Online Solicitors? Has anyone tried these when moving house?

[LulaTallulah]

My estate agent gave me a flyer about a company called ELC Solicitors who do all your house related legal stuff via the internet and if the house sale falls through you don't pay for the work already done. It supposed to be better as you can see all progress online......what do people think of this?

[LadyMuck]

I used an online conveyancer. Defintiely suited my way of working. I had a casehandler who kept me up to date with everything that was going on, and could speak to the solicitor fiarly quickly if i needed to. Most things were routine so dealt with casehandler most frequently. The solicitor mainly got involved when it became apparent that the sellors had breached covenants on the house that we were buying.

[LulaTallulah]

ok thanks! I may give them a try.

[LIZS]

get a few quotes first . EA's are often paid to promote conveyancers who can be more expensive than a local solicitor , plus they don't have the local relationships with Council to find things out so easily.

[somersetmum]

We used one the last time we moved, because they were ecommended by estate agent. They were pants, because they deal with so many, so you don't get a personal service, never get two emails from the same person, etc.
When we nearly lost the sale, because they were taking so long, the same estate agent told us it was our fault for choosing a lousy solicitor
Oh, and they were almost impossible to get hold of by phone. You only ever got an answerphone and then had to wait, sometimes days, for a response.

[somersetmum]

recommended

[Seabright]

I'm probably (definatly!) biased, as I work for a "normal" solicitors firm. I just roll my eyes when I see one of these conveyancing-farms on the other side of a transaction.

It always takes longer, because they don't have qualified staff doing the work, and because it takes longer and they raise stupid and irrelevant points it cost the other party (ie my client) more, because it all takes longer to deal with.

For example - they want to know all about the coal mines surrounding the property - in Surrey! They don't understand restrictive covenants, can't draft documents properly so I have to redraft them all.

As I say, I'm biased, but I've seen loads of these firms come and go (none seem to last very long - wonder why?) and none have ever impressed me.