Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership of a property from seller to buyer, along with all the associated legal and administrative work. It is undertaken either by solicitors (registered with the Law Society) or specialist providers called licensed conveyancers (registered with the Council of Licensed Conveyancers). A good conveyancer can make the process as quick as possible, reduce the risk of the sale falling through, and minimise your stress and anxiety levels. Unfortunately the quality of conveyancing is extremely variable. Worse still, paying a premium price is no guarantee of quality. Apparently respectable providers use some very questionable tactics to hide charges in their estimate which are then added to your final bill.
Pick a Specialist
Practice makes perfect. So choose a firm that specialises in conveyancing, either a stand alone provider, or a dedicated division of a larger firm. Small family practices may have a reassuring bedside manner, but this is no substitute for depth of experience. You may also value resources such as online case tracking where you can check progress on a password protected website.
Identify Your Case Handler
You should have a single contact person, easily accessible by a direct line/ mobile and willing to be contacted out of office hours. Routine admin work is easily and cost-effectively undertaken by junior staff, but a mature experienced person should be your key contact. You'll be lucky to speak to the same person twice at the larger call-centre based operations. Choose someone you feel is personable, helpful, and can turn legal jargon into plain English.
Check Your Quote Carefully
Look out for two or three key phrases which guarantee value, and be alert to the warning signs of sharp practice.
No Deal, No Fee This means that if the sale does not go ahead you will not be charged time costs for legal work involved. You may still have to pay for any disbursement (3rd party costs) incurred to that point.
Fixed Fee The fee quoted will not increase regardless of any complications that may arise which could otherwise add substantially to the time costs involved. Specialists can do this because time over-runs in some cases will be offset by untroubled transactions in others. Firms doing low volumes of conveyancing work can't pool risks to benefit clients in this way.
All-Inclusive This phrase should mean there are no costs excluded from the quotation. Costs fall into two groups: legal fees and disbursements (3rd party costs including local authority searches, land registration fees, and bankruptcy checks). Legal fees and disbursements should be quoted separately. Disbursements can account for half the total costs, so expect these to be itemised and individually priced. If disbursement costs are not included, then the quote is not all-inclusive. Expect to pay £400-800 excluding VAT for legal services, and £400-700 for disbursements. Very low or high property prices will attract lower or higher total disbursements because land registration fees are tiered by property price.
Be wary of low headline fees ("£99 + VAT") which exclude many predictable costs, and will thus bear little relation to your final bill. Over-worked conveyancers are more likely to make mistakes, so anyone who competes exclusively on price is best given a wide berth.
Watch out for hidden extras in the small print. Any legitimate additional costs such as checking leaseholds should always be quoted upfront. More questionable are supplementary charges for routine work such as completing Stamp Duty forms, asking 'extra' questions of the vendor, and express work between exchange and completion. Extra costs for photocopying, phone calls, and postage may be unavoidable in legal cases where such costs are unpredictable and vary hugely by client, but should not really be added as extras in this kind of work. Where conveyancing departments of larger law firms have to separate such 'stationery costs' to comply with internal corporate practice, this should not inflate the total price you pay.
Beware Estate Agent Referrals
It's always easy to ask your estate agent for a recommendation. Unfortunately estate agents may simply refer you to the conveyancer who pays them the best referral fee. The more insistent an estate agent is that you use their recommended provider the likelier it is that they have a vested interest in the appointment.
Don't Limit Your Choice to Local Providers
There are real advantages in using a local firm if your purchase involves boundary disputes or rights of way, as the conveyancer may need to visit the property. However, routine work is conducted by phone, e-mail, post or fax - so proximity is not as important as is often believed. If you're personally more comfortable with someone you can meet face to face, that's fine. But be aware that some local solicitors can take advantage of this preference without providing competitively priced, client-focused services.
Don't Forget the Hygiene บ้านมือสอง Factors
Check your conveyancer is on the approved list of your mortgage provider so you avoid any additional fee from the lender. Verify they have professional indemnity cover of £1 million or more. Ensure you get a Client Care letter setting out their obligations, and complaints procedures.
Cheap conveyancing isn't good, but good conveyancing needn't be expensive. Helpful conveyancers with high professional standards can make this critical stage of your home purchase go smoothly, and stop problems turning into crises.
All indicated costs are for illustration purposes only. While the author has made all efforts to ensure these figures are fairly representative as of May 2011 he cannot accept any responsibility as to their strict and absolute accuracy, now or in the future.
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