Ten Tips for Choosing a Conveyancing Solicitor
Choosing your Conveyancing Solicitor when you move home is a daunting task. Moving a home can be a stressful time. But who will be right for you. Here are ten steps to choosing your Solicitor for Conveyancing.
1. Listen to friends and family who have been moved home recently. Who did they use would they recommend their Conveyancing Solicitor to you?
2. Don’t be bullied by your Estate Agent into using their preferred lawyers. Many corporate estate agents are incentivised and in some cases disciplined if they do not gain a Conveyancing Instruction when they take a property onto the market for sale.
3. Do the research. Google, Bing and Yahoo are your friends. Type into Google “Conveyancing Solicitors in Chipping Sodbury” for example as a starting point in your area. Some Solicitors who specialize in Conveyancing have a vast amount of information already for free to guide you through the home buying process
4. A local Conveyancing Solicitor will know so much more about your area than a so called “national” Conveyancing firm. For example a local solicitor should know about planned developments in their area, which have not yet been the subject of a formal planning application. In Chipping Sodbury there is a planned application for a Waitrose Supermarket, yet there will be no record of a formal application until later this year.
5. Price is a factor, but should not be your sole reason for choosing a Conveyancing Solicitor. “Bucket Shop” Conveyancing was in the news just before Christmas when a firm in the North West had 5 solicitors suspended for alleged financial irregularities. This firm was heavily promoted for cheap Conveyancing. Many disgruntled clients complained of poor or non existent communication, and felt strongly enough to voice their frustration on the internet.
6. This leads on to the very important question of communication. How and by what means do you wish your Conveyancing Lawyer to contact you. This should be established before you instruct your Conveyancing Lawyer. If you want to hear once a week or every other day this should be demanded. At the very least will they guarantee that all your telephone calls will be returned by the end of the day
7. You should demand a full breakdown of all the costs involved with a guarantee of no hidden extras. The biggest source of complaint against solicitors in general is in the nasty final bill shock with legal fees which were not anticipated or expected. Your Conveyancing Solicitor may not have all the information about your matter at the beginning of a transaction, but must be able to give you a fixed price guarantee for any matter which might occur.
8. Can your Conveyancing Solicitor provide you with testimonials? These will be either on their website or available in Google Local.
9. If your Conveyancing Solicitor says we value you call when you ring yet do not have anyone to answer the call and you are put in a queue. Avoid like the plague
10. Will I get on with the Conveyancing Lawyer and the firm? How was I treated when I first contacted them? Courtesy and engage are rarer than you might think. If you like your lawyers and they are nice people, your transaction is likely to go very smoothly. Conveyancing Solicitors despite some popular opinion to the contrary are human beings as well.
Paul Hajek has been a lawyer for 27 years
He has been managing partner of Clutton Cox Solicitors in Chipping Sodbury, Bristol, South Gloucestershire for the last 24 years.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Hajek
Three things to look for
Good Conveyancing Solicitors are vital for a successful property transaction so how do you make the right choice?
Here are the top 3 things to look for:
1. A “No Completion No Fee” guarantee
2. “Fixed Fee” quotes
3. A firm that will “match any quote”
Let’s look at these in a bit more detail to see why they’re so important:
1. A “No Completion No Fee” guarantee
This means if the sale falls through you don’t pay a penny.
And since poor legal work is a key reason for sales falling through you want to protect yourself.
If a firm offers a “No Completion No Fee” guarantee and the sale falls through they don’t get paid. This is the best incentive there is for them to do a good job, as law firms hate not getting paid!
Most solicitors will never make this offer so what does it say about a firm that does? It says that they are very confident that they will do a good job and that the transaction will be successful.
2. “Fixed Fee” quotes
The second thing to look for is a “Fixed Fee” quote.
This means that however long your transaction takes you have the “peace of mind” of knowing how much you’ll be paying at the end.
And with no hidden costs you don’t have to worry about solicitor’s letters at £50 a time – you’ve capped your exposure.
As a bonus, it also incentivises your conveyancing solicitors to get everything right quickly and first time, since if they drag things out they’re costing themselves money. Since speed can often be vital in getting your sale or purchase through successfully this is a real advantage.
3. A firm that will “match any quote”
This guarantees you’ll get the best possible price.
Together with a “Fixed Fee” quote it’s a powerful way of getting a great deal. It means you won’t have to pay any more than you need to.
Finding your Conveyancing Solicitors
Finding a conveyancing firm that offers all these three things is easier said than done, for the simple reason that they’re very rare!
Even searching for online quotes is not always the best answer as the quotes are only as good as the solicitors that are linked to the website you’re using.
But, if you can find a conveyancing firm that meets all three of the criteria set out above then the chances are that the conveyancing side of your transaction will run smoothly and you’ll pay a lot less than the average buyer or seller.
We review the UK’s leading Conveyancing Solicitors so that you don’t have to and we ONLY recommend firms that meet the criteria set out above.
Click here now for your FREE, instant, no-obligation Conveyancing Quote
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_A_Tighe
