Introduction To Property Conveyancing

Conveyancing solicitors essentially handle all the legal implications that are involved with buying and selling a property. “Conveyancer” is the generic term given to either a conveyancing solicitor or licenced conveyancer. All solicitors practising law in England and Wales must also be registered with the Law Society.

There are basically 2 types of conveyancers, high street and volume:

High Street - Your local solicitor with one or two offices. They offer 1 on 1 advice, and generally do a thorough job. Unfortunately, to make ends meet a lot of high street firms have to multi discipline i.e. your solicitor may be drafting someone’s will or representing someone in court so may not always be available to speak to. High Street firms also tend to be more costly. Finding the right high street firm is best done by word of mouth. Find out from your friends and relatives whether they can recommend a good solicitor.

Volume firms - the big multi office firms. A lot of people refer to these as “conveyancing factories” as they churn out hundreds of transactions a month. They have teams of people doing nothing but conveyancing transactions. These are big firms that invest heavily in hi-tech systems to make your transaction faster. As they spend less time on the case it takes up less of their time and they can charge less than a high street conveyancer. However you may not speak to the same person every time you ring and you probably won’t have the option of seeing them face to face.

My advice is, if you have a simple purchase i.e freehold property, straightforward mortgage etc go for the volume firm and save some cash. Their hi-tech systems will deal with a simple case in next to no time.

If you are buying a complex new built, leasehold then you may want to instruct a high street firm. That way you can sit down with your conveyancer face to face so they can explain all the complexities of the property to you.

Top Tip: Don’t listen to your estate agent’s recommendation. Most of them are on commission from conveyancers.

For Free Professional Conveyancing Advice, go to my other blog entry, where Luke, the resident expert can assist you further.

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