How to find a conveyancer?

[Wigeon]

Have read the Moneysaving Expert advice on finding a conveyance and done all this:

“DO get maximum quotes in minimum time.

Answer a few questions at Reallymoving.com and it emails you at least four quotes from firms in your area. The Law Society's Find a Solicitor tool also has a section on conveyancing. Also ask friends and family for recommendations.”

and also seen advice that says you don’t have to limit yourself to the local area since it can all be done virtually. So I basically have a choice of all firms in England. I’ve now got some quotes from Reallymoving and Find a Solicitor but no idea how to actually choose someone when all you have is the raw cost - how do you know if they’ll be any good?

Any tips?

Bump

Honestly, I would go by personal recommendation. Ask around the people you know who have moved recently.

My DD has just had to find a conveyancing Solicitor. She is moving over 100 miles nearer to where she was brought up near us (hooray!)

She has gone for one in the area, that was recommended (to me by a good friend) and has good reviews. Interestingly, this Solicitors practice only does conveyancing... no other legal matters. They aren't cheap but she's hopeful.

My godson went for a conveyancer that was up north on a virtual basis, and he had an absolute nightmare with them, they were awful. So that put me off going out of area. I'd just rather local.

Good luck!

We just used the one recommended by the estate agent as the seller was also using them. No idea if it made it any quicker than usual but it was a very smooth process.

I used simply conveyancing - very good

We searched the local Facebook group, and noted down who was recommended, and who was to avoid. Then went on gut feel when speaking to them over the phone when the followed up from the web enquiry - and they all did follow up.

We're using a local one that a) was accepting new customers (had to call about 5 before I found one that did!), and b) had excellent reviews.

We find that our clients like the personal
touch, like being able to speak to the few earner and that we know who they are(!) so I’d recommend going with a smaller, local firm and definitely avoid the conveyancing factories that give low quotes for an incredibly impersonal service

@ISeeTheLight - how did you find reviews you could trust? Or was it personal reviews you relied on? One of the firms I got a quote from pointed to their Trustpilot reviews but I never know how much you can believe them…

I looked at a few different places; this particular firm had consistently good reviews on Google, Facebook and some conveyancing site (can't remember which one it was).

I have a friend who does conveyancing so I use her (very convenient!) There are a lot of terrible ones out there.

No real advice but would absolutely avoid Aberdein Considine like the plague. Plenty reviews online as to why, I will never deal with them again.

First time we bought we went with family recommended, was OK but they liked to do a lot of printing and posting (they were 5 miles down the road and we told them to tell us to collect docs but they just posted which slowed down)
Remortgage, we used the conveyancing service recommended by our broker (virtual) they were OK, but I found myself doing a lot of chasing.
Were currently selling and buying, were using the estate agents chosen service this time (also virtual) They've been really good so far, very quick to send information and send messages asking me to log into the portal and do bits, but we are only 3 weeks into the process.

All 3 have fairly good reviews, although our current had a massive data breach last year (which I didn't realise until my mortgage broker mentioned it) every single review before the breach and in the 6 months going forward after have been brilliant, even the majority during the breach were positive, just a few mentioning how much it slowed down their purchases by months.

Thanks very much for all the replies, very helpful 🙂