Are all Solicitors the same

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When selling a house is it advisable to use a local Solicitor or does it not matter nowadays with quick communications available.
 
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We've always used one of the remote ones which specialise in conveyancing. Third the price and it's all they do so less likely to stuff it up.


Also more likely to have internet access to your case so you can see what is going on. We would be able to see all the communications etc as soon as they were received - the firm used the same document management system internally as they gave us access to via browser.
 
My experience of selling and buying in the past 12 months:-

Find a local solicitor, that way if things go wrong or slow down (and they will!) you can turn up on their door to grease the wheels. One that opens of a Saturday or late one weekday evening is a bonus.

Look for fixed fee deals, so no matter what comes out of the woodwork you know exactly how much you are paying. If you can get a no sale/purchase - no fee deal even better. House transactions fall through all the time especially so in the current economic climate so this is a helpful protection.

Communication is key, we were lucky enough to find a solicitor who was happy to communicate via email and mobile even outside of office hours - that made a massive difference to us and was worth maybe £150 extra versus others who quoted us for their services.

General advice I received was not to go for the cheap call centre based firms as you really do get what you pay for!

Good luck!
 
My dad moved house last year. The move was supposed to happen on the Friday before the August Bank Holiday Monday. Removals firm turned up at 7 in the morning and by 1:00pm were parked outside the house he was moving to. The removal firm with the chap who's moving into my dad's house are parked outside and the removal firm with the couple, moving into this chaps house are parked there. All awaiting the phone call to say the final transactions had gone through. At 4:30pm my dad gets the phone call from his solicitor. The transaction had gone through.:D Sadly the solicitors acting for the purchaser of my dad's house, had transferred the money into the wrong bank account. :eek: So no one could move until this had been sorted out on the following Tuesday. The couple moving into dad's buyers house had moved from rented accommodation and were effectively homeless over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The chaps solicitor (who'd made the mistake accepted full responsibility for the mistake, but then said all claims for additional expenses had to be made within 7 days (shyster solicitor) Dad's solicitor made a successful claim a few months later, after threatening to report the solicitor to the Law Society for the monumental c**k up.
 
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What a nightmare for him. I suppose this could have happened with any solicitor really if they weren't doing their job properly.
 
The most important thing about a Solicitor is TRUST, not the price.

I buy many things over the internet, but I would not include legal work as face to face is sometimes required when things go wrong.

Which is why you employ a solicitor in the first place.

Things can and do go wrong.
 
I got my decree absolute through the post this morning. Went the diy route for divorce, under the 5 yr separation rule. Solicitor wanted £600 to do this (on top of the £340 paid into court to start proceedings and the £45 for the decree absolute)
Cost to me £385, costs with a solicitor, nearly a grand. Was easy peasy too as there were no complications. Ex wife even sent me our marriage certificate so I didn't have to pay the registrars for a copy. :LOL: :LOL:
 
I got my decree absolute through the post this morning. Went the diy route for divorce, under the 5 yr separation rule. Solicitor wanted £600 to do this (on top of the £340 paid into court to start proceedings and the £45 for the decree absolute)
Cost to me £385, costs with a solicitor, nearly a grand. Was easy peasy too as there were no complications. Ex wife even sent me our marriage certificate so I didn't have to pay the registrars for a copy. :LOL: :LOL:

Five years seems an awful long time to wait to save a few quid.... ;)
 
i went for the local solicitor absolutly useless lol :D
no chain empty flat first time buyers 12 or 13 weeks no complications

and they had the cheek to send a letter half way through to say they had acheived the solicitors off distinction award
they hadnt even heard off a block insurance policy for lease hold property :eek: :eek:
 
You have to remember that it's the office junior that does 90% of it.
 
Certainly have stirred up a hornets nest here haven't I, am thinking of emailing the local lot asking for a fixed price on the deal ? Wonder if there are any solicitors on this Forum ?
 
i went for the local solicitor absolutly useless lol :D
no chain empty flat first time buyers 12 or 13 weeks no complications

and they had the cheek to send a letter half way through to say they had acheived the solicitors off distinction award
they hadnt even heard off a block insurance policy for lease hold property :eek: :eek:

Hey me old china 'of' and 'off' are two different words... Nothing to do with dys-ow's-yer-father. Just a fault.
;)
 
Some so-called conveyancing solicitors know almost nothing about Planning and Building Regulations legislation.
Look on the Planning and Building Regs forum and you'll see not a few complaints about solicitors holding things up (and in some cases probably loosing sales) through inorance of the rules.
 
I suppose it's simpler for me really, all I'm doing is selling at this stage.
Are these people not governed by their professional body.
 
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