Save £850 on conveyancing solicitors costs: £850 is the average saving on a typical sale and purchase through our panel of conveyancing solicitors compared to using a high street solicitor (Survey of 52 high street solicitors, September 2010).

• We work with HouseHop.co.uk to instantly compare quotes from a panel of the UK’s best conveyancing solicitors to find you the cheapest genuine conveyancing quote available!
• Choose the type of quote you want by clicking on one of the following options:

All the solicitors on our panel are members of the Law Society and are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Price promise:
The price you see is the price you pay. All the solicitors on our system have agreed to provide conveyancing quotes that are totally transparent.

Service promise:

1. Your quote will be cheaper than going direct to the solicitors.
2. Your solicitor will not charge you a legal fee if your sale, purchase or re-mortgage does not go ahead.
3. All our solicitors agree to rigorous service levels, which are constantly monitored to ensure all conveyancing work meets the highest standards.
4. Your solicitor will be able to start work immediately.

Online case tracking:
Your solicitor will provide you with a username and password to track the progress of your case online in real-time 24/7.

Remote conveyancing:
Your solicitor will handle your case remotely so you never have to visit their office.

All prices are Guaranteed and 100% transparent.

	“Fixed fee” quote		“No completion – no fee”
	What you see is what you pay		No hidden extras
	Conveyancing specialists		Guaranteed service standards
	No meetings required		Nationwide coverage
	Telephone helpline		24 hour online case tracking

The PEC confirms the status of a property from its original records and the information contained in it is required for property transactions. Usually, it will be organised by the seller’s solicitor as part of their conveyancing activities.

A PEC will normally cover the following areas:

• Planning – Current and historic Planning Application information including decision, date and proposal, the search period being the 5 years immediately prior to the date of the request. Information is provided on Local Plan policy and other constraints and includes, for example, whether the property is designated as a Listed Building or Scheduled Ancient Monument, in a Conservation Area, whether it is within any international, national or local Natural Environment designations, and whether a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) affects the site or if the site is subject to an enforcement notice.

• Building Warrant – This refers to the recent decisions on application for the property. The search period being again the 5 years immediately prior to the date of the request.

• Roads information – Information derived from a search of the Statutory List of Public Roads relating to whether the road access is adopted by the Council for maintenance purposes and if the property is affected by any transport proposals. Information is provided relating to future road schemes.

• Statutory notices – If a property is the subject of an Improvement Grant or a Repairs Grant affected by Building Regulations.

• Environmental Health – Information about Smoke Control Areas, Private Housing, Contaminated Land, Radon Gas and Notices in terms of the Civic Government and Environmental Protection Act. An additional service is offered for some Commercial Premises.

• Water and drainage – Information from Scottish Water on whether public water mains and sewers are actually connected to the property. (Optional)

• Contaminated land – Information on whether land is in the Contaminated Land register.

Click here to find a Scottish conveyancing solicitor.

• What’s the difference between offer, acceptance, exchange and completion?
• When do you have a legally binding contract?
• What happens if someone backs out?
• What if someone offers more than we’ve agreed?

The property conveyancing system in this country is a lot less simple buying and selling something in your local shop.  It’s actually a four step process and there’s a lot of confusion about it.  Your conveyancing solicitor should be able to explain it to you, however, the four steps are:

1.  Offer

2.  Acceptance

3.  Exchange

4.  Completion

So what does this mean?

1. Offer

As the name suggests, this is when the buyer puts in a offer for the property.  Nothing is binding at this stage.  The initial offer may be accepted, rejected or be just the start of negotiations.

If the initial offer or subsequent negotiations lead to agreement on price then we move to step 2:

2.  Acceptance

Again, as the name suggests, this is when the seller accepts the buyer’s offer.  Maybe it’s not quite so complicated after all once you break it down!

This is where we mention gazumping.  Gazumping is when someone else comes in with a higher offer and the seller gives the the chance to match it or lose the property.  While not considered to be good form it is nonetheless perfectly legal as no contract has been entered into at this stage.

Gazundering, by the way, is the opposite of gazumping.  It’s when the buyer lowers the offer price at the last minute – usually just before exchange.  This puts the seller in a bind as they’ve probably incurred legal costs, invested time, effort and emotion, and may well have taken their property off the market.  Gazundering is just as bad form as gazumping, but again, there’s no contract and it’s perfectly legal.

