Using solicitor recommended by estate agent?

[Istory]

We're moving to a new area and have just had an offer accepted, hurray! The estate agent can recommend a solicitor, they've explicitly told us they don't get any kickbacks. I've heard estate agents are often not totally honest, but surely they wouldn't outright lie about something like this? We just want this all to go well and don't have anyone we can ask for a recommendation aside from the estate agent!

Can you not use a solicitor near to where you live now.
Everything is usually done by email. We are selling mils bungalow in Cheshire and the buyer is using her solicitor in Cornwall.

I wouldn’t see a problem with this but I would ask them for several recommendations and then interview all and pick the one I liked best. Especially in a smaller town, these firms will all work together often and the estate agent will know who gets on and gets things done.

I wouldn't use their recommended solicitor....I like to keep things separate. We used a solicitor a couple we met randomly on our holiday recommended. They were fab! DM me if you'd like the same recommendation!

We ended up with the MacDonalds version of solicitor from EA recommendations...too many jobs and no time to help! sitting on paperwork for 3 months!!! shop around for a local one.

We used the solicitor recommended by the EA and they were fantastic. Between the EA and the solicitor they handled the sale well and I hardly had to do anything other than answer queries and sign things.

Do you own research - we used a solicitor who our EA recommended, and he's been crap tbh.

We used the EA recommended one and she was fab. They like her because she gets things done, and her assistant answered every email within half a day.

No, I chose my own.

My EA gave me a list of several they recommended - I went with the cheapest quote from one on their list. She was fantastic, literally saved my bacon on moving day during lockdown.

EA explicitly said they don't get commission and these were just local solicitors that they felt were proactive. She also did my purchase of a property out of the area and was also great on that.

We use recommended solicitor for these reasons a) estate agents want quick sales, they won't be working with solicitors who are slow b) there's an incentive for the solicitor to work quickly and well to remain on their recommended list c) good line of communication between the two.

We've done this 3 times with 3 different sets of solicitors and had excellent service each time, quick, responsive and got the job done well. The one time we had a hold up the EA was able to deal with it quickly and directly with the solicitor they personally knew.

Worked very well for us, now I'd happily go back to any 3 of them. They were all local firms though, I wouldn't use one of those National or online ones.

Nothing inherently wrong with it but you might want to check the solicitors register to see if they have had any conduct cases against them. If you are buying with a mortgage I would also check whether they're on your bank's panel of lawyers and can act for both you and the mortgage lender.

If you are applying for a mortgage, use a solicitor from the bank approved list.

Do not use EA's solicitor.

We had lots of issues with our recent house purchase (that had eventually fallen through) because our independently appointed solicitor had manage to uncovere missing bldg regs and another rejected bldg regs.

I am not sure if EA's solicitor would have been as diligent and it's hard to speculate about that. What I do know, when this has happened, I was able to rely on her recommendation in full confidence that she acted in our best interest.

(Like I said - purchase eventually fell through - both the solicitor and the surveyor said it would be a money pit, as the house also had 2x structural cracks - front and rear of the house - and the owner didn't want to lower the price. We were paying above asking!)

Our buyer used a solicitor recommended by the estate agent and to cut a long story short, months later the solicitor was sacked and the estate agent has stopped recommending the company. To be fair, once the practice realised how crap one of their employees was they acted very swiftly and we completed within 4 days of the complaint being made after waiting 9 months of inaction. Just shop around and go by personal recommendations. Don’t go for bargain bucket on line firms.

Don’t do it!
Word of mouth recommendations are much better.
I would be very surprised if the agent isn’t getting a backhander.

I would use an independent.

Even if they aren't getting a kickback, I want my solicitor to be as diligent as possible and if that means things take longer because of finding something unexpected then I'd rather that than a solicitor who may be getting through things asap to retain a good relationship with the EA.

When we sold our house we used the solicitor the estate agent recommended and she was amazing.

I think they did get a fee from us using her.

I don’t think I would have done it if we were buying ourselves but for selling it seemed fine.

I'd never use the selling agent's recommended solicitor.
The solicitor is acting on your behalf.
The agent on the sellers behalf.
I think it's a good thing if they don't have any sort of relationship.

@FurierTransform to be fair the times I have used solicitors recommended I very much felt like I was the client, to the point issues were raised by the solicitor about the EA's actions at one time, EAs have a large number of solicitors on their books to avoid clashes so I still had a informed choice, the point was they were known entities to each other. There are some really, really shit solicitors out there, who only converse in writing, ignore comms for weeks (just look at the thread on buying and selling!) EAs will have those that work efficiently as they don't want sales dragged on. That said, I am quite confident in my own ability to review legal documentation due to my own line of work so I am comfortable in reviewing what is in front of me, perhaps if someone is more nervous about that it would be sensible to be more cautious.

We used a solicitor recommended by a nearby estate agent as being efficient, and also being nearby we could drop off paperwork rather than trust the post, and build a good relationship with the receptionist and eventually met the solicitor - which helped when the other solicitor involved turned out to be a right numpty.

Our EA agreed they were a good firm to go with (presumably all EAs want to be dealing only with competent efficient solicitors).

@notheragain4 agree there are lots of rubbish solicitors out there & as a FTB it's daunting to know what to do. I'd be inclined to find a local one that has good reviews on google etc, rather than use the agent's recommended.
We were quite lucky in a way as we have a 'family' solicitor in my home town that my parents have used for everything, forever, so they are a known quantity. Obviously conveyancing can be done from anywhere so we used them, & they know that my elderly mum walks past their high street office pretty much everyday so they'll get an earful if they drop the comms haha.

I don't know the rules for EAs none probably but the solicitor has to tell you at the outset about any referral fee.

Sometimes it's worth using the referred solicitor as they will want to keep a good relationship with the EA, so the EA can get them to prioritise files that are going slowly.

Equally as PP have said, we deal with properties all over the country so a local recommendation is handy for dropping paperwork in.

AVOID!! My buyers solictor was recommended to her by Darlows they were terrible the case was shared by a “group” of Solictors so every email and letter was lost or ignored. It took months longer than a no chain cash purchase should have!!

I used the EA solicitors last time never again. My house was empty chain free and they lost forms time and time again. They nearly lost us the sale.