Best Value Conveyancing
If you’re buying or selling a property, you’ll need a solicitor or licensed conveyancer. They will handle all the legal aspects of buying or selling a property for you.
It’s an important role, so you’ll have to choose carefully. Choosing the wrong solicitor or conveyancing firm can delay the sale, cost you more money and ultimately put the whole transaction at risk.
What do Conveyancers do?
First of all, it’s important that you know what a conveyancer actually does. The six main tasks for a conveyancer are as follows:
- Conduct property searches with local authorities, utility companies and other bodies. The searches will reveal any future plans or financial liabilities that could effect the property value.
- Advise you of any costs involved in the property transaction. For example, they’ll advise you on stamp duty fees, leasehold fees and so on.
- Review and/or draft contracts for the property sale/purchase.
- Cooperate with mortgage lenders and make sure they have all the relevant information to complete the sale.
- Pay all the fees and transfer the moneys, safely transfering money from the Buyer to the Seller at the end of the transaction and paying all other additional fees (like estate agency fees and stamp duty).
- Register the new owners with the Land Registry.
What makes a good conveyancer?
A good solicitor/conveyancing firm will:
- Have years of experience in the industry.
- Be a specialist property lawyer/conveyencing firm
- Work accurately and efficiently to complete your sale.
- Give you a dedicated conveyancer/team to guide you throughout the process.
- Use modern technology to speed up the process.
- Have professional indemnity insurance.
- Be regulated by The Law Society or the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
- Have no hidden fees!
Poor solicitor/conveyancing firm will:
- Be needlessly expensive.
- Risk the sale/purchase of your property.
- Difficult to contact and ignore your phone calls.
- Delay the sale and take much longer than necessary.
Find the Best Value Conveyancer
So how can you get the best value conveyancing? Here are a few tips secure conveyancing service, saving you time and money:
1. Learn More About Conveyancing
This old dude called Francis Bacon once said “Knowledge is power”. That is to say, the more one knows, the more one will be able to control events.
This applies to conveyancing and every other aspect of moving home. The more you know about it, the less stressful and confusing it will all be.
That’s why we advise that you take some time to learn the basics of Conveyancing. We have loads of info here on our website that can help you get to grips with the basics of Conveyancing. Here’s a good place to start: What is Conveyancing?
2. Use a Licensed Conveyancer not a local solicitor
If you want value for money, use a Licensed Conveyancing Firm. Some people suggest that old fashioned local solicitors are better, but that just isn’t true. Solicitors will cost a lot more and many of them offer a poor service.
Here are a few of the key advantages of using a conveyancing firm:
- They’re cheaper
- They specialise in conveyancing
- The service offered is equal to local solicitors
- Communication is good
- They’re accepted by all mortgage lenders
- Good holiday/sickness cover
For a more in depth comparison, visit our online vs local solicitor article.
3. Compare Prices
When buying anything, it’s always a good idea to shop around and compare prices. We’ve done some of the hard work for you, in 2015 we compared and estimated the average conveyancer fees for England and Wales:
Our Average Fees Estimate:
Type | Average Fees | Other Costs | Total Fees |
---|---|---|---|
Freehold | £850 | £450 | £1300 |
Leasehold | £1050 | £500 | £1550 |
Commercial | £1500+ | £500+ | A lot |
This is just a rough estimate to help you, we recommend you still shop around.
Should I go with the estate agent’s recommended conveyancer?
Estate agents will recommend that you use their chosen solicitor or conveyancer. But be careful, they make a hefty commission from recommending you and this can add hundreds to your final bill. For more info see: Should I use my Estate Agent’s recommended Conveyancer?
4. Check Reviews
After you’ve compared prices and collected a few quotes, it’s now time to check reviews. One of the best ways to find a good conveyancer is to take a look at online reviews. You can get a good idea of the service offered by conveyancers by reading through reviews and recommendations from previous clients.
Because of the stressful nature of conveyancing for buyers and sellers, every conveyancing firm will get good and bad reviews. So you’ll have to weigh up the good with the bad.