Conveyancing quotes

HellieCopter

Hello...

We had an offer accepted yesterday (yay! We got a minter good price on it too, considering the potential market wibbles!) and so we need to proceed with instructing a solicitor. I've got a few quotes so far, some through CMS and YBS (I found links on this forum!) and I just wondered if anyone else had anyone they'd recommend?

But, in addition to that, there's a solicitor who's relatively local to me who actually proved almost the cheapest - ideal, I can post/email or drop things in if needs be. However, in the small print the fixed fee and disbursments were all ok, but it did state that the quote was subject to the house already having an HIP, and if it didn't extra disbursments would be charged for. It's a 2 bed terrace, so it's not got one. How much extra am I looking at?! Should I steer clear of them and go with the next cheapest, that doesn't mention that?!

Sorry for waffling...!

Hel

trudiha

I found that the cheapest ones, especially the online ones, had things that they didn't mention, for instance the fee for dealing with the mortgage company wasn't mentioned on the website and was written in the contract in print so small that I'm convinced that they must employ ants with very good eyesight and special tiny pens to write it.

The dispersement part of my conveyancing was far more than the legal fees part of the quote but at the moment I can't remember exactly how much it was, I think I might have managed to finally blank it out.

It seems that you get almost exactly what you pay for with conveyancing, the cheap online ones are cheap, competent enough if you're not in a hurry and your purchase is straight forward.

Go back to the local guy and see if he will give you a fixed fee quote, he can't be all the busy at the moment and he might be willing to compromise.

Richard_Webster

The best thing to do is to go back to the local solicitor and ask all the questions about disbursements and extras. Ask for more clarity as to what is and what is not included, what likely extras there could be etc.

The Yorkshire Building Society Quotes all assume that there will be a HIP and therefore do not include the cost of the local search, which will certainly be needed if there is no HIP. Same applies to the local solicitor that you have spoken to. In some areas mining and other searches are also needed.

italia

can i ask what the charges are roughly at the mo, not moved for years

HellieCopter

My current quotes are around £500-£600

Eon4

Thats just for purchase ... yeah?

HellieCopter

yep! Sorry, should have said. I think they come out about a grand for a sale and purchase...

hedgen

Are you sure the house you want to buy doesn't have a HIP? The only reason it wouldn't is if it had been on the market a long time, not because of it's size. All houses, even our 1 bed flat now need a HIP when put on the market.

HellieCopter

Yeah - it went on in November 2007. I think it was December that HIPs beacame compulsory for all properties.

finc

We used YBS for our conveyancing when we sold our Freehold property on sale only, no purchase. I really wouldn't recommend them.

I had loads of problems with them, mainly down to very poor communication, they didn't ring me, EA or buyers sols when then said they would and didn't have any foresight at all. Seemed to let problems happen then ignore them! It was often very difficult to speak to the person dealing with my sale and I ended up having 3 different people dealing with it as they kept changing. No consistency whatsoever.

In the end I lost my buyer as they had overlooked some crucial points and held everything up. Fortunately I found another buyer and the sale went ahead. Never again, a local conveyancer for me EVERY time.