Once an offer has been accepted we move to step 3:

3.  Exchange

This is where things get a little more complicated, though not that much.

Exchange refers to the “exchange” of signed contracts.  In other word buyer and seller each sign separate copies of the contract and these copies are exchanged so that each party ends up with a copy signed by the other.  Often it is enough for them to be signed as “counterparts”, meaning that the parties don’t need to sign both copies for them to be binding – they just sign the one being sent to the other side.

There is quite a bit of work for the conveyancing solicitors to do, however, between exchange and completion.  Contracts have to be agreed, questions answered, searches made and reviewed.  This is why it typically takes around two months between an offer being accepted and exchange taking place.

Normally a deposit is paid at exchange – usually 5 or 10% of the purchase price.  Because a binding contract is being entered into the deposit can be forfeit if the buyer decides not to go ahead at this stage.

4.  Completion

Sometimes, though rarely, exchange and completion are simultaneous.  More often, completion takes place around two to four weeks after exchange.  This is mainly due to the practicalities of moving.

At completion the balance of the purchase monies are paid by the buyer.  Once these are safely received the seller’s conveyancing solicitor will authorise the release of the keys to the buyer.  At this stage the property is sold and all that remains is the post-completion admin, such as paying land registry fees and stamp duty.

So there you have it – not quite as complicated as all that, but never be afraid to ask your conveyancing solicitor if your not sure about something.  That’s what you pay them for!

If not you could end up paying additional legal fees.

This is because your bank (if you’re buying with a mortgage) will want a solicitor to register their interest (security) in the property.  If your solicitor is on your bank’s panel then they can act for both you and the bank.

If not there will be extra fees to pay to instruct separate solicitors for the bank.   It also means there is more chance of things going wrong as there is another law firm to be kept in the loop.

That’s why it’s important to check whether your solicitor is on the bank’s panel.  And if you’re instructing your solicitor before you’ve chosen your lender make sure that they are on the panel for all the major banks and can act for any bank you are seriously considering for your mortgage.

By checking in advance you can save yourself a lot of hassle and potentially several hundred pounds in legal fees and expenses.  The recommended solicitors on our panel act for all the major banks.

Click here for instant quotes from our recommended conveyancing solicitors.

It’s been dubbed “Tesco Law”. From 6 October 2011 supermarkets will be able to offer customers legal services such as conveyancing, in direct competition to the country’s 112,000 solicitors.

The reforms were made possible by the Legal Services Act 2007, and already the Co-Operative has begun promoting conveyancing, employment law and personal injury services.

But what does this mean for customers? Will it be the same service at supermarket prices or will it be a case of “you get what you pay for?”

The reality is that to a large extent this process has been going on for some years when it comes to conveyancing. Online conveyancing solicitors with lower overheads and greater economies of scale have been undercutting High Street solicitors by an impressive average of £850 on a typical sale and purchase.

So “Tesco Law” looks like it will accelerate a trend that has been going on for some time. In fact, as far back as 1996 the Law Society (reminiscent of old school 1970s militant union “restrictive practices”) was trying to find a backdoor way of banning low cost conveyancing (see this article from the Independent).

The Law Society have since changed their tune on the matter and now say that the “Tesco Law” reforms will be good for clients. So are they right?

The answer is well, “it depends”. There are some very good low priced online conveyancing solicitors. And some who are best avoided. The trick is to make sure the one you choose ticks the right boxes:

1. Avoid firms quoting ridiculously low “too good to be true” fee rates – they always pad them out with lots of hidden extras and don’t include VAT. Instead, choose a firm that offers a genuine “fixed fee” quote that is fully itemised so you know exactly what you’ll pay in advance.

2. Look at customer feedback. Find a website that allows customers to give feedback directly, so that it’s not filtered by the solicitors themselves. That way you can find out what people really think – the good and the bad – and make a fully informed decision.

To compare instant quotes from genuine “fixed fee” conveyancing solicitors and to see real customer feedback click here: conveyancing.

Probably the most common question we get as is “what is the average cost of conveyancing?”

