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Conveyancing Solicitors
Kap10
Posts: 15,605
Can anyone recommend conveyancing solicitor. Just putting the house on the market and those I have contacted so far seem to be the height of inefficiency.
Thanks in anticipation
Kap
Thanks in anticipation
Kap
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Comments
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Cooper Burnett in Tunbridge Wells have done all of my sales/purchases and always been brilliant - certainly not the cheapest but you get a very good service2
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If you’re using an estate agent, ask them which one they work with most. It helps that they have a relationship with the solicitor. As they will press the solicitor as at the end of the day, they want the seller to to go through.4
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When I bought my house I found my own conveyancer and they were slow, sloppy and inefficient. I'm selling it now and to prevent that happening again I went with one from the EA's panel, although I could have saved a couple of hundred quid elsewhere. They have proven to be the worst set of professional advisers I've ever had the misfortune to use. Stay away from Simply Legal at all costs.guinnessaddick said:If you’re using an estate agent, ask them which one they work with most. It helps that they have a relationship with the solicitor. As they will press the solicitor as at the end of the day, they want the seller to to go through.
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When selling our Aunt’s house, Greenwich Council wanted to buy it; however, with a very tight deadline.
We used Chancellor’s Lea in Bexleyheath and they were excellent. Tbf it was a little while ago.1 -
Cook Taylor Woodhouse in dartford and TG Baynes in bexleyheath have done my last two transactions. Both did an adequate job.2
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Be careful though as they may push you in the direction of their 'mates' with who they have a close working relationship, you scratch my back I'll scratch yours sort of thing.guinnessaddick said:If you’re using an estate agent, ask them which one they work with most. It helps that they have a relationship with the solicitor. As they will press the solicitor as at the end of the day, they want the seller to to go through.
Personally think you are better off going on a recommendation from a close friend or family member who has no skin in the game as it were.6 -
Rahat Munim at Beverley Morris in Blackheath was good for me recently - that's within the constraints of the reasonably cheap solicitors. Dealt with everything swiftly, was easily contactable by phone, took time to explain things in detail. Bear in mind, like all the cheap conveyancers, they work on high volumes and do all their communicating with the other party's solicitors only by email. You have to pay a lot more if you want a solicitor that will pick up the phone to another solicitor, chase things up on your behalf and generally deal with the stressful stuff if there are problems. Rahat told me when the vendor's solicitors were being slow and I then had to apply pressure to them when they didn't respond to Rahat's email chases.
Not sure what area you're in, but avoid KFH Estate Agents at all costs - lazy, incompetent, don't do any sales progression. 7 months to complete a chain free purchase, eventually resorted to emailing the vendor's useless solicitors myself to tell them what they needed to do and by when.
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Please stay away from using New Homes Law0
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Racket3
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Similar here when I used CTW in 2015. When I sold a property in 2022 & bought in 2023 I used Bishop Akers in Swanley. Found them prompt & professional.stop_shouting said:Cook Taylor Woodhouse in dartford and TG Baynes in bexleyheath have done my last two transactions. Both did an adequate job.2 -
We're currently using them too.Covered_End_Lad said:Cooper Burnett in Tunbridge Wells have done all of my sales/purchases and always been brilliant - certainly not the cheapest but you get a very good service1 -
I’ve moved about 10 times. Every one I’ve ever used have been useless slow careless lying wankers. I hate them. All of them. Moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do and their service stinks of shit.I’ve had chains fall apart, solicitors forgetting to exchange somewhere in the chain, silence for weeks. It’s hell.I’ve got loads of stories of how shit they are but can’t be bothered to type them out.The only advice I would have is use a local one which what I now do. So when they do mess up or ignore you. You can bowl in there and make their lives hell. Once I went in and asked what was NOW holding things up to be told they were waiting for a water survey. I asked from where. They said the council and the had faxed them. So I said ok. Wait there. I drove to the council paid a tenner waited ten minutes and had the survey in my hand. Drove back down. Slapped it on the desk and asked what else they needed.Smoke and mirrors all of it. I’m doing it myself next time.12
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CTW did ours in 2022 and were awful. Horrendous to deal with, couldn't communicate and only did any work of you harassed them. Hard avoid.stop_shouting said:Cook Taylor Woodhouse in dartford and TG Baynes in bexleyheath have done my last two transactions. Both did an adequate job.1 -
Last time I moved I was moaning to someone with a legal background about the solicitors. They said that any solicitor who’s half decent at their job won’t be doing conveyancing.3
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We're dealing with them at the moment. Communication has been good so far, guess it all depends who you're given. Remains to be seen if it stays that way by the end.cantersaddick said:
CTW did ours in 2022 and were awful. Horrendous to deal with, couldn't communicate and only did any work of you harassed them. Hard avoid.stop_shouting said:Cook Taylor Woodhouse in dartford and TG Baynes in bexleyheath have done my last two transactions. Both did an adequate job.0 -
This is an important point. It’s less about the actual firm and more about the actual Solicitor appointed to your case. I work for a local solicitors, whilst I’d recommend certain actual Solicitors I wouldn’t recommend others. Not necessarily because they are not good at their jobs or don’t know what they are doing but because, as in all walks of life, some will go that extra mile for their clients, care about the service they provide their client and so go beyond the call of duty.Talal said:
We're dealing with them at the moment. Communication has been good so far, guess it all depends who you're given. Remains to be seen if it stays that way by the end.cantersaddick said:
CTW did ours in 2022 and were awful. Horrendous to deal with, couldn't communicate and only did any work of you harassed them. Hard avoid.stop_shouting said:Cook Taylor Woodhouse in dartford and TG Baynes in bexleyheath have done my last two transactions. Both did an adequate job.
