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Home Buying Guide
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Guide to Conveyancing
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About Solicitors and Home Buying



Pros and cons of UK Conveyancing Solicitors

Until 1987 solicitors had a monopoly on conveyancing. The law was changed to allow licenced conveyancers in on the act. Most people still use solicitors - though this is probably due to ignorance of an alternative.

Solicitors claim they can help with other legal work and have to have indemnity insurance of £1 million per transaction.

They're regulated by the Law Society - which should make them behave themselves - though there are severe criticisms of how the regulation works in practice. (See below)

Many solicitors see conveyancing as boring, low profit/high turnover work.

Perhaps because of this they can be very slow - which can ruin your deal.

To read more on this subject please see the list below or your mortgage guide or your home buying guide

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Read on About Solicitors and Home Buying

Solicitor costs

How to find a solicitor

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Solicitor Conveyancing UK Costs

Solicitors will probably charge you £350 plus VAT for the conveyancing itself.

Added to this are the associated costs eg Search fees, Land Registry fees, electronic transfer fees.

You'd normally pay these through the solicitor and you're easily looking at least £600 plus VAT - all in.

(And - on the subject of costs - don't forget Stamp duty - if you're paying more than £120,000 for your property).

If you're buying in a major city you could save money by using a country based solicitor.

However if you're buying in the country we would suggest you use someone in the same region, as they are more likely to understand local influences and conditions.

Solicitors traditionally charge for their time by the hour. However they should be able to give you a set quote for doing the conveyancing.

Ideally you should get a quote from at least three solicitors unless you've found a highly recommended one.

Fees seem to depend on their firm's overheads, so think twice about using a firm with a smart, expensive address. It's no guarantee of quality.

When getting a quote, ask whether it's an "all in" price ie exactly what work it covers. It should include:

Phone calls,
Letters and postage,
Search fees,
VAT,
Bank transfer fees
Land Registry fee

If your deal falls through you may have to pay the solicitor anyway so check this beforehand.



Read on About Solicitors and Home Buying





Read on About Conveyancing - General Guide



Read On / How to Buy Your Home

Completion of the Property Deal

Valuations and Surveys

Read On / Mortgage Guide

Read On / Related Topics

Back to contents of Guide to Conveyancing

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How to find a solicitor

(See also How to find your conveyancer)

The best bet is word of mouth recommendations from friend/contacts who've had a good experience buying a house.

But be careful: A good divorce solicitor may do conveyancing but probably not as well as they do divorces... in other words make sure the recommendation is for direct experience of conveyancing.

Think carefully about using contacts like your partner's second cousin who happens to be a solicitor. Buying a house can be very fraught and if they aren't very good there may be fallout - which could be slightly embarrassing at the next family wedding.

Only go to the phone book as a last resort.



Want a Conveyancing Quote now?

We have found a great new service which sends your basic details out to three recommended conveyancers. They then have to "fight it out" to give you the best quote and service. All you do is simply take the best one (but there is no obligation at all to proceed with anything). This should save you a lot of time, effort and stress in finding one by yourself.



Read on About Solicitors and Home Buying

Good and Bad solicitors

Complaining about solicitors




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