Buying a house - Solicitors

[eddd1e]

We're buying a house with David Wilson Homes, it's our first house purchase so everything is a little new to us at the minute!

We're currently getting quotes from solicitors to represent us. The 2 solicitors that DWH recommended are coming up at about £1,250/£1,400. We can get it cheaper than this buy using another solicitor we have found but not sure if this is wise.

So my question is - do the above prices sound reasonable and are all solicitors much the same? i.e. does it actually matter who we go with?

[98elise]

Doesn't matter, and you will get it cheaper. DWH will be on a kick back from their recommended solicitor.

Bought/sold about 5 times in the past 3 years and pay around £700.

[eddd1e]

lowest quote we have had so far is £1,100 and even that was hard to find.

[cailean]

The DWH recommended ones should be less stressful as they would have done searches etc already (hence they should be cheaper, but won't be...). I would doubt their independence but that may just be my skepticism.

[Sarnie]

Sounds pretty expensive to me.....however in my experience a recommended solicitor is worth it's weight in gold, irrespective of cost. You could find your own to save a few quid and they end up being a shower of....................

[98elise]

Sarnie said:

Sounds pretty expensive to me.....however in my experience a recommended solicitor is worth it's weight in gold, irrespective of cost. You could find your own to save a few quid and they end up being a shower of....................

My experience of reccomended soilictors (ones on a kick back) is the opposite. Mine failed to answer any e-mails I sent them. Even the one telling them their services were no longer required.

We had agreed at the beginning that e-mail was the method of communication we would use.

[98elise]

eddd1e said:

lowest quote we have had so far is £1,100 and even that was hard to find.

Is that the solicitors fee only? The solicitor does not need to be local to you so you can use a cheaper on in a different part of the country.

[Rick101]

Just bought and paid about £1050 for solicitor.

The solicitors were the bigest pita of the whole process.

Hours or days for ringbacks
Insisting of checking every little thing though I asked them to bypass/proceed
Missing things on paperwork/incorrect statements.

[Sarnie]

98elise said:

My experience of reccomended soilictors (ones on a kick back) is the opposite. Mine failed to answer any e-mails I sent them. Even the one telling them their services were no longer required.

We had agreed at the beginning that e-mail was the method of communication we would use.

Sorry I should have been more clear. I mean't to say that you should seek out a solicitor recommended to you by friends, family, work colleagues or even people on here.

I wouldn't use the one offered to me on principle. If I'm going to be paying someone, I'd want to ensure they are working solely in my interests.

[sc0tt]

I paid £1150 all in for my conveyancing fees last year.

The solicitor was brilliant.

Just typing this now I have realised that, that is a heck of a lot of money to pay someone for some paperwork.

Jeez!

[98elise]

Sarnie said:

Sounds pretty expensive to me.....however in my experience a recommended solicitor is worth it's weight in gold, irrespective of cost. You could find your own to save a few quid and they end up being a shower of....................

My experience of reccomended soilictors (ones on a kick back) is the opposite. Mine failed to answer any e-mails I sent them. Even the one telling them their services were no longer required.

We had agreed at the beginning that e-mail was the method of communication we would use.

[Sarnie]

98elise said:

My experience of reccomended soilictors (ones on a kick back) is the opposite. Mine failed to answer any e-mails I sent them. Even the one telling them their services were no longer required.

We had agreed at the beginning that e-mail was the method of communication we would use.

Why have you re-posted that?

[Sarnie]

sc0tt said:

I paid £1150 all in for my conveyancing fees last year.

The solicitor was brilliant.

Just typing this now I have realised that, that is a heck of a lot of money to pay someone for some paperwork.

Jeez!

You wouldn't have paid £1,150 solely to the solicitor. The solicitors costs are usually around £399 to £499+vat. The rest is made up of searches and disburesments that are particular to you and the type of property you are purchasing.

[98elise]

Sarnie said:

98elise said:

My experience of reccomended soilictors (ones on a kick back) is the opposite. Mine failed to answer any e-mails I sent them. Even the one telling them their services were no longer required.

We had agreed at the beginning that e-mail was the method of communication we would use.

Why have you re-posted that?

Just making sure you understood!

In reality my fingers are to fat to operate a phone

[kooky guy]

You actually need a conveyencer, not a solicitor - if you search for those you will probably find cheaper ones...

[98elise]

Sarnie said:

sc0tt said:

I paid £1150 all in for my conveyancing fees last year.

The solicitor was brilliant.

Just typing this now I have realised that, that is a heck of a lot of money to pay someone for some paperwork.

Jeez!

You wouldn't have paid £1,150 solely to the solicitor. The solicitors costs are usually around £399 to £499+vat. The rest is made up of searches and disburesments that are particular to you and the type of property you are purchasing.

Exactly. My solicitors are a little more expensive at around £700 (inc vat), and the full cost runs to just over 1k.

[eddd1e]

Yeah the ~£1,200 includes everything (fee + searches + VAT)

Sounds like it’s not that bad then?

[Sarnie]

eddd1e said:

Yeah the ~£1,200 includes everything (fee + searches + VAT)

Sounds like it’s not that bad then?

It's not extortionate.

All the searches and additional fee's should be the same with every solicitor, it their own fee's that will vary from company to company.

[langy]

If you are getting your mortgage with HSBC, then there panel of solicitors will need to get involved.

I've just used Ross Coates, recomended

[sc0tt]

98elise said:

Sarnie said:

sc0tt said:

I paid £1150 all in for my conveyancing fees last year.

The solicitor was brilliant.

Just typing this now I have realised that, that is a heck of a lot of money to pay someone for some paperwork.

Jeez!

You wouldn't have paid £1,150 solely to the solicitor. The solicitors costs are usually around £399 to £499+vat. The rest is made up of searches and disburesments that are particular to you and the type of property you are purchasing.

Exactly. My solicitors are a little more expensive at around £700 (inc vat), and the full cost runs to just over 1k.

That's why I said conveyancing fees.

It still is a heck of a lot of money to hand over for anything. In my opinion.