So we thought we’d add a quick post answering this.  Bear in mind that the cost of online conveyancing will be a lot less that going to your local High Street solicitor.  BUT … there are good online solicitors and bad:  to make sure you instruct a good one check out this free report:  The 4 Steps to Choosing a Solicitor (so you don’t get “ripped off”)

In the meantime, here’s a quick guide to what to expect:

Costs:

• selling:  £400 – £700
• buying:  £450 – £1,000
• leasehold transactions:  add £100 – £250
• expenses (often referred to as “disbursements”):  £100 – £300

The exact cost will vary between solicitors, but is also likely reflect the value of your property – the more expensive your property the more you are likely to be charged.  Typically the thresholds at which solicitors charge more are £500,000, £750,000 and £1,000,000.

Buying:

The legal costs of buying are higher than those of selling.  This is because there’s extra work involved in obtaining and reviewing property searches.  These search reviews are one of the most important things your solicitor will do.  Usually things will be fine, but if there are any problems it’s your solicitor’s job to highlight them – much better to find out at this stage than when you’ve completed!

Selling:

Selling is normally cheaper than buying as there’s less work involved.  There are also fewer expenses as searches are paid for by the buyer.

Expenses (“disbursements”):

Disbursements could be anything from the cost of searches to the cost of photocopying.  Some solicitors use disbursements as a way of bumping up their fees so insist that they are included in your quote.

VAT

With VAT now at 20% it will be a big part of your bill.  Less honest solicitors will provide quotes that don’t include VAT so that they appear very cheap.  The shock comes when the bill arrives (and it’s too late to do anything about it) and with expenses and VAT it’s double (and sometimes more) what you expected.  Make sure your quote includes all expenses and VAT.

For a more detailed break down of disburesment costs (searches, etc) and what “hidden extras” to avoid, go to our conveyancing costs page and scroll down to Part II.

Click here to get a fully itemised fixed fee quote.

The typical move for a homeowner will involve conveyancing costs for both the sale of their old house and the purchase of their new one.  And if their quotes are from a traditional high street conveyancing solicitor then, on average, they’ll pay almost twice what it would cost them if they went online.

Conveyancing survey

This surprising figure comes from a survey by the sell your house privately website YouMove.co.uk.[1] YouMove conducted an undercover survey of 52 randomly chosen high street solicitors and compared their quotes to those from YouMove’s own panel of online conveyancing solicitors.

Each solicitor was asked to provide a quote for an identical transaction involving the sale of one property and the purchase of another.  The quotes were for average priced houses (since solicitors often base their fees partly on a property’s value).

Save £850 online

The result:  the average cost (excluding search costs, which are fixed[2]) of a high street solicitor was £1745 compared to a cost of just £895 for online conveyancing.  That’s a saving of £850 (48.7%).

With the number of residential property transactions likely to complete this year being around 900,000[3] that represents a potential overpayment by homeowners of £765 million.[4]

End of the “high street monopoly”

So why is going online so much cheaper?  Quite simply the internet has thrown open the gates of competition.  In the old days there was a virtual “high street monopoly”.  Homeowners were forced to choose from a tiny handful of local firms all of whom charged similar (high) prices.  Today conveyancing can be done from anywhere in the country and so competition – at least in the online sphere – has forced prices down.

According to John Tighe, the founder of YouMove and a lawyer himself, “consumers can now benefit from online access to firms specialising in conveyancing and who have much lower overheads, the benefit of which they pass on to their clients.”  This makes them far cheaper than high street law firms who may only do a handful of conveyancing transactions and whose costs per solicitor work out far higher.

Beware online “law factories”

This is great news for consumers, but a word of warning:  not all firms offering online conveyancing are equal.  Some have been described as “law factories” – essentially no more than legal call centres where underpaid (and sometimes under qualified) staff are simply unable to give the kind of service you would expect because they are too busy.

Too busy, it turns out, because the firms they work for sucker in large numbers of clients by offering ridiculously cheap headline prices (£99 is not unheard of).  Of course, these prices later turn out to be completely bogus.  They don’t include any of the many “expenses” that such firms use to pad out their bills.  Nor do they include search costs, registration fees or VAT.

The result is overworked and unhappy staff and frustrated customers who end up with a final bill that is many hundreds of pounds more than they expected and for a second rate service.

