milo

i've had a couple of quotes.. around the £500-550+VAT mark for sale of a property (no buying). does this sound about right?

what exactly is involved, and why should i pay someone this money to do it when i could presumably do it myself?

any tips / advice etc appreciated

HankScorpio

I was getting the same numbers which seemed a lot so I was going to use these people:
http://www.easier2move.co.uk/
but they say if the sale doesn't go through, there will be no charge. However, the first letter from the solicitor says there will be a pro-rata charge. It might be a mistake but I'm not going to use someone who cant even get the terms right in the initial contact!

Now looking at:
http://www.easier2move.co.uk/

milo

thanks for that.

that gave me the idea to search for more web-based conveyancing solictors, and this one came up even cheaper:
http://www.conveyancingsolicitors.biz/index.htm

i dunno if the web-based ones are worth the savings tho - i wonder if you need to speak to someone via phone you can actually get thru to them, or do you end up on a "press 1 for this option" system and on hold?

anyone actually used any of these cheaper online ones?

HankScorpio

The easier to move one actually looked quite good, they assign a firm of solicitors and one of those contacts you, for me, they gave the number of the person dealing and a direct line to their assistant as well.
Just the fact they were wrong in the intitial mail was enough to put me off but they've got loads of firms in their pool so I'm sure there are good ones out there...

dba

£500 is the going rate i think,same quotes for me

RON

Currently paying £948 inc vat for the sale ONLY of a £245K property!"!!

Danny B

I'm paying £350 to sell, £450 to buy.

milo

is that with a local conveyancer, or a web-based national one?

LC Geezer

I'm using www.onlineconveyancing.co.uk to sell and buy. Bloody good so far and always available on the end of the phone.

MartinM

I believe the web ones are just call centres with the case being passed electronically to whoever happens to answer the phone. They will often have no background knowledge and you can't build a rapport with anyone

Use a local one - maybe there are 2-3 solicitors in the office, but one of them will own the case, should normally be available and should remeber the subtleties of it... and you can also pay a visit and go off on one if it's not going right

Selling conveyancing is easy - the hard work is on the buying side, so I'd be looking at around £350 or so, max

Regacy

you could always do it your self.......
it's not particularly complicated.

HankScorpio

Just looked at my post above and I put the same link in twice (muppet), second one should be http://www.reallymoving.com/

The online ones I've looked at aren't really call centres, they're more intermediaries, passing the business on to firms of solicitors for a cut. They don't get involved once the deal is running, just do the introductions.
Also:
so it's not just passed around.

Dan J

Whereabouts are you based Milo?

P1Fanatic

Luckily work is paying for mine - not looking forward to paying next time we move.

Simon.

chris singleton

Conveyancing is like most things in life, pay peanuts get monkeys

Some of these "online" firms that charge £200-350 are useless and I've dealt with most of them. Lots will also have additional charges so the quote sounds good until you get a financial statement at the end which will probably include a T.T fee, sundries, disbursements, etc.

The cheaper the quote, the higher the work load, the less time your case is assigned, the poorer the service.

You will rarely get to speak to anyone with any knowledge of your case (usually some muppet in front of a computer who knows nothing more than what the computer can tell them) and as mentioned above you cannot build up a rapor which I think is important.

Most are willing to pay an estate agent 1-2% for doing absolutely sod all so why quibble over a couple of hundred quid for a decent conveyancer/solicitor. Despite what you think, there is a considerable amount of work involved also. It's money well spent IMHO but I would say that as I'm a trainee conveyancer in a firm of soliciotrs

Oh.... £500-550 appears to be the going rate but again, you'll probably have a T.T. fee (£20-30), sundries (£30.00ish) and possibly a charge for redeeming a mortgage (if any).

Chris

ChrisB

I think I paid approx £60.

Quite handy when your Mum works for a solictors. She just popped down the hall and asked the lady doing my house for an update