Co-operative legal conveyancing

[readytosell]

I want to get conveyancers lined up before purchase / sale goes ahead. I've had two local firms give quotes, but both are operating 'online only' so not sure how much value they add being local.

I've seen co-op do conveyancing, and the quotes are much cheaper. They are no fee no sale, and all online, but just wondering if they are too good to be true?! Has anyone any experience using them?

It looks like they just have a standardised fee structure, but then the actual conveyancing is done by partners, not in house.

I guess I associate the co-op brand with a positive image, but it's hard to find reviews online specifically for the conveyancing as opposed to the usual legal services I've seen for co-op (wills, probate etc).

I would go with local firm, you will probably get a better service and I think it’s nice to be able to pop into an office if you need to sign documents etc.

Please obtain some quotes from a few online and a few local conveyancing solicitors.

Take note of what is included and what is not included.

Please do not base your choice purely on cost. It is one of the most expensive transactions you are undertaking - this is not the time to cut costs.

The reason some online companies quote so cheaply is because they operate on volume conveyancing, which means you will get an average service split among all their other clients.

If you think you might need some hand holding, being able to speak to them for advice or you would like regular progress updates, you will need to pay more.

We were planning to go with Co-op as they were cheaper and we liked the no sale no fee idea but then when we made the enquiry to accept they didn't get back to us promptly at all, which was a red flag for us. I think they have large call centres which isn't always ideal. In the end my sister recommended a solicitor she'd used for her house purchase, and although she's 200 miles away from us she's been absolutely amazing. So if you have a recommendation I wouldn't worry too much about whether they're local or not.

Actually my DH has also just reminded me that Co-op quote looked really good on paper but when someone did eventually get back to us it was a different company and it suddenly became clear that co-op shipped out the process to a third party, which we also weren't keen on as we'd kind of been relying on co-op's reputation. As someone else has said I'd also echo don't go purely on cost. Our solicitor was about £400 more than co-op's quote, but given how responsive and proactive she's been for us it's worth every penny.

I think that's the thing that puts me off more than anything is that I won't actually know who is doing the conveyancing until it comes back, so it's a bit of a punt as to what the end service might be like.

I'm buying in a completely different area to where I'm selling, so it's not even an advantage to have local knowledge, and I don't have any recommendations for where I'm moving. I guess in the next few months the local ones might even open to allow some in person stuff, but they are both physically closed to visitors so it's no real benefit to being local!