Picking a solicitor

[HouseIsOnFire]

Hi everyone,
Finally had an offer accepted (can't believe it) and picking from my solicitor quotes.

I'm torn between an online conveyancer and local solicitor up the road.

The online conveyancer promises speed and I thought was £400 cheaper, but charge an extra 397 + vat for mortgage legal work (surely this should be included, not an extra?!?)

The local solicitor's benefit is I can go in person is needed.

Both 4.5 * on trust pilot, noone I know has moved recently for recommendations (except a certain online solicitor who got hacked, so obviously not a choice!)

Both quotes come in at around 2k all in (not including stamp duty), what would you do?

I would go with a local solicitor. They are more likely to know what to look for in the searches due to an increased knowledge of the area and you can easily pick and and drop back the documents rather than wait on post.

Solicitors can structure the fees how they wish as long as they are clear about what is being charged although it does seem the online solicitor has misled somewhat with a headline rate and all publicity should be clear. They would put me off them from the start.

Remember you are making the most expensive purchase of your life. Don't scrimp on paying for advice about what exactly you are buying.

Local all the way, for the reasons already mentioned. We had a buyer on our house that used an online conveyancer, reviews were fine but they were completely uncontactable, did things in a weird order and caused delays for the whole chain.

Absolutely a good local solicitor. The guy at the top of our chain used the online solicitor of purplebricks. Absolute shambles.

Our seller used PB to sell but luckily used a local solicitor as did we and it was great. I would avoid any local solicitor that is associated with an estate agent too.

Online conveyancer’s are the absolute pits. Pay peanuts get monkeys!

Ahh sorry! Solicitor is local to me, about 60 miles away from property purchase!

But everyone is saying what I was thinking myself, after selling via a terrible online one I'm really anxious about picking the wrong one!

Thanks!