Conveyancing Solicitor

[shindha]

Hello All,
My sister is buying a house; she is a second time buyer the house price has been agreed at £177K she will be borrowing about £140K. I have had a quote from a firm of solicitors I used in the past, but the person I dealt with is no longer with them. They have quoted £495.
My question, is this reasonable or could she get a better price?
I don't want to do it my self/ online thing because she will struggle with that.
She is in Birmingham and would like a local firm to look after things so does any body know of any firms from personal experience that they would recommend?
Regards Shindha

[mcflurry]

Sounds about right - watch out for the random extras though - mortgage redemption fees, convenant fees, etc etc

[DS3R]

As a second time buyer I assume this is for a sale AND purchase? In which case £495 for the legal work (+ VAT I'm sure) is a steal. Presumably all disbursements are separate & have been quoted for- she should have a breakdown of them all.

[shindha]

No DS3R its only for the purchase.

[craggers]

Will end up approx £2,200 all in including stamp duties (1%)

[Devilstreak]

Don't use who I'm using at the minute. Wish I could name and shame

Quoted £700.

Then it went to 900. Now it's 1800 and If I back out I lose all the work so far and a £500 deposit. Not so much as a phone call to explain the extra charges, just sent a new bill out.

[porka944s]

Ive used these guys before and they were very good, i know they are not local but they work nationally.

http://www.b-legal.co.uk/

Sure theyll quote you, they did mine quite cheaply.

[mcflurry]

Devilstreak said:

Don't use who I'm using at the minute. Wish I could name and shame

Quoted £700.

Then it went to 900. Now it's 1800 and If I back out I lose all the work so far and a £500 deposit. Not so much as a phone call to explain the extra charges, just sent a new bill out.

Sounds like my lot. Original quote was for £599+VAT
End bill was £1200 plus stamp duty..!

[Devilstreak]

mcflurry said:

Devilstreak said:

Don't use who I'm using at the minute. Wish I could name and shame

Quoted £700.

Then it went to 900. Now it's 1800 and If I back out I lose all the work so far and a £500 deposit. Not so much as a phone call to explain the extra charges, just sent a new bill out.

Sounds like my lot. Original quote was for £599+VAT
End bill was £1200 plus stamp duty..!

It's unreal. I was so mad. But they have me by the balls either way. Just wish I could have done something, or even wish they would have told me they were adding more to the bill. I've got to the point that I just laugh now. I'm sure they will add more to it before it is finalised.

[SJobson]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

They'll probably wonder why you're asking about their overseas practice when they're a conveyancing firm in the Midlands

[DS3R]

shindha said:

No DS3R its only for the purchase.

I've just paid a sellers legal fees and that was £395 with http://www.bournejaffa.co.uk/ who were conveniently located for the seller and have offices in Birmingham,

I'm paying £395 to sell another property using http://www.mfgsolicitors.com/contact.htm who may have a convenient branch for your sister & I've used for years, the buyer is using http://www.bpe.co.uk/pages/3008/Contact_Us.htm who seem very quick, although I have no idea what they're paying for the privilege.

Selling should be straightforward enough hence a reasonable cost, buying involves more work so I still think £495 is pretty good.

[SJobson]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

R2 - and that just goes to show how larger firms don't get inspected with any regularity by the SRA, since even the Magic Circle needs to send out R2 letters.

[Soovy]

Buy cheap, get sh t

[Deva Link]

My daughter just completed on a house and what she thought was the actual cost of £495 turned into a bill of £1200 inc VAT. Being a girl though, she just shrugged and paid it.

It was Click Conveyancing, part of Barnetts in Southport. They seemed OK (i was the contact while she was working so spoke to them a few times) the sellers traditional local solicitor was very slow and the lender (Britannia) were awful - they kept asking for more and more documents instead of just asking once up front.

One slightly frustrating thing is that apparently Barnetts quote radically different prices depending on how they're approached. Being referred by the lender is of course the most expensive but daughter's deal comes with a rebate from Britannia due to working for NHS.