How to choose a solicitor/conveyancer

[goingonabearhunt1]

Hi All, We have just had an offer accepted on a house and I'm so confused as to how to pick a solicitor. We are FTBs and there is so much conflicting advice out there. Do we go with a local one or an online one? Or one that is recommended but in another part of the country? Another have good (or bad!) experiences with any specific firms?

Personally I would go with a local firm who can give you a more personalised service.

I certainly wouldn't use any of the big conveyancing factories.

Go local!!! Absolutely don’t go faceless on line. Don’t go to another part of the country! You might need to pop in and talk to them and go through things together. Someone local can explain things to you as you go along. It really would be a mistake to go anywhere else just to save a few £££. We have always used a local solicitor and they do see you as a person, or a couple, not a faceless entity.

Our vendor in London used a solicitor in Wales and clearly got no service at all - well nothing on time and zero communication with our solicitor in a timely manner. In fact just no response at all over some things. It dragged on and on. It was awful. Stay local, and relatively small, and trust them to take as much stress out of the transaction as possible. A good local solid firm will be fine and will see you through because they are more likely to take your custom seriously.

Yep. Use a small local firm, that way you will get the best service. It may cost a few ££'s more but it will be worth the money.

Try and get a personal recommendation from someone who's used a conveyancer recently.

I disagree with the need to stay local. Our solictor is a small firm in another part of the country and it's not been a problem at all not being able to meet face to face c

Get a recommendation. Local is handy too for getting paperwork to them quickly.

Get a recommendation. It doesn't have to be local. I sold in London using a solicitor in Suffolk the first time and Kent the second time.

I'm a conveyancing solicitor and my advice would be local firm. Not an online job! Local so you can pop in, plus they will have better knowledge of local area (will know which searches will need doing for your specific area) and will have s good working relationship with the agents and the rest of the chain.

Good luck on your new venture 😊

It’s madness for first time buyers to use a solicitor several hours drive away. You will get a better service for first time buyers by staying local. Get recommendations but the vast majority of Conveyancing work is straightforward but when problems arise, being able to pop in and talk it through is invaluable. Our vendor’s solicitor in Wales did the absolute minimum and communication was dire, patchy, not timely and at times not forthcoming at all. We were tearing our collective hairs out! You cannot go in and bang on the table so to speak! Local solicitors know each other, speed things up if they can and look out for you because they build up a relationship with you. That has a value.

If you buy and sell regularly and have done for years, that’s s different matter.

Ok so it seems pretty unanimous advice to go local...I was recommended a couple by the EA; some ppl seem to say it's a bad idea to go with their recommendations but looked at their quotes and seem pretty decent.one is a bit cheaper and also has an office very close to us. I'm not sure how you know whether they're any good or not; unfortunately I don't know anyone who has bought here so can't ask for a recomendation. My other concern is whether they'd be on the lenders panel as my DSis recently had problems with having to change solicitors halfway through but I guess I can ask them to ascertain that.

Can you google them to see what sort of reviews they have had?

And yes - make sure they are on the panel of the lender you are going with.

Good luck.

Double check the panel, sometimes we have problems with Bank of Ireland but all others should be ok. Do ask though before you send back the instruction letter or pay anything!