Bagshaws Estate Agents - Solicitors?

keithmdw

We have just had an offer on a property accepted through Bagshaws Estate Agents.

They have also told us they have their own in-house solicitors who can do the conveyancing if we want.

They are not the cheapest but also not the most expensive. They can also get things moving very quickly being in-house and that's what we need as we go on holiday at the end of the week and wan to leave a solictor with it to do searches etc. while we are away.

What does everyone think about this? Has anyone used an agents solicitors for conveyance?

Should speed things up at least if we do as they say the EA's are answerable to the solicitors.

Doozergirl

Have said before that the best thing you can do by far is go with a recommendation from a friend!

keithmdw

We were trying to do that, but we need to speed things along and this seems like a good solution to that.

Our logic was that at the end of the day, just because no one has recommended them doesn't make them dire. Maybe that's bad logic, but it's true.

Pal

They are no different from any other solicitors firm. They could be bad, they could be good. They will certainly be no faster just because they have a commission payment link to the estate agent. It makes no difference.

If you know a good company or can ask around for recommendations then do so, otherwise it is pot luck whoever you choose.

diggerbadger

get a rec from a friend thaa only reason the agent in rec there sols are because they are getting a kick back from it. I deal with these type of sols daily and they are useless

keithmdw

We know they are only recommending because they make some money from it, but there must be some situations like that where the company the recommend actually are good.

The other solicitor we had in mind came with a couple of very good recommendations and we have now had some very bad reports of it, so I'm beginning to think that it's all a bit of a gamble regardless of who you choose.

Someone that's fantastic for one person might be dreadful for another.

Pal

Also, people's opinions of what a good or bad solicitor is will vary. It depends on how their individual sale went. It is easy to believe that a sale went slowly because of a bad solicitor when in fact it was just a complicated sale that they handled very well, but it just took some time.

Conversely you can believe that a sale went well because the solicitor was good but they actually had very little to do so it was easy for them.

As you say, it is a gamble.

frugal_dougal_3

I really don't like selling to buyers who are using in-house solicitors. They are very often slow and incompetent.

keithmdw what area are you in ? This might get you some recommendations.

keithmdw

I'm in Sheffield. Have had a few recommendations, but for every good one about a company I have had bad ones too.

frugal_dougal_3

I know what you mean. The trouble is that you can have the hardest working solicitor in the world but he/she will have little control over the speed that the other partys solicitor works at. This is why you get differing opinions about their performance.

Maybe someone will post something to help you in the way of a recommendation, but there are no guaranteed ways of hurrying things along usually (other than offering large cash incentives) which isn't feasible to most people.

Bossyboots

keithmdw wrote:

We know they are only recommending because they make some money from it, but there must be some situations like that where the company the recommend actually are good.

The other solicitor we had in mind came with a couple of very good recommendations and we have now had some very bad reports of it, so I'm beginning to think that it's all a bit of a gamble regardless of who you choose.

Someone that's fantastic for one person might be dreadful for another.

We have two local solicitor firms running estate agencies as well and they are both fine.

In my experience solicitor/estate agency partnerships are okay. Where I have found problems is when the estate agent offers free conveyancing but are not part of a legal firm. They then farm the work out to the "connections" and of the families I know who have gone down that route, it has not been a happy experience. The largest problem by far is too much costs cutting, leading to poor service.