conveyancing....has anyone used a national co? Would you recomment it?

[chocolateshoes]

Our offer has been accepted! So now need to sort solicitors and don't really know where to start. Should we stay local or go for a cheaper national company? The local ones are quoting pretty much a third again. Any advice please - have never done this before!

I have used Shoosmiths twice in the past. You can get a qoute on-line.

anyone else....

get a local solicitor to do your conveyancing, preferably on recommendation. Its a very stressful time and so much can go wrong. I used to work in the professional indemnity dept of a large firm and loads of claims were conveyancing related. Its not worth trying to save £50 or so when you've spent thousands on an estate agent.
Congratulations by the way

I can recommend an excellent conveyancer in birmingham if you are local

I used to do conveyancing. Do not go for the cheapest. Their quote may seem attractive, but the service will probably not include answering the phone, and they will probably cut corners in the legal work.

Ask around. If you can get a personal recommendation for someone local, that's your best bet.

We went round the local solicitors and spoke to them, then considered which one seemed to be most on the ball. In subsequent moves we have had problems - gazzumping, long distance moves, potential problem with unmade up roads and chemical waste and our wonderful solicitor came up trumps each time (he even knew about the estate we were moving to 150 miles away because his cousin lived there and he'd dealt with her conveyancing.) His fees have always been very reasonable too.

Local solicitor every time, ask around.