If you’re in Gloucestershire I can give you details if an excellent conveyancing solicitor.
She dealt with the sale of DM’s house last year. DM got persuaded to use a different solicitor for the purchase - not local - and they were horrendous. We had so many problems with the solicitor not responding and there was no way to just pop down to the office. Two different solicitors and two very different experiences.
I’m selling my house now and I’m using the same one that DM used for her sale. Once again, she’s amazing. Easy to reach by phone, incredibly patient with my stupid questions and seller anxiety, and typically answers my emails the same day, if not, the next day. Really proactive too.
She’s not the cheapest (around £1500 for selling only, I’m not buying) but we’re on schedule for completion within 8 weeks. And that’s with the other side’s solicitor holding things up for a fortnight (took them a while to prep the contract).
Having had a terrible experience with DM’s purchase solicitor last year, I’d only ever use a local one now.
The other benefit is that I always drop documents off by hand. Speeds things up but more importantly there’s no risk of anything getting lost in the post. Towards the end of the year there’s a much higher volume of lost post so if you’re sending important documents in November/December it’s even better to go local.