Conveyencing solicitor in SE London - any recommendations?

[BetteDavis01]

Hello, can anyone recommend a good conveyencing solicitor in london boroughs of Greenwich / Bexley / Lewisham?

Estate agent has informed me that they are all 'useless' and won't recommend one to me! I'm clueless about this area of law so if you can please advise. Thanks!

[BetteDavis01]

Bump!

[msfreud]

It doesn't need to be local to where you live now/are buying. Usually you only need to visit the office once, some do everything online/by post.

I've used a central London company for all my three SE London purchases/sales so far.

[HortenMarket]

Hi. We have used Beverley Morris solicitors and they are in Blackheath. Been very good so far. x

[HortenMarket]

You do have to visit them once so I would choose one you can reach fairly easily i.e. near work or home. Otherwise the rest is done via email and phone and Beverley Morris have been very easy to contact.

[noidles]

I'm based in Blackheath but I'm using a solicitor in Guildford at the recommendation of my broker. She is Catherine Fewings at Lyons and Company, and she's been brilliant so far.

[noidles]

Also, depending on what type of property you are buying I do know a friend who was in the process of buying a flat that has fallen through. Her vendor used Beverley Morris who she said was good, but there was a significant part of the process that Morris wasn't qualified for so had the sale have gone further, the vendor would have had to go elsewhere for that part.

But that was all issues with freehold/leasehold.

[californiaburrito]

I used Ian Smith at Meaby & Co. Had a very difficult sale and he was an absolute star. He was a bit cheaper than Beverley Morris as well.

[BetteDavis01]

Thanks everyone!

[LBOCS]

Um... You don't necessarily have to visit them. We used a company up north, didn't visit, cost us (IIRC) under £800 including disbursements. Our mortgage broker recommended them. They needed chasing but no more so than any others I've worked with.

[HortenMarket]

LBOCS How long ago did you buy? We didn't have to see the solicitor last time we bought/sold but that was 7 years ago. Things have changed regarding money laundering checks so now you have to go in person once to the office. We almost used our last conveyancing solicitors who were amazing but they were in Swindon and we are in London.

[HortenMarket]

noidles Beverley Morris have qualified conveyancers there so I am not sure why your friend had to use someone else unless they had a complicated transaction. We haven't for a fairly straight forward house sale/purchase.

[WookieCookiee]

Glazer Delmar are based in east dulwich and brilliant. Really knowledgable especially about leasehold property.

[LBOCS]

Horton, it was about 2 years ago. Has it all changed since then? I read an article in The Times a couple of weeks ago which also indicated that you didn't have to use a local conveyancing firm.

[HortenMarket]

Well we were surprised that we had to, but the solicitors said it was all new regulations. I'm not sure how the process would have gone if you use one far away. Perhaps that would mean a trip over or a Skype chat???

[thanksamillion]

We are using onlineconveyencing.com who seem to be pretty good. We've got a solicitor and two assistants allocated to us who have so far always replied to my emails within a few hours.

You don't need to go in to their offices at all as they will post/email you things you need to sign. If you go to their home page you get an instant quote.

[noidles]

HortenMarket As I said, that was an issue to do with the freehold/leasehold. Beverley Morris said they hadn't had experience in dealing with prior so they advised they wouldn't be able to proceed.

[noidles]

I haven't had to meet my solicitor, but that's because it's all been through our broker. He was able to certify documents, etc.

[BeverleyMorris]

Hi. This is Beverley Morris here. Have only just read the above posts as I don't normally follow Mumsnet. Am completely mystified as to why someone in my firm would say they didn't have experience to deal with a freehold/leasehold issue. We're all really experienced here and we deal with this sort of thing day in day out..

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

So, Beverley Morris, now you've found Mumsnet and seen its influence, are you going to offer a Mumsnet discount?

[dontcallmelen]

We used Stimpsons in forest hill a couple of times the chaps name was Keith Fender was very good, but was a few years ago.

[BeverleyMorris]

Hello. Yes, we will offer a mumsnet discount of £100 plus VAT to clients we are acting for now or who are about to use us for their sale or purchase so that's £200 plus VAT if it's a sale and a purchase. You'll find us at //www.beverleymorris.co.uk

[lxx0731]

Hi would you please let me know how to get the discount?

