Conveyancing: do I look for a solicitor local to where I am now or local to where I'm moving to?

[ShortBlack]

I am moving to a new area and planning to buy a house there (currently renting). For the conveyancing, should I be looking for a solicitor where I am now, or the area I'm moving to? Or does it not matter? I'm thinking if I look for one here and I can ask for recommendations from friends here, which would be a starting point at least, otherwise I'm not sure where to start. But given I'm not selling here all the work would be relating to a house in the new area. What to do?

It should n't matter but one local to where you are buying may have more contacts to speed up conveyancing enquiries from the local council.

If local to you, easy for you to go in and sign things if they need signing (can speed things up).

If local to your new area, he should hopefully know any peculiarities to that area, if there are any.

If moving from England to Scotland, or vice versa, or Wales,etc, the purchase solicitor needs to be from that country (or at least qualified in that country's law).

Last time i moved i used a company from Manchester and i am in Surrey (obviously!) but they had good reviews on the net and were reasonably priced. It got really messy and i got the Law Society involved to sort out the problems.

Next time i do anything to do with moving house i will use a local solicitor. At least then i can go in person to resolve any problems.

There's a lot to be said for personal recommendations. Solicitors are used to working all over the country (which, as Polly says, is not all over the UK).

I think the only "contacts" I would use as a conveyancing solicitor would be a surveyor to carry out the survey. The estate agent who sells you the property should be able to recommend one - but if you get a solicitor recommended by that route, the agent may well get a share of the solicitor's fees. I'd go for someone recommended by someone you know myself.