The 4 steps to choosing a conveyancing solicior without getting “ripped off”

So is it possible to benefit from the much cheaper online competition without getting caught out by an online “law factory”?  The answer, according to John, is to look for an online firm that meets these four criteria:

1.  Find a “conveyancing specialist”

Your solicitor should have an established reputation and specialise (or have a department specialising in) conveyancing.

2.  Get a “fixed fee” quote

Never hire a solicitor on a per hour basis.  This is how costs skyrocket. And don’t accept a quote that is fixed fee providing that there are no “unforeseen complications”.  Such a promise is not worth the paper it’s written on:  “fixed fee” should mean exactly that.

3.  Get a “complete” quote

A fixed fee quote is no good unless it includes all costs.  A favourite trick of dodgy firms (both online and high street) is to give low headline quotes to get your business and then add on lots of expensive hidden extras.  Your quote should include all disbursements (expenses) plus VAT.

4.  Get a “no completion – no fee” quote

As many as 1 in 3 property transactions fall through, meaning that one of the biggest unexpected costs when moving is additional legal fees.

To protect yourself against this find a solicitor who will work on a “no completion – no fee” basis.  That way if you can’t complete you will be spared the legal fees (though you will still have to pay any expenses that have already been incurred on your behalf).

So, these are the four criteria for finding a good online conveyancing solicitor.  All very well, but how can you be certain whether they’re in the good category of competitively priced conveyancing specialist or the bad category of cheap “law factory” without doing lots of exhaustive research?

Getting the right conveyancing firm

The simple answer is to find someone who’s already done the work for you.  This is where YouMove’s panel of conveyancing solicitors comes in.  All the solicitors on the panel meet the four criteria set out above.  In addition they’ve all agreed to maintain a high level of customer service, all are members of the Law Society and all are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.  They also guarantee that when you get a quote through YouMove it will be cheaper than if you approach the solicitors direct.

As an added reassurance, YouMove make unedited customer feedback on each firm available on their website – feedback that comes direct from clients and so can’t get filtered by the firms themselves.  In fact, YouMove have already dropped two firms from their panel because the standard of customer feedback was not high enough.

If you want to find out more about how to choose a conveyancing solicitor YouMove have prepared a Free Report entitled:  The 4 Steps to Choosing a Solicitor (so you don’t get “ripped off”).  You can also click here for instant conveyancing quotes.

2 The figures exclude the cost of the following searches: Local Authority; Water and Drainage; and Environmental.  The cost of these searches is fixed for any given property since they are set by the local authority and the local water company.  Typically, the cost of these searches adds up to around £200.

3 HMRC website

4 900,000 x £850 = £765 million

Conveyancing solicitors have been having a hard time during the recession. According to the Law Society Gazette the number of unemployed solicitors is up over 400 per cent since the start of the credit crunch. Just a few months ago 7,000 solicitors were made redundant in one go when two leading mortgage providers decided that conveyancing services would no longer be provided in house.

So what does this mean for you if you’re looking for a conveyancing solicitor for your house sale or purchase? Well it’s pretty great news, that’s what!

In real terms, hiring a conveyancing solicitor has never been cheaper than it is today for two reasons:

1) the recession has resulted in conveyancing solicitors chasing far fewer transactions – house sales are still running at less than a third of the number at the peak of the market; and

2) the internet has massively increased the level of competition amongst conveyancing solicitors and brought prices crashing down as a result. In the old days solicitors only had to compete against the other law firms in their town. Today, the legal work for a conveyancing transaction can be done from anywhere in the country.

Five years ago you might have paid £1500 for a transaction that today would cost you a fraction of that (Click here to get FREE, instant, no-obligation Conveyancing Quotes). So should you be looking in your local high street or online?

The advantage of an online solicitor is that you don’t have to visit the office. Everything can be done over the phone or by email. On the other hand, if you have a local solicitor and you need to hurry them along then it’s easier to chase them, because if you can’t get them on the phone you can always call by their office.

This may be important if getting your transaction through quickly is important. Solicitors are like everyone else – they will respond fastest to whichever client is applying the most pressure!

Our advice would be to use the internet to shop around for a range of quotes. These are provided for free and will usually be less than what you would be quoted on the high street. You can then use these quotes to negotiate down the quote from your local solicitor (who as we’ve already mentioned will be hurting from the recession and anxious to get your business).