Thats why I said as above, go on a personal recommendation from someone you trust.2 -
I used Cuff & Gough in Banstead and they were great.0
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Not wrong. Most of the work is done by adminstration assistants. We have a few solicitors who do residential property in our firm and there's only a couple who I'd let do my move.JaShea99 said:Last time I moved I was moaning to someone with a legal background about the solicitors. They said that any solicitor who’s half decent at their job won’t be doing conveyancing.1 -
Lots of brilliant advice thank you.
We are moving from my family home of 66 years in Forest Hill to Bexley / Bexleyheath / Sidcup area.
@MrLargo funnily enough we had KFH as one of the three Estate Agents we talked to, their valuation was rediculously high, so I binned them, despite him claiming to be an Addick, after seeing my "shrine"1 -
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Yeah, I think their business model is basically to tempt people in with an inflated valuation. Place I bought was on its 4th price reduction when I put my offer in, £100k less than the initial asking price. 23 months between initial listing and completing the sale, so you've definitely dodged a bullet!Kap10 said:Lots of brilliant advice thank you.
We are moving from my family home of 66 years in Forest Hill to Bexley / Bexleyheath / Sidcup area.
@MrLargo funnily enough we had KFH as one of the three Estate Agents we talked to, their valuation was rediculously high, so I binned them, despite him claiming to be an Addick, after seeing my "shrine"
Good luck!1 -
They are as bad, if not worse than estate agents. The only way you will get them moving is to go with a local one and keep turning up in their office asking to speak to whoever is dealing with your purchase. Most of them do fixed fees and those go straight to the bottom of the pile at law firms. It isn't like a solicitor does any grunt work on them.
Good luck4 -
Yes, I'm a solicitor. Residential conveyancing is about as low skill as you can get. It's basically process and very little else. I would say that there's absolutely no need to use a local solicitor. I used a firm called Steele & Co in East Anglia who were excellent, but that was 20 years ago so not much of a recommendation.JaShea99 said:Last time I moved I was moaning to someone with a legal background about the solicitors. They said that any solicitor who’s half decent at their job won’t be doing conveyancing.1 -
Patel & Patel?5
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First time I moved a used a fella who came highly recommended, and he was excellent. Next time I moved I went back to the solicitors and found he'd "moved on". Turned out he was doing porridge, after getting involved in a mortgage fraud!
First class conveyancer though.
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I’d agree that there is no need to use a local solicitor, just a good one.Jints said:
Yes, I'm a solicitor. Residential conveyancing is about as low skill as you can get. It's basically process and very little else. I would say that there's absolutely no need to use a local solicitor. I used a firm called Steele & Co in East Anglia who were excellent, but that was 20 years ago so not much of a recommendation.JaShea99 said:Last time I moved I was moaning to someone with a legal background about the solicitors. They said that any solicitor who’s half decent at their job won’t be doing conveyancing.1 -
might be a bit late to this but for both my house moves I used Warners in Sevenoaks
definitely not cheap but there was absolutely no foot dragging at any stage
everything sorted on the phone and all papers by return of post (last transaction was 7+ years ago)
checked out, clarified and resolved all issues around shared access and chancel repair liabilities without being specifically asked to
they covered everything, whether we knew they needed to or not
when I had a (timewasting) purchaser fanny about and then bail out, they didn't charge me for the wasted effort
when my eventual purchaser threw a spanner in the works at the 11th hour and the estate agents blamed everybody but themselves (for it was they not doing everything they claimed to have done) and the partner who was acting for me was on leave, one of her colleagues stepped in at a moment's notice and provided the workaround within a matter of hours1 -
There might not seem like a "need" to start with and if everything goes well, but good luck trying to get some dodgy cheap scouse firm to answer your calls if they don't want to - because they'll know you're not going round there! And if you need to sign or send them an original of something then you're buggered!LargeAddick said:
I’d agree that there is no need to use a local solicitor, just a good one.Jints said:
Yes, I'm a solicitor. Residential conveyancing is about as low skill as you can get. It's basically process and very little else. I would say that there's absolutely no need to use a local solicitor. I used a firm called Steele & Co in East Anglia who were excellent, but that was 20 years ago so not much of a recommendation.JaShea99 said:Last time I moved I was moaning to someone with a legal background about the solicitors. They said that any solicitor who’s half decent at their job won’t be doing conveyancing.3 -
Have you got his numberBig William said:First time I moved a used a fella who came highly recommended, and he was excellent. Next time I moved I went back to the solicitors and found he'd "moved on". Turned out he was doing porridge, after getting involved in a mortgage fraud!
First class conveyancer though.
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I believe Richard Rufus has itKap10 said:
Have you got his numberBig William said:First time I moved a used a fella who came highly recommended, and he was excellent. Next time I moved I went back to the solicitors and found he'd "moved on". Turned out he was doing porridge, after getting involved in a mortgage fraud!
First class conveyancer though.1
