To use an online solicitor for house purchase

[bellinique]

Hello wise ones, first time home buyer here hoping for some advice please.

I'm getting quotes for a solicitor and am shocked to see how much cheaper the online options are (£900 vs £1800).

Given that I wouldn't be visiting an office in these Covid times anyway, would it really make much difference?

Does anyone have any experience of using one of the online options? The low price is making me suspicious but it's so much money to lose if it would ultimately be the same service!

I've just used an online conveyancer to sell my parents house, and apart from their urge to send documents to my brother (joint executor, but not doing any of the legwork, only communication from him to them was to confirm he agreed to the sale) it was brilliant. A very clear online portal so I could see exactly what had been done, and the conveyancer assigned was very responsive

I used an online conveyancer last year and I was very happy.

I'd check out some reviews etc first. Clearly there must be some good ones there (pp seems to have had a good experience). However, I used cheap conveyancing firm to buy my last house (a few years ago so by phone and post rather than online but we never had to visit an office etc) and when we came to sell it (using a local solicitor) it became clear they had not done a great job. Eg. There were some insurances taken out to cover very old lost deeds that we had to pay for again when we sold as they had no record of the policy, some issues with unusual rights of way that they had not look at etc. The person buying from us was also using an online conveyancer and they did not have a specific person dealing with the case or a phone number to call so sorting out these issues took a while (several days to have a reply to an e-mail most of the time). Our local solicitor was a bit more expensive but handled the unusual aspects of the sale really well, kept things moving along and I could get hold of her by phone easily.

It's worth thinking about how complex the sale might be (ie age of property, any unusual features etc) and how important it is to you to move in a certain time frame.

Can’t be any worse than ours. We are paying £1900 for the worst service you can possibly imagine.

Go online because at least they’re used to dealing with things online. I don’t think ours are unfortunately.

We used an online conveyancer last year as FTB’s (conveyancing direct, Glasgow) and they were brilliant. We were allocated a named team who were dealing with our purchase and all communication was with them only and were provided their contact details. They were extremely efficient and responsive to calls/emails, super quick too.

We went from offer accepted to keys in hand, in 6 weeks exactly. I would not hesitate to use them again and they were considerably cheaper than local firms.

I used these guys. They were awesome.
www.fidler.co.uk
All the paperwork stored online - so always with me on my phone. Never any trouble getting hold of them.
Everytime something happened you got updated - eg water search back in. Felt like you really knew what was going on.
And the price they quoted (which you get online) was bang on what I paid.

We used online solicitors and they were amazing - the local town solicitors our sellers used were awful and were slow, sloppy and a pain in the behind at every point. Would never use anything other than online now. It’s just not worth the extra cash for poor service.

We didn’t use an “online” solicitor but I never actually met her in person because I didn’t need to - we just spoke on the phone/by email. I can’t see why it makes a difference to their service. Just check their reviews carefully. Best way to go is a recommendation from a friend as they really make or break your house buying/selling experience.

I used simplyconveyancing.co.uk and found the process really simple. My solicitor was always available on the phone if I needed to speak to her and I liked the online checklist so you know exactly where you are.

Thanks so much everyone for all of the helpful replies - very much appreciated!

We used an online conveyancer for our sale last year and our account manager was awesome. I’d say she was even better and more on the ball that the buyers solicitor, who was a tosser who couldn’t be bothered to read the lease. As proven by the amount of queries that were answered with ‘refer to the lease’ by the slightly annoyed management company.

I used simplyconveyancing.co.uk and they were utterly atrocious - would never do anything until you'd nagged them three times. Such a long, drawn-out process. On day of completion (several months later) they didn't even bother to send the money to the vendor until I'd phoned twice (once at midday, once at 3pm).

Avoid them.

I did. They weren't brilliant but it was an easy and straightforward sale withouit any real timing pressures, so not much they could mess up. It went well enough and was cheap enough.

We have previously used an online conveyancer and have chosen to do so again for current house purchase. They are excellent.

Hmm lots of food for thought here! Still unsure what to do for the best but very grateful for all of the advice!

It really depends on how straightforward everything is. I sold my flat a couple of years ago and the buyer used an online solicitor. The lease was being extended at the same time but her solicitors didn't have a clue what this meant and took 3 months of documents going back and forth with crazy amendments before they admitted as much and it was passed to someone more senior. You could never just phone someone up as their system didn't work like that. Overall it took way longer, and my bill was nearly doubled just so she could save a few quid

We weren’t in any rush so used online conveyancer

Not really any problem

The problem with conveyancing is, as OPs have said, you possibly won't necessarily know if the cheap online service was good until you come to sell. If it's a very straightforward freehold purchase it's more likely to be fine. The majority of staff employed by online services will be low paid and unqualified. Could be absolutely fine....might not.

Noooooo.... don’t do it. Spend the money and you’ll get someone more able and/or with lower caseload.

I used an online cheap conveyancer for our first purchase 5 years ago - no chain and it took nearly 6 months!

My sister is using an online conveyancer “recommended” by her estate agents (hello Countrywide/Fulfords).... 9 months later and 2 months of her house being in boxes, every week expecting exchange only to get something ridiculous like “We need you to confirm the purchase price and mortgage amount”... that would be the same amount it’s always been and something they could have confirmed months ago.

This time, we’re paying £1500 for a local (but very highly recommended) firm and they are excellent. They update us regularly, pro-actively chase other solicitors if they haven’t heard back within a week, we received documents from them in the first few weeks that our online solicitor took months to send. Unfortunately I think our sellers’ solicitor is crap....

I used Avrillo and they were amazing. Online portal where I could see where everything was and they were great at chasing. Fixed price for everything and you could pick and choose what you wanted them to do for you.
I could call them though if needed or book time on the phone with them via email.
Worth it.

Also, Countrywide’s excuse for being so crap at one point was that they’d furloughed a lot of their staff... an online conveyancer?! My local solicitor and legal assistant have worked from home throughout. We just communicate by email and phone. If you’re in the South West I’d really honestly recommend Lyons Bowe.

Wish I’d investigated this option when I started the process, it can’t be worse than what I’m dealing with and I haven’t been to see mine in person either, they’re based at the other end of the country.

I realise this is an old thread but do any of you rate online legal and conveyancing advice and if so please can I have some recommendations? Thanks.