Advice wanted on finding a solicitor for home purchase - should we use the one recommended by the estate agent?

[housenovice]

Hi, FTB had an offer accepted in principle to buy a house. The estate agent has asked us for solicitor details asap to proceed and suggested we use their recommended solicitor.

Can I check if this is advisable or not (presumably it's important our solicitor is independent and working for us)?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of going for their recommended solicitor?

Should add that we don't have a solicitor of our own - never bought or sold before. I don't have any friends or family members who have bought property recently to ask for recommendations as all those who own their own place bought some years ago.

Any suggestions on how best to find/choose a solicitor other than the one they have recommended? The vendor/estate agent is keen for us to proceed quickly.

Thanks.

Best advice is to look at Law Society site solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/ and find three or four in your local area then ring them up and ask for quotes.

Ask about who you will actually be dealing with and how they will update you. Also what contingencies they have in place for illness - is it a one person department or are there others who could step in if they for example go down with covid. Ideally you should be able to talk to the actual lawyer or his secretary - she will be doing lots of the actual work as its a standard procedure. See how they deal with you, what impression you get.

Advantage of a local layer is that you can easily arrange to see them to drop of documents etc and aso you can actually go and ask in person what the delays are, if they arise. In my experience quotes are generally in the £1500-2000 range

Going against the grain we used a solicitor recommended by the agent - I asked if they knew anyone who would be speedy and they were spot on. It was a local firm and the agents were trustworthy. If I felt the agents at all dodgy or wasn’t getting a good feeling about the solicitor I wouldn’t,

Your solicitor should be acting in your best interests regardless and disclose any referral fees from the EA. It may be just a friendly local arrangement rather than something sinister.

You are making possibly the most expensive purchase of your life. Don't scrimp on legal fees. You want to know exactly what you are buying and want a solicitor overseeing the process rather than a solicitor overseeing 50 non qualified individuals in a bargain basement practice.

Ask for a breakdown:

Legal fees
Searches
Land registry fees
Bank transfer fees
SDLT completion (some firms charge separately for this)

SDLT itself will be separate (if payable).

Find a proper solicitor. Get quotes in writing etc first then make a decision. Use the Internet to find a local high quality one then either email or call. Make sure that you trust the person completely however as there is no point in using a cowboy one at all. Check reviews online too.

Remember there are a load of people with unmortgageable properties now because they bought leasehold houses and the pitfalls weren't pointed out to them. Most of these people would have used the builder's recommended solicitor.

Don't do it - I cannot think of any advantages for you.