To ask for advice on house purchase?

[Fantajuice]

Im buying my first house and I’m trying to things sorted out quickly so that the estate agent takes the property down from the website.

I’ve had an offer accepted today, and the estate agent needs to know my solicitor’s name, and then says he’s referred me to their conveyancing team to keep things under one roof.

I’m really confused - when I google solicitors it comes up with solicitors who specialise in conveyancing. Do I need another separate solicitor who does conveyancing as well as the referral to the estate agents conveyancing team?

TIA

You need one solicitor to do your conveyancing.

Don't use the estate agent one. Chances are it's a national call centre type set up with an admin doing most of the work and just sending it to a solicitor to sign off. My SIL is a conveyancer and she has some horror stories of sales being delayed because the call centre style firms have done chuff all.

If you can give your general location some Mumsnetters maybe able to recommend a local firm to you.

@MeowMeowLikeACow

You need one solicitor to do your conveyancing.

Don't use the estate agent one. Chances are it's a national call centre type set up with an admin doing most of the work and just sending it to a solicitor to sign off. My SIL is a conveyancer and she has some horror stories of sales being delayed because the call centre style firms have done chuff all.

If you can give your general location some Mumsnetters maybe able to recommend a local firm to you.

Another perspective - we’re in our third purchased house now and the first two purchases we used National call centre type conveyancers. They were surprisingly efficient with online document handling. Our first purchase was a repossession and was completed in 30 days from offer acceptance. Our most recent move seemed more complicated, it included tree protection orders, radon warnings, a much older house, structural surveys etc so we decided to go with a popular local law firm. What a mistake. They were very slow and so difficult to contact. Everything had to be dropped off at the offices too which was really inconvenient. I would use one of the online ones again over my experience of a fair sized local firm.

EA are buggers for this because they get a kick back. Ask for a recommendation for a solicitor and go to them.

Never trust estate agents who try to push you into their own solicitors or mortgage brokers, they're looking to increase their cut of your purchase.

We were first time buyers and used

www.simplyconveyancing.co.uk/SC/

After a recomendation from a friend, and found them to be excellent... with everything Covid related not sure a local solicitor would be more beneficial as you probably can't just pop in nowadays. Definitely don't get roped into using the in house solicitors, it's just a ploy to earn a referral fee for the agent!

@MeowMeowLikeACow giving a different perspective: they’re not all crap. I’ve been doing mainly residential property since I qualified as a solicitor over 10 years ago. Some high street firms are just as bad in their own way. I now work for one of the EA recommended type firms. (I used to be snobby about them too).

I should add- my employers have an estate agent relationship manager. The EAs can hassle the firm at a higher level via her if necessary. The risk is that if we don’t perform, the referrals stop.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Yep avoid their in house referral.

Also don't feel bound to use a local solicitor. It doesnt make a jot of difference where they are based. If you've a friend or relative who can recommend you one based in a cheaper part of the country you will get better value for money.

These days you'd be sensible to use a solicitors local to where you live or work now as they should meet you in person for ID purposes etc.

I definitely would never use any of the national conveyancing companies (e.g. Countrywide). They are shocking to deal with as clients and as other solicitors.

There's more to buying a house than just getting some paperwork produced, eg "searches" for restrictive covenants, rights of way over your property etc. Think whether you want that to be done by someone working for you, or someone who is also working for the seller.

@MereDintofPandiculation what do you mean by “searches” for restrictive covenants?

Minnie Long time since I've bought a house! One of the functions of the solicitor is to do what they call "searches" with the intention of rooting out things that might influence your decision and which the seller is not obliged to tell you unless you ask directly. Wasn't sure when I posted what exactly they're looking for but this link gives a list. I'd certainly want to be sure the solicitor was placing my interests over those of the seller as far as that list is concerned!