Do I have to use L&C recommended solicitor?

FlossieTeacake

Hello, in need of some advice as being heavily "encouraged" by both my L&C mortgage advisor and my estate agent to use their recommended solicitor which is stressing me out no end  (as an easily persuadable person!) Having looked at the L&C recommendations and their reviews I feel much more comfortable using the EA recommended solicitor (a smaller, local firm), but the way L&C speak makes it sound as though I HAVE to use the one they recommend. I have spoken to the EA recommended solicitor to confirm they are on the panel for the lender, and they have confirmed that they are.  Just want to be sure I am OK to go ahead and use them, in spite of what L&C are telling me! 

Mark_d

L&C are just a mortgage broker.  They want commission from recommending a solicitor.  Personally I would choose a solicitor myself to that they are 100% working in my best interests, and don't have any loyalty/obligations towards a mortgage broker, bank or estate agent.

From my experience small local firms are terrible.  They tend to give the conveyancing jobs to the juniors/trainees, so your transaction ends up at the bottom of the company's priorities.

FlorayG

Simple answer - no.
You can use any solicitor you want. I would choose my own, not use one recommended - recommended doesn't mean they are good, just that the recommender gets a commission

amnblog

L & C are talking nonsense. If you are comfortable with the other Solicitors - Simply tell them "NO" 

Jami74

It was the other way round for me. The estate agent had me signed up to their solicitor before they submitted my offer, they said it would be smoother using the same one as the seller. The pressure was so uncomfortable I almost gave up but felt at least I was supporting a local business. Once I realised their solicitor wasn't a small local firm but a big firm hundreds of miles away I cancelled under their 14 day rule. The estate agent was really peeved but the solicitor didn't seem bothered. I did use L&C's recommendation (also a big firm miles away) but felt they were making enquiries that might not have got made if I used the same solicitor as the seller. 

dunstonh

Perhaps you are seeing the difference between larger salesforce style operations and smaller independent operations.

Myci85

I wouldn't use either. I wanted our solicitor to be working for us, without added complexities of also working for the seller etc. Also, they're recommending as they get commission for it, not because the solicitors are necessarily any good. 

I contacted a range of local firms and asked them all to send over a quote to me to compare fees. In the end, only 2 firms got back to me with a quote, and the quickest was more reasonable in terms of fees, so I decided that they had shown they were responsive as well as reasonably priced and went with them. I'm happy to say the responsiveness continued and the only time I've not had a reply to emails within a few hours has been once when our solicitor was waiting for response from vendor's solicitor and was clearly bored of having nothing but the same update to share!

FlossieTeacake

Thanks all! I'm happy with the solicitor the agent suggested as they've got excellent reviews and I used to work for a law firm myself locally, so know of them. Just felt under a lot of pressure from L&C and my people pleasing nature was not working in my favour! 

dunstonh said:

Perhaps you are seeing the difference between larger salesforce style operations and smaller independent operations.

TBH I switched to L&C after having a bad experience with a smaller, independent operation! And they have generally been excellent with the mortgage I'm just not great at resisting sales pressure.  Anyway all sorted now so thank you everyone

ACG

So long as the solicitor is on panel (or can be added) with the lender in question, you can use any you like. They are probably pushing because you are leaving it open to discussion. Just call them up, thank them but you have gone with whoever it is you have chosen. 

Once they know your decision has been made that will be the end of it. 

amnblog

FlossieTeacake said:

TBH I switched to L&C after having a bad experience with a smaller, independent operation! And they have generally been excellent with the mortgage I'm just not great at resisting sales pressure.  Anyway all sorted now so thank you everyone

Bucking the trend there - across the Forum it is normally the reserve

DullGreyGuy

Agree with the other poster, the main thing really is if your bank are going to accept them or not, if they are on the banks pre-approved list then happy days. 

Outside of that its down to personal preferences, the reality is that conveyancing is predominately mechanical work and no matter if you go with your preferred local firm or a big national firm the majority of the work is going to be done by a paralegal because there is no point paying the £1,500/hr (+VAT) for a senior partner to request searches etc. Some may like having a dedicated person and being able to walk to their offices, others may prefer the lines being open until 10pm every day. 

Everyone will have a recommendation, the majority of those will be based on commissions not an endorsement on quality. Some may have partially integrated systems but the benefits of that to you will not be vast.