the reviewer didn't respond to Trustpilot when requested. The majority of verified reviews on the website are negative typically 1*.