Which offer to accept?

Tiglet2

20122013 said:

Thanks for all the replies, I am going to look more into the selling process. 

When looking for a solicitor / conveyancer,  as I do not have any personal recommendations, and have been looking at online reviews. Is there anything I should be looking for in particular, I am planning of someone who has an office and would be interested to know other's experience ? 

A solicitor with an office is usually better than a remote, email only, office where you cannot hand over documents in person.

Read google reviews rather than Trustpilot.  Trustpilot seem to remove bad reviews when the firm objects to them, which makes their rating better than it should be.

Ask friends or the local facebook group if they have any recommendations - be careful of people recommending firms that they work at or their relative works at though!

Good luck.

Tabieth

20122013 said:

Thanks for all the replies, I am going to look more into the selling process. 

When looking for a solicitor / conveyancer,  as I do not have any personal recommendations, and have been looking at online reviews. Is there anything I should be looking for in particular, I am planning of someone who has an office and would be interested to know other's experience ? 

I used a solicitor recommended by my broker (which was recommended by this forum). I think they’re based in Manchester and I’m not but it wasn’t a problem. Everything was done remotely by email / app / scanning / post. There was no need whatsoever to visit the office in person and I didn’t.

FlorayG

Be very, very careful about using an online solicitor. I used one who was excellent and did a great job for me. I won't recommend them to you though because that was 6 years ago and things change they may not be so good now. Second time I used a different one who were SO BAD I actually sacked them and started again. When I delved into their TrustPilot reports they had had HUNDREDS of negative reviews removed! I will name them - PCS Legal. Avoid them at all costs.
Better if you can use a local solicitor who specialises in conveyancing - if they stop answering your 'phone calls or are dead slow you can go to the office and bang on the desk. Honestly, after my online experience, that's worth every penny of the extra they will charge you

Tiglet2

FlorayG said:

Be very, very careful about using an online solicitor. I used one who was excellent and did a great job for me. I won't recommend them to you though because that was 6 years ago and things change they may not be so good now. Second time I used a different one who were SO BAD I actually sacked them and started again. When I delved into their TrustPilot reports they had had HUNDREDS of negative reviews removed! I will name them - PCS Legal. Avoid them at all costs.
Better if you can use a local solicitor who specialises in conveyancing - if they stop answering your 'phone calls or are dead slow you can go to the office and bang on the desk. Honestly, after my online experience, that's worth every penny of the extra they will charge you

I have come across this firm on the other side, during the course of my work quite a few years ago (retired now).  While there are a lot of quite experienced people there, there are also many many youngsters who are 'training' and don't really have the expertise needed in some of the more complicated cases.  They take on far too much work and have too many 'assistants' who don't have experience or knowledge doing the donkey work.  The cases are supervised by one qualified person, who is overseeing perhaps 100 cases at any one time.  They don't have time to speak to you, let alone give you sound advice (mainly because you won't be speaking to the person in charge, only their 'assistant') , which means that the client is very much on their own when it comes to understanding the process and reading the documents they send you.  Because of the volume of work, your transaction will take longer to process.

RHemmings

I used a reputable local firm with an excellent reputation according to reviews. I had none of the problems that are very frequently discussed on here. But, I paid about twice as much as a cheap online agent. I would do so again. 

20122013

thanks for the feedback and will use them for more research. As the solicitor I had used to buy this property has only one solicitor and one receptionist. When I called them 3 years ago they were still keen to help etc.not sure whether they wanted repeat business. And I am a bit am unsure about bad reviews (very slow and not return calls). Their prices is listed on their very basic website which I prefer (so they cannot say have you seen our website  - As most of the other websites have asked to make contact for a quote etc

Albermarle

Tabieth said:

20122013 said:

Thanks for all the replies, I am going to look more into the selling process. 

When looking for a solicitor / conveyancer,  as I do not have any personal recommendations, and have been looking at online reviews. Is there anything I should be looking for in particular, I am planning of someone who has an office and would be interested to know other's experience ? 

I used a solicitor recommended by my broker (which was recommended by this forum). I think they’re based in Manchester and I’m not but it wasn’t a problem. Everything was done remotely by email / app / scanning / post. There was no need whatsoever to visit the office in person and I didn’t.

A family member used a mortgage broker based two hundred miles away as they knew someone who worked there.
They recommended to use the solicitors they use as they were apparently very good, so they ended up with a solicitor also in Manchester, whilst the house sale was in Surrey.
They have been very good and the distance has not been a problem ( helps if you have a printer/scanner) .

20122013

I have not used a solicitor for years, the ones I have spoken to require me to visit their office / branch to do ID checks and (pay a fee), if that is the case I will narrow done my search to local ones. I wonder why some estate agent can do ID check via a third party and via phone and online  verification. (same as when opening a new bank account). 

TheJP

Tiglet2 said:

20122013 said:

Thanks for all the replies, I am going to look more into the selling process. 

When looking for a solicitor / conveyancer,  as I do not have any personal recommendations, and have been looking at online reviews. Is there anything I should be looking for in particular, I am planning of someone who has an office and would be interested to know other's experience ? 

A solicitor with an office is usually better than a remote, email only, office where you cannot hand over documents in person.

Read google reviews rather than Trustpilot.  Trustpilot seem to remove bad reviews when the firm objects to them, which makes their rating better than it should be.

Ask friends or the local facebook group if they have any recommendations - be careful of people recommending firms that they work at or their relative works at though!

Good luck.

I disagree. I used an online conveyancing firm rather than a local office based one for a number of reasons and my experience was great (twice).

1. All my docs were electronic which meant everything i needed to sign, complete, fill out etc was done in a day and then sent off.

2. I had an online hub that updated my progress daily, no phone calls or waiting for that email.

3. I was able to access previous documents instantly when needed during the sale of my property. 

Yes some of these firms are bad but office face to face isn't much better.

RHemmings

20122013 said:

I have not used a solicitor for years, the ones I have spoken to require me to visit their office / branch to do ID checks and (pay a fee), if that is the case I will narrow done my search to local ones. I wonder why some estate agent can do ID check via a third party and via phone and online  verification. (same as when opening a new bank account). 

Even though I used a local solicitor, I did all my ID checks online. I did drop off documents in person, however.