Thank you.

[BeverleyMorris]

You just have to confirm to us that you found us through mumsnet.

[Brizeehd]

Dear all, I just wanted to check in with an honest review of Beverly Morris; as I used reviews listed on this site above in choosing them.

First off, they did honour the discount listed above. That's where the positives end sadly...

As it was my first house purchase was obviously a daunting step, I decided to use Beverly Morris instead of a conveyancing firm.

I wasn't expecting the world - but what I hoped for; was a more 'personal service', where I would have things explained to me, I would have a direct contact I could speak to and where my solicitor would be on my side in ensuring that every avenue is explored and taken care of. Did I set the my expectations too high here?

What I got was a named solicitor who I seemed to never have any communication with... I had emails and communication from 4 different variations of admin assistants and PAs.

When things became quite stressful, I wanted to pop in, maybe spend 10 mins with someone just going over the legal mumbo jumbo to ensure I knew what I was getting involved in.

Instead, I was left waiting in the reception area for 30 mins, to then meet someone I had never met before or introduced to, who then proceeded to tell me what I should have done in terms of making an offer. I understood that my purchase was taking time, but it didn't help that I was told they have only been chasing documents and the other solicitors on a two week cycle and this was done by different people. So that meant, my solicitors sent an email, waited two weeks, saw that it hadn't been responded to, then send a follow up? Instead of having things briefly explained and leaving feeling at ease, I felt less confident and quite frankly patronised.

Even though my house purchase went through and I understand this took a long time and it was not straight forward - it was at every opportunity I was reminded of how much hard work it had been and how long it was taking. Almost to the point where I felt like a burden to their firm and almost felt obliged to apologise for making them work (every two weeks as mentioned above) - but surely this is what I have paid for?

Nevertheless, things like my management fee have now doubled - something that 'apparently' I was informed about by my solicitors in an email. This was apparently in the form attachment, which was mixed in with other attachments and worded very obscurely in the attachment and not mentioned in the email. It was these little things that I hoped would be spotted, clearly outlined and explained.

Everything was communicated via email and as a result I still don't really know what I have purchased in terms of my leasehold, and I still have a number of questions that could come back and bite me in the future - literally because I am so frustrated with the way my sale was communicated and how 'second best' I have felt. I have just ploughed on regardless.

Even to the point of checking the final details and picking up the keys, I had to chase the estate agent for all of this. No congratulations or 'well we got there in the end' or anything here. Just, a phone call from another admin person requesting final payment.

For my first purchase - what did I get the was different to a conveyancing firm? I couldn't answer that in terms of what I hoped for.

Do I feel I know everything about my purchase, confident and happy with the service received? No.

Maybe it was because my house purchase was not of a 'blackheath value', and houses in the millions (rightly so I guess) are their target market. But I am sure the service received in that instance would be totally different to the service I received. Shame really...

Overall, my advice would be to look for a different solicitor to the one listed above. Just my honest review, especially as I used thus firm based on the reviews on this site.

[BeverleyMorris]

Regretfully, it is unrealistic to expect to call into our office without an appointment to run through legal documentation. Such an appointment would take far longer than ‘ten minutes’. We would normally try to set aside about an hour and a half.

As regards methods of communication, we find that most clients prefer this to be by email nowadays.

Brizeehd appears not to have read an email communication from us and for that, we can hardly be held accountable.

We would without doubt have sent Brizeehd an email confirming that completion had taken place and that we were registering his purchase at the Land Registry. However, perhaps he expected something less formal that this?

If, as Brizeehd suggests, he still has some questions, he is more than welcome to arrange an appointment to call into our office to discuss these and we shall do our very best to answer all of his questions.

The suggestion that we have a ‘target market’ or that we regard non-Blackheath properties as ‘lower grade transactions’ is farcical and without any foundation whatsoever. We truly value each and every one of our clients equally.

The review above is most upsetting for us to read when we work so hard to provide a service that is friendly and helpful, thorough and efficient.