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Good conveyancing solicitor

edited August 2012 in Not Sports Related
Hi all lifers bit of help needed I've just sold my house and need to appoint a solicitor. Obviously the agents are recommending One to me because of the nice back hander they shall receive, so that doesn't necessarily mean they are good. Any recommendations would be truly appreciated, thanks.

Comments

  • I've used Kirk and Partners in Passey Place Eltham for my 3 house buys/sales, always been excellent, reasonable rates and good service, never had an issue.
  • regarding the heading of your thread : no such thing, pot luck mate, and they will do what they want to do when they want to do it, not before. Good luck.
  • Estate Agents, Solicitors and Mortgage Companies... So many back handers fly around between that shower, even Arry Rednapp would not be able to keep up !
  • I've used Kirk and Partners in Passey Place Eltham for my 3 house buys/sales, always been excellent, reasonable rates and good service, never had an issue.

    That's who we used. their offices leave a lot to be desired, but I'd rather their money go to good work rather than funky office furniture and filing cabinets! sold our flat within the 6 week timescale, and pushed issues on our purchase so it was as swift as possible soon after and didn't charge too much either.

    We emailed 3 different solicitors for quote and Kirk & Partners not only came out with less crap on the quote (some list everything including £2.50 for photo copys etc instead of just 'fees') and they were also one of the only ones to actually spell our name right and not make a mistake on the quote or covering email with the selling/buying properties, thats important to me. they were happy to deal with scanned copies and emails which I think sped everything up rather than relying on post for everything. The bloke that we had was a right character though when we went in to meet him, typing one fingered on a wonky old computer, but can't question anything they did.
  • edited August 2012
    Howard Freeman is pretty good - my father has used him a couple of times and so has my boss

    http://www.freemanssolicitors.net/
  • I've used Kirk and Partners in Passey Place Eltham for my 3 house buys/sales, always been excellent, reasonable rates and good service, never had an issue.

    That's who we used. their offices leave a lot to be desired, but I'd rather their money go to good work rather than funky office furniture and filing cabinets! sold our flat within the 6 week timescale, and pushed issues on our purchase so it was as swift as possible soon after and didn't charge too much either.

    We emailed 3 different solicitors for quote and Kirk & Partners not only came out with less crap on the quote (some list everything including £2.50 for photo copys etc instead of just 'fees') and they were also one of the only ones to actually spell our name right and not make a mistake on the quote or covering email with the selling/buying properties, thats important to me. they were happy to deal with scanned copies and emails which I think sped everything up rather than relying on post for everything. The bloke that we had was a right character though when we went in to meet him, typing one fingered on a wonky old computer, but can't question anything they did.
    echo all this, my solicitor's name was Hugh Lewis.....*insert joke here*

  • Yep! that's our fella too!
  • Gawd! The trouble I've had! I should write a blues song about it. If you are not already sorted, I can recommend Maggie Compton of Apex Law, phone number available on request (it's upstairs and I'm downstairs ATM, if you really want it I'll go to all the trouble of climbing the stairs lol!).
  • regarding the heading of your thread : no such thing, pot luck mate, and they will do what they want to do when they want to do it, not before. Good luck.

    This.

    At the local level it really is pot luck - and there's really no point paying over the odds for a good one.
  • I used Cook, Taylor and Woodhouse....close to the White Hart on Eltham Hill, very good service and reasonably priced.
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  • I used Cook, Taylor and Woodhouse....close to the White Hart on Eltham Hill, very good service and reasonably priced.

    I used them once. Cheap, but bloody awful service. At the same time as buying a flat with my sister we wanted to get wills drawn up - a sensible measure, but that seemed to be beyond them somehow.

    If I treated my clients like that I would be ..... well ..... working in a poky bobhole in Eltham High St I guess!

  • Nick Perl, Sharpe and Perl in New Ash Green. Also attends the odd game at the Valley.
  • Off_it said:

    I used Cook, Taylor and Woodhouse....close to the White Hart on Eltham Hill, very good service and reasonably priced.

    I used them once. Cheap, but bloody awful service. At the same time as buying a flat with my sister we wanted to get wills drawn up - a sensible measure, but that seemed to be beyond them somehow.

    If I treated my clients like that I would be ..... well ..... working in a poky bobhole in Eltham High St I guess!

    It was towards the end of 2005 when we used them, can't remember the bloke who acted on our behalf but he was pretty decent for us.
  • smiffyboy said:

    Thankyou all I gave kirk and partners a bell earlier and have started the ball rolling.

    Check your inbox mate.
  • I thought the only reason a solicitor did conveyancing was because the firm's partners wouldn't trust them with anything else. Thus getting a "good" solicitor to do conveyancing was an impossibility. Anyway, don't they just dump all the work on a paralegal but charge the punter for a real lawyer?
  • Johnny Humphrey
    Try Debra Brindle at http://www.brindleslaw.co.uk/--excellent prompt service,always available and an expert in conveyancing.
  • Johnny Humphrey
    Try Debra Brindle at http://www.brindleslaw.co.uk/--excellent prompt service,always available and an expert in conveyancing.