If in the end there is not much to choose between your local solicitor and an online solicitor then your local solicitor is probably the best way forward. But if you can save yourself a worthwhile amount of money then don’t be afraid to choose the online option, because as we said above conveyancing can now be done from anywhere.

Many online conveyancing websites come with a no fee guarantee if the sale or purchase fails to complete. You should be aware that this only applies to professional fees and does not apply to the cost of any searches that have been done. High street solicitors don’t normally offer this, but you should ask for it anyway.

As a final piece of advice, insist on getting a fixed fee quote and make sure that expenses are included as these add up to quite a lot. Expenses are mostly known in advance so there’s no reason why your solicitor shouldn’t be able to provide them (note: they may refer to them as “disbursements” – they mean the same thing).

Most of the fees are payable on completion apart from some monies on account. This means that you pay a proportion of the overall fees upfront to cover some of the search costs, etc. Again, don’t be afraid to negotiate the size of the upfront fee. They need your business more than you need them!

Click here to get your FREE, instant, no-obligation Conveyancing Quotes.

Hi – welcome to Conveyancing Solicitors dot info.

This post explains the 3 things to look for when choosing your Conveyancing Solicitor.

# 1

The first thing to look for when choosing your conveyancing solicitors is whether they offer a “No Completion No Fee” guarantee.

Poor legal work by solicitors is a key reason for sales falling through – and if the sale falls through they don’t get paid!  L aw firms really like to get paid so this is a great incentive for them to do a good job!

(Most firms don’t offer this, so if a firm does it’s a sure sign they’re confindent in their ability to do a good job.)

# 2

The second thing to look for  is a firm of solicitors that operate on a “Fixed Fee Quote” basis.

This is to make sure that you don’t end up facing a huge bill.  However long your transaction takes you have the “peace of mind” of knowing exactly how much you’ll be paying at the end, with no hidden costs.

Remember, it doesn’t take many letters at £50 each for a big bill to mount up.  Make sure you’ve capped your costs or you could end up paying hundreds more than you need to.

# 3

Watch out for online “law factories” offering cut price (and cut rate) conveyancing.  You get what you pay for and having your legal work handled by underpaid paralegals working in a call centre is not the way to a speedy and successful transaction.

Instead, choose a firm that is either a specialist in conveyancing or has a specialist conveyancing department.

All of our recommended solicitors meet these 3 criteria:

Click here to to get your FREE, instant, no-obligation conveyancing quotes.

One of the first things you should do when buying or selling is instruct your conveyancing solicitor.

If you’re a seller this gives your solicitor time to prepare a draft contract and sort out the various forms and documents that will be required once you find a buyer.

If you’re a buyer it’s good to have your solicitor standing by so that when you do find a property you’re ready to move straight away.

Make sure that any quote you get is fixed fee otherwise the bill can rapidly creep up – especially if there are unforeseen complications: a few letters at £50 each soon add up.  Also, check that disbursements (expenses) are included in the quote.

What happens between offer and exchange?

Even though your solicitor handles the legal process it’s good to understand the basics so that you know what’s going on and what to ask.

Here’s the broad outline.  To see the process in more detail go to the Buying or Conveyancing for Sellers pages.

1.  Seller’s solicitor sends draft contract to buyer’s solicitor

2.  Seller gives their solicitor a copy of the HIP and this is passed on to the buyer’s solicitor and buyer

3.  Buyer’s solicitor carries out property searches and looks for information affecting the property

4.  Buyer’s mortgage lender values the property

5.  Buyer gets survey done (optional, but advisable)

6.  Buyer’s solicitor sends “preliminary enquiries” to seller via seller’s solicitor.  Seller must answer these questions honestly – if they don’t know the answer they should state “don’t know”

7.  Once searches and enquiries are completed and the contract agreed the parties are ready to exchange

8.  Buyer and seller each sign a copy of the contract and “exchange” them.  The solicitors usually take care of the exchange part so people don’t all have to be in the same place

9.  The buyer pays the deposit

The contract is now binding and if the buyer pulls out they will lose their deposit (unless they were misled into signing the contract).

Completion

This is when the property finally changes hands.  Through their solicitors the buyer pays off the remainder of the purchase price and the seller hands over the keys.

The buyer’s solicitor will arrange for the payment of and Stamp Duty (SDLT) and will register the transfer of the property with the Land Registry.