Conveyancing Solicitor

[The Clown]

Hi all

Last instructed 10 years ago. I have so far requested a few quotes for sale/purchase and the service is much more expensive than I recall!

May I kindly request any recommendations?

Katie

[dickp]

So long as you can have your ID confirmed and can send a scan of your ID to your solicitor, you can use anyone in the country. There no real benefit of 'local' knowledge to speed things along.

I used a lady called Rhunedd (pronouced Reeneth) Thomas at Spickets Battrick in Cardiff for my Sydenham flat sale. The conveyancing price was fixed at £650 plus sundries (I wasn't buying another property at the time), and the firm is Law Society accredited for conveyancing.

The firm has no fancy online case tracking, but Rhunedd is friendly and knowledgable and responds quickly to emails, which swung it for me. I can't recommend her highly enough.

[Doubles]

I used Dawn Jupp from Streathers near to Clapham North, her an her assistant Maxine were good. It was also easy to go in an sign documents.

[monkeyarms]

We used Thomas Legal Group. They were very good and seemed to be priced much the same as everybody else - perhaps ever so slightly cheaper than others, not by much.

Having really gone through the mill over the last two years - the sale of our flat and purchase of our house was an epic saga with hundreds of setbacks - there's two things I would say:

1. Thomas Legal Group happened to have a policy of not charging you if a sale fell through, provided you used them again on a second purchase and/or sale. This proved to be a godsend, as our first buyer did indeed pull out, and our first purchase then collapsed as a result. We then took our flat off the market for a few months as we were fed up with our estate agents (KFH Clapham) and wanted a break. So that's definitely worth asking about.

2. While it doesn't matter where your conveyancing solicitor is based geographically, so long as they are well organised, there is one small advantage in having someone local: you can just walk documents round to them etc. However, as long as you're organised and don't leave everything to the last minute, and as long as your conveyancers are too, it really doesn't matter.

3. Don't know if you're applying for a new mortgage, but the broker we used (London & Country) really sped things up. I think our mortgage application would have taken 3 times longer if we hadn't used a broker. L&C also don't charge you a fee.

[JRobinson]

We used Amphlett Lissimore in Crystal Palace, who were good, and local (ish).

[The Clown]

Thanks all. I went with Vincent's in the end. Received about 5 quotes and they didn't vary tremendously. Definitely more expensive than I had expected, but I am comfortable with engagement so far.

Thanks again