    We used Debra in our recent sale and purchase and were very happy.
  • cafcfan said:

    I thought the only reason a solicitor did conveyancing was because the firm's partners wouldn't trust them with anything else. Thus getting a "good" solicitor to do conveyancing was an impossibility. Anyway, don't they just dump all the work on a paralegal but charge the punter for a real lawyer?

    I think there is some truth in that. When we moved to Hastings we used a local company, the women that dealt with us called herself a conveyancing officer....she wasn't a solicitor, that said we were more then happy with her, and the costs.
  • The thing is that residential conveyancing (commerical is different) doesn't really require any legal skills. You need to understand a process, be able to fill in forms correctly and deal with stressed out clients. In the old days, you needed some legal skills to prove title to land but in 98% of cases now, land is registered and you don't need to go over old title deeds.

    Since computerisation, forms have become easier and easier to fill and anyone with a bit of diligence, intelligence, some people skills can be a good conveyancer.

    The market is very open and profit margins are very small. It's also rather boring. Only high street firms or ones who are able to commodotise the work (high volume compensating for low profit margins) bother with it.
  • edited August 2012
    Jints said:

    The thing is that residential conveyancing (commerical is different) doesn't really require any legal skills. You need to understand a process, be able to fill in forms correctly and deal with stressed out clients. In the old days, you needed some legal skills to prove title to land but in 98% of cases now, land is registered and you don't need to go over old title deeds.

    Since computerisation, forms have become easier and easier to fill and anyone with a bit of diligence, intelligence, some people skills can be a good conveyancer.

    The market is very open and profit margins are very small. It's also rather boring. Only high street firms or ones who are able to commodotise the work (high volume compensating for low profit margins) bother with it.

    Sorry I'm no apologist for poor conveyancers but this is nonsense. The problem with conveyancing is that even many Solicitors firms believe what you have just stated. Hence many times you get junior semi-trained staff dealing and a commodity service which is great if everything is plain sailing. The problem comes when things start to get tricky.

    It's the old adage, "if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys"

    If you know a really good conveyancing Solicitor, they can save you a great deal of time and money and stress because they are able to resolve the more complex.

    I use a Solicitor based in Beccles - he is by far and away the best conveyancer I have ever met. All of the local Estate Agents recommend him because he is easy to deal with, his knowledge and problem solving ability is second to none and he goes the extra mile.

    The current climate is not easy for buying and selling houses. The last thing you want is a bunch of cheapskate rookies handling your sale &/or purchase. My Solicitor for example is well known to help re- negotiate the prices in a chain so that it doesn't break when somebody in the chain has been unable to get a mortgage big enough to back their original offer.

    A friend of mine who was in a desperate position of needing to sell his house quickly to pay off his creditors and keep his business afloat. He got a decent offer on his house from a bloke who was a cash buyer and he had no onward chain. He asked me if I knew a decent Solicitor and I put him in touch with mine. He also got a quote from another Solicitor. My bloke quoted £500, the other bloke about half that. He went for the cheapest option.

    All went well until there was an issue relating to a boundary where my mate and his neighbour had agreed to redraw it. It wasn't as shown on the plan. I took weeks to resolve - the buyer got cold feet and then withdrew his original offer, eventually making an offer £15,000 less. My mate was so desperate, he had little choice but to accept the reduced offer and eventually the sale went through. I told my solicitor about the boundary problem and he told me he could have resolved it within a few days. So in seeking to save £250, it cost him £15,000.

    I recently sold my house and I had a similar issue with a boundary and a right of way. The Agent and my buyer got very worried about this. My Solicitor resolved it in a couple of days. I still own the problem piece of land about two foot square on the boundary of the property I sold. It's no good to me, and no good to anyone else but it took the obstacle away. Resolving it a different way, as was the concern of the Agent and the buyer, would have taken weeks and may have lost me my cash buyer.

    You can't put a price on experience. My Solicitor was recommended to me. I'd never use anyone else, even if I moved elsewhere in the country (except possibly Scotland).


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  • edited August 2012
    .
  • As an extra in the moving process, these guys were helpful
    http://www.iammoving.com/

    As for solicitors, I used moneysupermarket, got an amazing deal from a firm over 100 miles away and they were well ahead of the vendor's local muppets

    http://www.moneysupermarket.com/conveyancing/
  • Bing,

    I don't think anything you have said is in contradiction to what I have said. A good conveyancer will be diligent, experienced and able to solve problems. He won't have to know an awful lot of law. Most urban/suburban transactions are not problematic but in rural areas there are more likely to be specific issues particularly if the property has not been sold recently. I certainly would not recommend going for the cheapest quote - a personal recommendation is the best way to go.

    A qualified conveyancer who gives a shit about his clients will be way better than a solicitor who does a bit of conveyancing, a bit of legal aid, a bit of family and a bit of probate, whatever piece of paper, the latter holds.


  • edited August 2012
    hmmm .. I like this thread ... but not a lot

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