How much should conveyancer be helping?

[ShoeShineShirley]

I would be really grateful for some wisdom and experience on this one. We're in the process of buying a new property. Our solicitor tends to just ping us documents across, with no explanation. She did put together a report following the searches, but it was clearly mostly generic and difficult to understand. There was a key bit of info hidden in there too that should have been flagged to us imo.

My question is, should she be taking the time to explain key points when she sends things over or is acting like a go-between the standard service? I'm wondering why I'm paying legal fees when I'm left to try to decipher everything myself - which is dangerous as I lack any legal knowledge!

Our conveyancer when we bought our first house was shocking. Same as you, documents sent over with no real explanations etc but was cheap as chips so probably to be expected.

We paid a LOT more for our conveyancer buying this house, she came very highly recommended. She explained most things and was happy to elaborate on anything we were unsure of. When we needed to sign contracts, she had us come in and go over EVERY bit of paperwork before we signed. She was just lovely.

I would ask the conveyancer to elaborate on anything you're unsure of - might just be that they're assuming you're more experienced than you are.

Ours was the same, it was shocking. I complained to the client care manager and they took it seriously and transferred me to a senior conveyancer in the team who explains properly. Don't settle for it!

It’s a question of cost. If you’ve gone to a cheap conveyancer then the economics of their business depend upon them handling hundreds of files simultaneously and spending the minimal amount of time on them. You won’t get helpful explanations and advice from those on the lower end of the costs scale. You’d need to pay more for that.