Solicitors - Conveyancing - recommendations, warnings, costs

[wherearemysheets]

We're looking at a sale and purchase in the next few months and I've been doing the usual online quotes and phoning around.

So far, the most expensive quote for the legal work (leaving aside stamp duty) has been £700 for sale and £1200 for purchase including VAT and everything. That's from a small high st firm with a qualified solicitor.

I've also had a quote from Simpson Millar (online, but still real 'solicitors') and that was roughly £1600 incl VAT for sale and purchase.

I've had a few others from Access legal and other Google results that are around or just under the £1600 mark.

I am wary about using a conveyancing conveyor belt (like that!) but wonder what experience others have had.

Anyone used Premier Property Lawyers (myhomemove) or anyone else you liked/disliked?

I'm happy to do an online transaction but also like high st. I mainly want reliability, promptness, lack of stuffiness and ideally an option to track my transaction via an online login.

I know this has been done before on here but I'd love to get more names for quotes or avoids!

Anyone recommend a conveyancing firm.... anywhere? National firm with offices and online presence or local firm in Kent/south east?

I'm not in your area so can't recommend anyone, but having used both local high street firms and big conveyancing sheds in the past, I'd go with the locals every time. I am perhaps biased because I used to work for a local firm and I always go back to them for any legal work, but the big difference for me was that, if things were getting tricky for any reason, I could pop into the office to sort things out face to face.

The transaction before the last one, with a national, was a nightmare, at least partly because I never spoke to the same person twice.

The other point is that local solicitors know things about the locality; like people at the land registry, planning officers, flood plains etc. That probably makes it all quicker.

Local firm worked well for us, especially as could pop in on lunch breaks to pick up or sign documents, and generally check on progress.

I used premier property lawyers recently and they were excellent - the online tracking was good and the solicter used to ring me! It was was a very straightforward transation though

the high street solicitors at both ends of my transaction wanted a FORTUNE. One found off reallymoving.com did it - and was excellent, helpful, did stuff without being chased etc etc. More than can be said for the other solicitors in both transactions who moved at a glacial pace.

I agree - not a conveyancing shop, but there is no need for a solicitor to be on the doorstep.

Thanks all - my more cautious nature is nudhing me towards high st - a building where I can track them down if it all does wrong but their fees are so much higher than the nationals - it's a real dilemma. The 'conveancing factories' don't inspire me with confidence.

Still stewing on the Simpson Millar business type - national firm with bricks and mortar presence but also online operation - there's 3 or 4 hundred pounds in the difference - so a good potential saving.

They've had good and bad reviews online so a bit of a mixed bag.

I'm just not convinved the one man band down the road can give me £400 worth of better service but that's always the gamble!

At least in the bigger firms there's someone to complain to....

I am a Licensed Conveyancer with over 40 years experience for a high street firm celebrating it's 200th year in practice which also deals with conveyancing online all over the country.
No matter how little or how much you pay for your conveyancing one of the major factors is that you have a good relationship with the person who will carry out your work.
Make sure you speak to that person specifically and that you feel comfortable with them and they listen to you. If you don't feel they do don't instruct them.
Experienced conveyancers should be able to advise you if your expectations can be met and if not why not.
Some clients have bad experiences where the conveyancer has advised that completion could take place within say two weeks when the circumstances were that there was little chance of this happening. From then on the trust the client has in the conveyancer disappears.