Soldato
Oh and NatWest were brilliant for me too, completely hassle free
First Time Buyer Offer accepted
- Thread starter Sem
- Start date
no offence but you sound like a salesman's dream!
Dont use anyone the EA recommends. As the HSBC comment proves they are only interested in making money and making it as fast as possible. You do not want to rush this and get it wrong.
Solicitors fees are rarely fixed. They charge by time, you may be quoted one figure but it could cost you more take this into account. Your mortgage lender may have a deal with a solicitors firm. As they are larger companies they tend to take longer to come back but have the backing of large banking companies.
Dont use anyone the EA recommends. As the HSBC comment proves they are only interested in making money and making it as fast as possible. You do not want to rush this and get it wrong.
Solicitors fees are rarely fixed. They charge by time, you may be quoted one figure but it could cost you more take this into account. Your mortgage lender may have a deal with a solicitors firm. As they are larger companies they tend to take longer to come back but have the backing of large banking companies.
Our solicitor was around the £1,500 mark for everything, included adding the house to the land registry. They are one of the best in the country, and it showed they walked all over the sellers solicitor. (they went with the estate agents preferred)
We chose ours based on my dad using them through business and personally for many years.
So I advise you ask around. Ours were based many miles away did everything by post, phone and email.
Never once did we need to chase them made the whole thing so stress free.
We chose ours based on my dad using them through business and personally for many years.
So I advise you ask around. Ours were based many miles away did everything by post, phone and email.
Never once did we need to chase them made the whole thing so stress free.
A tip for you when buying a home, whatever solicitor you use, send all mail back via special delivery, you will know they have you response the next day and can chase accordingly.
Might cost you extra £50-£100 but worth its weight in gold
Also HSBC have always been brilliant for me, quick decision and paperwork lightening fast
Using the above it was exactly 4 weeks from me viewing the house I am in to owning it
Might cost you extra £50-£100 but worth its weight in gold
Also HSBC have always been brilliant for me, quick decision and paperwork lightening fast
Using the above it was exactly 4 weeks from me viewing the house I am in to owning it
Soldato
Or just email, it's free
Just because a client sends something back special delivery doesn't mean its getting dealt with first! It will get dealt with in date order like everything else and your "chase accordingly" no doubt daily phonecalls won't help that 
4 weeks is an exceptionally short and uncommon timescale and will have little or nothing to do with your chosen method of returning post. That comes from an extremely straightforward purchase with no chain or a very small one, with good solicitors on both sides in an area with quick search response times. Even my own purchase which I'm dealing with is set to take 5 weeks and that's doing everything on my end as quick as physically possible!
As for all the people saying flat out avoid EA recommended solicitors, that's only a valid point when they recommend national ones like countrywide. If they recommend a local high street one it's probably for good reason, but still do your research.
Soldato
I used London and Country for my first time mortgage. They were fine, they get paid by the lender so it doesn't cost you anything. They still tried to set me up with a ludicrous home insurance policy though through a "preferred rate" but I saw that a mile off. It was £70/month.
But for the mortgage I couldn't fault them. He went through loads of options and explained them all in detail and the pros and cons of each.
Only drawback is they don't have access to all products as some are direct only so there still *might* be better deals about.
But for the mortgage I couldn't fault them. He went through loads of options and explained them all in detail and the pros and cons of each.
Only drawback is they don't have access to all products as some are direct only so there still *might* be better deals about.
Definitely do not use EAs solicitor. In addition to points mentioned he is likely value his relationship with the EA more than he is doing the best job for you.
In the worst case this could lead to him not acting in your best interests as he will want the sale to go through quickly for his friend the EA. Sometimes delays are for a good reason and it's in your best interests to ensure everything is above board, not just rush through as quickly as possible (tempting as this is when you want the keys to your new home).
In the worst case this could lead to him not acting in your best interests as he will want the sale to go through quickly for his friend the EA. Sometimes delays are for a good reason and it's in your best interests to ensure everything is above board, not just rush through as quickly as possible (tempting as this is when you want the keys to your new home).
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 5,950
If the circumstance of OP are straight forward then go direct.
Look at some of the smaller BS's though. Too many have moaned and moaned about the banks since the credit crunch yet still and will go to them for mortgages if they offer a half decent rate, which makes such people as unethical as the banks IMO. One lender I'd personally recommend is Principality BS. Customers really are put first and have good ethics. I don't work for them but have spent some time with them over recent years and was impressed which is quite something for me as I will be critical
£720 for solicitor's fees sounds fine.
Look at some of the smaller BS's though. Too many have moaned and moaned about the banks since the credit crunch yet still and will go to them for mortgages if they offer a half decent rate, which makes such people as unethical as the banks IMO. One lender I'd personally recommend is Principality BS. Customers really are put first and have good ethics. I don't work for them but have spent some time with them over recent years and was impressed which is quite something for me as I will be critical
£720 for solicitor's fees sounds fine.
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DIY conveyancing only really works for cash purchases. The big lenders will insist that you use a solicitor.
OP, £720 is a reasonable charge and you should let them fill in the forms. They are insured against any mistakes.
£720 isn't unreasonable, I've always worked off the idea of up to £1k for each transaction (buy/sell). Anything less is a bonus, but yes do stick clear of anyone recommended to you by an estate agent or building company. I'm currently caught up in this leasehold scandal. I used the solicitor recommended by Barrett when buying my house and they never drew my attention to the leasehold on the properly, the terms of the lease, or the service charge going up every 10 years. Needless to say in the future I'm hoping to work on a class action suit against them.
Regarding the mortgage, you'll get the best deal shopping around yourself for one, but it'll depend a lot of how big your deposit is.
Regarding the mortgage, you'll get the best deal shopping around yourself for one, but it'll depend a lot of how big your deposit is.
Associate
This would be my advice too
Get a solicitor on a recommendation from someone you know. Smaller firms are better. Do not use Premier Property lawyers under any circumstances! First move we used a local solicitor which was recommended to us and they were brilliant, easy to contact, pro-actively chased up problems before they became issues etc. Second move we used PPL, who had little idea what was going on, were slow to do things and at crucial times (the day of the move) impossible to contact.
We found London & Country Mortgages very good, their staff were excellent and found us a great deal on a mortgage. They are a broker of sorts. You don't pay them directly, but I'm sure they run on commission. That said they saved us a fair bit on our mortgage so we benefited too!
Dave
We found London & Country Mortgages very good, their staff were excellent and found us a great deal on a mortgage. They are a broker of sorts. You don't pay them directly, but I'm sure they run on commission. That said they saved us a fair bit on our mortgage so we benefited too!
Dave
Soldato
I used London and county also and they seem pretty decent. Got me Nothing better than I could get myself however they will explain the process and spend the time on it which sounds like it may help you.
Soldato
Sorry I meant DIY as in find your own solicitors, instead of using the recommended ones, same with mortgage it's not as difficult as they make it sound
If was a salesman's dream i would i have gone with whatever the EA said rather than post of here looking for opinions....
as for the SDLT1 form £120 or do myself
seems difficult to even get a PDF version just to see what im up against
Man of Honour
We used O'Neill Patient. A month from offer to completion on our leasehold flat and gave us plenty of guidance along the way. As a first time buyer they were fantastic and made me wonder how others complained so much about their transactions with other conveyancers. They really set the standard in our experience.