Recommended conveyancers in Bristol?

sandspider2000

Hi all.

Just about to buy (fingers crossed!) my first house! Am looking at conveyancing, and it was suggested that I go to a registered / licensed conveyancer rather than a full on solicitor as the price would be about half that of a full solicitor. I've had a quick search on Google, but can't find any conveyancers that aren't solicitors. Does anyone have any suggestions for good value (rather than just cheap!) conveyancers in the Bristol area, be they solicitors or otherwise? The going rate as far as I could make out seemed to start at about £300. Does this sound fairly reasonable? (The property is leasehold, which I understand means it will cost more...)

Many thanks in advance.

Giles

merlinthehappypig

We are using Peter Rossiter and Company in Burnham on Sea, which isn't far from Bristol. They are a specialist conveyancers, rather than a solicitor (though they have a qualified solicitor as one of the partners)

So far we've been very pleased with them, but obviously haven't got to the end yet. We are doing everything by post/e-mail. They have been quick to respond and seem to be getting on with things. They have always been available at the end of the phone and polite & helpful.

Price-wise they were cheaper than a local solicitor, but no-where near as cheap as the online conveyancers. We felt the online ones were too cheap, really, for the service that they provide so were a bit reluctant to use them.

As a guide, for us with a purchase price of £500000, online (Abode) were around £800, conveyancers £1400 and local solicitor £2200. This includes searches and other fees, but not Stamp Duty (I wish).

sandspider2000

Hi Merlin.

Thanks for that - PR&C do seem a bit pricey compared to the quotes I was getting, but your house is twice the cost of mine... I had a look at www.legalmove.co.uk as recommended on another thread, and they quoted £164 total cost for me! (Flat, around £220,000). Everything I've seen apart from them was £300 - £400 ish. I've not followed the legalmove quote through yet, but I did try again with a purchase price of £500,000 and the quote was still £164, so I wonder! Thanks for the tip re PR&C and I will bear them in mind.

Best,

Giles

merlinthehappypig

Of all the online conveyancers, Abode seem to get the best reviews (plenty on here). I just don't see how they do it for the money so assume the worst (in service terms). I guess if everything is straightforward then they might be o.k., but I wouldn't like to test them with a problem.

You do need to read the small print with the online conveyancers. There are loads of hidden costs. There is now way anyone could make a living doing conveyancing for under £200. Abode were more expensive, but seemed to be up-front about costs.

ZCC72

sandspider2000 wrote: »

.... it was suggested that I go to a registered / licensed conveyancer rather than a full on solicitor as the price would be about half that of a full solicitor. ..

Congratulations on your purchase!

Fees for Solicitors and Licenced Conveyancers would be in the same region. Licenced Conveyancers are merely specialised in the area of Conveyancing, whereas a Solicitor, whilst being qualified as a solicitor, would have done a 6 month "seat" in Conveyancing, and gained the remainder of their knowledge in the job. There is little/no difference between the two in reality.

Whilst you are in Bristol, you are not limited to solicitors in that area - conveyancing can be done by post/phone/fax/e-mail. That said, I would not necessarily recommend any of the "conveyancing factories" - watch out for the ones that quote you £175 for conveyancing, but forget to tell you about TT fees, photocopying charges, Solicitors Indemnity Fund contributions, etc - these can soon rack up, making it more like £600!! I would try some of the high street practices, as they are more "user friendly" to FTB, who perhaps need a little more information than a more experienced purchaser. There is one on Corn Street if you want central, or Brislington, Gloucester Road, etc - any that have a private client department.

Good luck in your search!!

ActionCat

I have used Kathleen Harnett (Harnett and Co) on Fishponds Road twice now and have found her to be really good. She gets things done and has a 'common sense' approach to the whole conveyancing process.

ActionCat

I forgot to say, I can't remember the exact fee charged by Harnett and Co but I think it was around the £300-£350 mark for purchasing. The first time we used her we didn't really need to contact her much but this last time, our buyer was a pain in the !!!! but Kathleen was really helpful whenever we called her and really helped push the sale through.

chal

Based on a recommendation from a solicitor friend, we used Sarah Mudge at Harold Michelmore Solicitors, based in Newton Abbot, and she was excellent.

My friend also recommended against using the conveyancers that estate egents, mortgage lenders, etc, try to get you to sign up for because they're frequently just legal factories and if anything difficult comes up with your paperwork it will just go to the bottom of the pile.

Newton Abbot isn't exactly Bristol, but we we're about 150 miles from there and did it all by post and phone and there was no problem with that.

tux130582

Jordans is based in Bristol just behind Victoria St

sandspider2000

Many thanks one and all.

Forgot where to find this, and didn't get any e-mail notifications of replies!

My offer has now been rejected, so am thinking about upping it but don't need conveyancing just yet...

Cheers,

Giles

gizzit

Sorry to resurrect the thread, but I just wanted to say that I took Actioncat's advice and went with Harnett and Co. for our house move. Through no fault of their's it was a particularly troublesome transaction, but Kathleen worked tirelessly on our behalf, and was responsive and communicative throughout.

So, another recommendation from me!