Hi All, I've just had an offer accepted on a house and am going to be buying it soon - I need a recommendation on a solicitors which will give reasonable rates for whatever's needed - I am new to the "house buying" malarkey so any help will be greatly appreciated! Cheers MBC
Hi Marcus. I've just completed the purchase of a house in Sunderland. I used these solicitors and they were ok with me. Victoria Usher was my solicitor but they have others there. Good luck. Hedleys & Co Solicitors & Advocates Alliance House 20 Fawcett Street Sunderland SR1 1RZ DX 60702 Sunderland Switchboard: 0191 5670101 Direct Fax: 0191 5147212 Email: v.usher@hedleyssolicitors.com Website: www.hedleyssolicitors.co.uk
Hi mate, I've just completed on mine. My advice is to have a chat with the conveyancer for 5 mins before you decide to go with them. You'll be buying a house under the brand new mortgage application rules (which I fortunately dodged by a month) and I've been told the process can get ridiculously intense. Having a good solicitor will lighten the load so to speak, but honestly the market is flooded with idiotic solicitors. I used a company based in Liverpool called RMNJ who gave great service for a decent rate, everybody was friendly and always available to talk. May seem irrelevant now, but make sure your drivers license has your current address on it, seems stupid considering you're about to move but the lender will want it under the new app rules. Edit: Oh and make sure you get a good freebie chucked in by the lender, half of them are offering to pay your stamp duty nowadays, I got £500 cash back which isn't as good but still better than a kick in the bollocks.
Cheers Terry - much appreciated - Stamp Duty doesn;t apply as it's under the threshold - although I'll still see what freebies I can get from the lender! Thanks for the advice guys all much appreciated and keep them coming!
I can't offer much advice regarding estate agents etc, but I will say that as a first time buyer in what is most definitely a buyers market at this present time, you hold all the aces in the negotiation stakes..
I used Hedley's for dealing with the purchase of the house (x2), settling my Fathers estate and subsequent sale of his house, each of these transactions was dealt with professionally e.g progress reports given regularly,phone calls returned promptly, advice given freely. They helped to take the stress out of the hassle of moving house.
How can you afford a house, in these times mate? Mind on my first in Sunderland i also used Hedleys. Later i parted money with some nag company.. Shop around mate, they are all twats.
My wife is a residential property lawyer - down in Peterborough and about to hang up her boots so geniunely not looking to get any business... What she warns our friends about though is that when they are getting quotes please make sure that you are comparing like with like...as an example the firm she works for give a price in their headline figure which does not cover the cost of "advising on property insurance" - this means that if (as almost everyone is) you`re buying with a mortgage and will therefore be required by the lender to take out insurance they charge you an extra £50... Her quoted price is therefore "understated" by £50... Also ask about the kick back that the estate agent is getting if you use the solicitor they recommend to you (most get a couple of hundred) and you might want a share of that. Most importantly though - make sure that you can get on with the person you`re looking to deal with - if you think they`re an arse (but cheap) before you start then after going through a pretty stressful process you`ll be certain that they`re an arse by the end and be ready to boot them all over the shop - better to pay a few quid more and get on with the person you`re dealing with. Based down south so can`t help with a name locally...
Terry I just moved house 3 months ago and also used RMNJ (Stephen White dealt with mine) they were pretty good to be fair. It used to be what I did (I qualified in 2007) and an ex-colleague works for them. It is a small world. In truth conveyancing is more about having a good cash flow for a firm and making good money on the interest of funds held in account rather than generating much from the actual fees themselves (with many firms this is either a case of breaking even or making small amounts). If you get a quote which is very low it will just mean that the solicitor is overseeing a team of monkeys who will be the ones who actually do most of your work - this can lead to varied results...
Fella called Andrew Hazeldine was my advisor, no complaints about the company they didn't complicate the process or drag their heels so I guess that's all you can ask for isn't it? The vendors solicitors were shocking though, lazy old bastard who wouldn't pull his finger out until I threatened to pull the plug.
Take the details of the person you are buying from and keep in touch with them. I once had a solicitor who was doing a house move for me tell me complete lies becuase they were useless at their job. They kept blaming the seller until i called the seller.
