Conveyancer's - How much?

[AnotherEpisode]

I'm in the process of buying a London based house at £400k.

We are first time buyers and planning to use the (popular high street brand) agents solicitors in the hope that they will be a bit speedier, especially as we are in a contract race.

They have quoted us just over £1000.
What ate the going rates? I had around £500 in mind but I'm not actually sure where I got that from!

Am I delusional or are they having me on?

Also, any thoughts on using the agents solicitors?

That seems high, but then everything in london is more expensive.

Quotes usually depend on value of the property, but we're buying a 600k house and only paying 750 for conveyancing.

There's no need to use a london lawyer - you'll pay less if you use one further away, and everything is done on the phone/email anyway, you won't need to go in for meetings.

(We're in Devon and using a local firm my family's been with for ages, but y could get a lower quote if you use a firm up north)

That does seem a bit high but may be worth it for a better quality service - does it include the cost of searches though? Searches can add around £200 to the fees charged.

You can use a high street solicitor or an online one. What is important though is how heavy the case load is and price. Our high street solicitors will charge a lot of money but the solicitor/fee earner has around 45 cases to manage so can give you individual attention. An online solicitor/fee earner can have up to 300 cases and you will find it difficult to speak to them, they will always be busy and things take ages to do, but you'll be paying half the price.

I think the advice is not to use agents' solicitors as they are usually more expwnsive and not necessarily any quicker.

I'm buying a £275k house, not in London, and my conveyancer is charging £984 plus VAT. !!! I now feel I'm being massively overcharged!

A search shouldn't cost £200!
www.millar-bryce.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/MB_PriceList_2014_web.pdf

We used an online conveyancer and it was a huge mistake, adding massively to the stress of the process. We could never get hold of them, they didn't return our calls, letters took a week to arrive. Never again!

Bear in mind that the "agent's solicitors" will simply be a firm they've done a deal with. The firm will be paying the agents a fee for a referral, that's all, so there's no guarantee that they'll be any quicker than any other firm. The best way to find a solicitor is to ask your friends, colleagues, neighbours etc for a recommendation. Don't worry about "online case tracking" or any of the other gimmicks. What you want is someone who knows the law and is not so weighed down with cases they're too busy to answer the phone.

never use the agent's solicitors.

solicitor does not need to be near you, just needs to be able to do the job quickly and efficiently.

happy to recommend Lambert Pugh in Norwich, used three times.

You don't have to use a solicitor near you. We've done everything via email, phone and post. Ours is Peterborough based (we're in London) and very efficient. Totally recommend them.

I've always been told not to use the agent's one.

I wouldn't go with the solicitors the agents recommend, as someone upthread said they only recommend them because they get a kick-back from them. It won't make the processs any quicker or better.

Go for someone who has been recommended by someone who has used them recently.

But that price does seem ok to me, cheapest is by no means best when it comes to conveyancing. But the poster paying nearly £1k for a purchase at £275

I wouldn't recommend Lambert Pugh, they are cheap for a reason – the service was slow and shocking (nearly costing the house sale to fall through). Christine Potter never answered calls or emails – those that she did answer were full of grammer and typo errors – cheap staff who are totally incompetent.

LP reviews show mostly happy customers, but not all. Did you complain?

'never' is clearly incorrect.