Do you pay the conveyancer's fees upfront?

RHemmings

Tiglet2 said:

RHemmings said:

I got permission from my solicitors to list them as my conveyancing solicitors before I had signed a contract with my solicitors, and before I had paid them any money. 

However, I had expensive (twice what others on here have paid) reputable local solicitors, and everything went super-smooth and they were helpful, pro- and re-active at all times. So, my experience may not be typical. 

I bet you don't regret paying double either!!

It might seem to be a good idea to save a few hundred on conveyancing fees but it's not.

I don't regret paying more than a thousand more than others on here have reported paying. Maybe I should - but the buying was stressful enough by itself. It was really good having solicitors who caused absolutely no stress whatsoever, and dealt well with things that would have otherwise caused stress. 

Maahes

badger09 said:

Two pieces of advice regarding selection of conveyancer: 
1 Don’t use the EA’s recommendation. There is invariably an incentive paid, & most, if not all of it will be paid by you. 

I used the conveyancer recommended by the EA after doing some comparisons. They were very good, competitively priced and I never had to chase or call them. I exchanged in two months. My daughter is using the same firm, also has no issue with them.

jonnydeppiwish!

RHemmings said:

I got permission from my solicitors to list them as my conveyancing solicitors before I had signed a contract with my solicitors, and before I had paid them any money. 

However, I had expensive (twice what others on here have paid) reputable local solicitors, and everything went super-smooth and they were helpful, pro- and re-active at all times. So, my experience may not be typical. 

Nothing beats a local solicitor that you can physically drop stuff into, and pop in unannounced to ask for progress!

user1977

Maahes said:

badger09 said:

Two pieces of advice regarding selection of conveyancer: 
1 Don’t use the EA’s recommendation. There is invariably an incentive paid, & most, if not all of it will be paid by you. 

I used the conveyancer recommended by the EA after doing some comparisons. They were very good, competitively priced and I never had to chase or call them. I exchanged in two months.

The transaction going apparently smoothly isn't really the issue with using a conveyancer recommended by the EA (assuming you're the buyer) - it's the potential conflict of interest, given they'll have a closer connection with the EA than with you. How likely are they to smooth things over rather than point out problems to you? You may well not find out until you sell (or remortgage).

propertyrental

user1977 said:

Maahes said:

badger09 said:

Two pieces of advice regarding selection of conveyancer: 
1 Don’t use the EA’s recommendation. There is invariably an incentive paid, & most, if not all of it will be paid by you. 

I used the conveyancer recommended by the EA after doing some comparisons. They were very good, competitively priced and I never had to chase or call them. I exchanged in two months.

The transaction going apparently smoothly isn't really the issue with using a conveyancer recommended by the EA (assuming you're the buyer) - it's the potential conflict of interest, given they'll have a closer connection with the EA than with you. How likely are they to smooth things over rather than point out problems to you? You may well not find out until you sell (or remortgage).

and this is doubly true when buying a New Build and using the developer's recommended solicitor.