Question 1

Is it better to use a solicitor or a conveyancer?

Accepted Answer

Licensed conveyancers receive their accreditation from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. They are quite distinct from conveyancers/paralegals in that they are officially qualified. You can think of them overall as people who act as qualified solicitors but purely in the conveyancing arena.
In contrast, a qualified solicitor acting in the conveyancing field has the general training that a solicitor has - e.g. in employment law - but has chosen to specialise in conveyancing. They have to be a member of the Law Society in order to practise. We always recommend instructing a solicitor for your purchase or sale, as they are more strictly regulated and can handle more complex transactions.
Similarly, the vast majority of legal tasks required for a house move are carried out by people termed paralegals and/or property conveyancers. These terms refer to the fact that these professionals do not have formal membership - and qualifications - required to be either a solicitor or licensed conveyancer or legal executive.
That said, that does not stop these people from carrying out conveyancing work; in fact many of these individuals have many years of experience. It is normal, however, in an established legal firm, for the overall responsibility for any particular conveyancing case to be placed in the hands of either a solicitor, licensed conveyancer or legal executive: they are the people who give ultimate 'sign-off'.
In sum, your conveyancing might be carried out by people described as conveyancing lawyers or solicitors: the difference is a fairly subtle one and the most important thing is that the work is overseen by someone with one of the official qualifications described above and of course that they - and their team, if relevant - carry out their tasks efficiently.

Question 2

Is there a benefit to using an online conveyancing solicitor?

Accepted Answer

An online lawyer is still a solicitor or a conveyancer, they just advertise their conveyancing services online.
The most important thing is that the conveyancing firm you choose uses modern methods of communication wherever possible, simply because to use Royal Mail when you could use email for example is likely to cause delays and may even result in essential documents being lost. If something can only be sent by post, then your solicitor will naturally do this.
 People often wonder whether they should be looking for a property solicitors near me rather than choosing an online solicitor that does conveyancing. The fact is that your conveyancing lawyer never has to visit your property in order to carry out your conveyancing legally, efficiently and correctly and it is in fact easier, less time-consuming and less expensive to check your ID and financial capability using electronic means rather than meeting face-to-face. They can be sent vital documents such as your Building Survey and your local authority property conveyancing search electronically. 
In fact you'll often find that if you choose a 'conveyancer near me' for example, on your local high street, they might well be more expensive. After all, they have to pay high street rates among other costs and they'll most likely charge you 'on the clock' for their time if you have to visit them in person for ID checking etc.
So instead of searching for a conveyancer near me, it's more advisable to examine your online conveyancing quotes carefully and it's highly important to consider matters such as their positive reviews and to take on board personal recommendations.

Question 3

Residential conveyancing lawyer or commercial property solicitor?

Accepted Answer

A commercial property solicitor's knowledge area differs considerably from a residential conveyancing lawyer. As a general rule, we are not in the commercial property sphere and would recommend that you find an appropriate commercial property solicitor if you need one. For residential conveyancing, however, we are always delighted to help answer any questions you have.

An important consideration when choosing your solicitor is whether the firm is on all mortgage lender panels. Lenders only allow certain particular conveyancing lawyer firms to act for them in any residential conveyancing transaction, so if you've lined up a mortgage in principle, you should ensure that your chosen solicitor can actually act for you and that lender. Happily, our property solicitors are on all mortgage lender panels.*

Question 4

How do I reduce the conveyancing costs?

Accepted Answer

Conveyancing costs are - it's true - yet another cost in an already expensive process. But how can you get a conveyancing quote from the best conveyancing solicitors while still managing to cut unnecessary expense and get cheap conveyancing overall? 
When examining online conveyancing quotes for a solicitor for buying a house or flat, perhaps the first thing we'd advise is to go for fixed fee conveyancing quotes. Although you should always examine any quote carefully, with fixed fee online conveyancing quotes you can more easily compare between them and, if you choose to take one up, you'll know from the outset how much you'll have to budget for your conveyancing costs for your residential conveyancing. 
Even with the best solicitors, sadly as many as one third of all residential conveyancing matters fall through for one reason or another. You might have chosen a firm such as GD Property Solicitors or Premier Property Lawyers Leicester, both of whom have excellent reputations, however many disruptions are completely beyond the control of even the best residential solicitors. It is for these situations we'd always recommend you getting a No Sale No Fee Guarantee.
With a No Sale No Fee Guarantee you can rest assured that even if your house conveyancing falls through, you won't have to pay extra to start up your next transaction. As soon as you're ready to proceed with your new property, the work can continue with no extra costs to pay and you won't have to pay the balance of your fees until the end of the process. This is another critical tip in ensuring that you get cheap conveyancing.
Finally, you should always consider the broader picture. Much research has shown that, once the 'dust has settled', people most often say that they'd have been happy to pay a little more for a relatively swift and efficient conveyancing process. And purely going for the cheapest conveyancing quotes can end up with you ultimately paying more. The best conveyancing firms for example are more likely to ensure that their conveyancing lawyers aren't overburdened with cases which means that matters are unlikely to slip or mistakes to be made - and it is from these that you'll therefore receive the best quotes.

Question 5

Do I need Local Conveyancing Solicitors Near Me?

Accepted Answer

Historically, you used to have to see your property solicitors face to face for ID and signing contracts because of old technology and no online ID checks. Nowadays, technology has moved on and there isn’t the need to be local to your property solicitors as the whole process can be completed via email, post and telephone and with online ID checking – which is great as it saves you time and money.

So, for example, for your ID, we will offer you an online ID checking service instead of needing to provide your original passport and for the signing of the contract prior to exchange, we issue to you via email or post, you then sign and return to us by special delivery.

The key thing for us is that you can pick up the phone and speak to us whenever you need to, and when you have a local property solicitors, that still may not be the case.

Using our service we can act for clients who are based anywhere, whether in England or overseas who are looking for conveyancing solicitors near me:

Question 6

What does a conveyancing solicitor do?

Accepted Answer

A solicitor who is trained in conveyancing will oversee the entire process of a house purchase or sale for you. You will need one to carry out the legal work between you and the mortgage lender. In fact, you will be asked to submit their details when applying for a mortgage.

They will also raise legal enquiries for you. This includes:

    Contract of sale
    Property Information Forms including TA6, TA10 and (if leasehold) TA7
    Sale memorandum
    Title deeds
    Title plan
    Warranties and/or guarantees
    (if leasehold) Lease
    (if leasehold) Leasehold Management Pack

CQS Conveyancing Solicitors. Local knowledge, national coverage.

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