When compared to house viewings and choosing furnishings, selecting a conveyancer can often be perceived as the less glamorous side of the home buying process. Yet, as Stephen Ward explains, it's still worth putting in the time to do some research as it will pay off in the end
As lockdown restrictions ease in the coming months and we move into spring, many more people are likely to start thinking about moving house.
When looking to move, people, quite rightly, spend most of their time researching locations, estate agents and the types of properties that they are going to be able to afford in their chosen area.
What they often give less time to, is choosing their conveyancer.
Choosing your conveyancer can certainly seem like the less glamorous end of the property purchase. Something that isn’t given much thought, just the knowledge that you will need to appoint ‘someone’ to do the legal part of the transaction.
However, setting some time aside at the start of the process to research conveyancers is time well spent. After all, buying a property is one of, if not the biggest, purchase you will ever make.
Consider quality, not just price
While it is important to ensure you receive a full and clear quote of costs from conveyancers you are considering using, price shouldn’t be the only factor in your decision on who to appoint.
In the same way you’d be unlikely to make any significant purchase for your new home, such as white goods, without reading reviews. Review sites, such as Trustpilot, now have extensive reviews on legal services and law firms.
These review sites can give you first-hand information on what to expect from the lawyers you are considering and can help you to easily compare key information such as prices, services, and experience. They are a great place to start if you do not have a particular firm in mind as they can provide you with a list of potentially suitable firms to consider.
Whilst still a relatively new way of searching for legal services, it is rapidly growing in popularity as consumers can find out from other consumers who have been in a similar position what their experiences have been like, not just the sales pitch you would find on a law firm’s website.
A number of comparison websites have recently signed up to take part in a pilot scheme. The scheme aims to increase the information easily available to the public on solicitors and law firms. The sites taking part include Trustpilot, The Law Superstore, reviewsolicitors, Lawyer Checker, Legal Utopia, reallymoving, REVIEWS.io and Solicitor.info.
Some of these comparison sites will provide information about all law firms in the country, whereas others just have details of firms who have signed up to their services.
The devil is in the detail
Once you have spent time on some of the comparison websites, you will likely have compiled a shortlist of potential law firms.
At this point it’s a good use of time to look in detail at what their reviewers really thought of the service they received.
It can be tempting to just glance through the top few, but this is likely to be one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make, and you are choosing a conveyancer to facilitate that for you. Take the time to read several reviews so that you get a balanced picture of the firm you are considering.
No business gets it right all of the time, so one negative review does not mean the firm will not provide you with a quality service. But if there are several negative reviews, you might want to think carefully about whether this is the right firm for you.
It’s also worth looking at how firms engage with consumers on these sites. Do firms respond to reviews at all? Do they respond to negative reviews as well as positive ones? This will give you a clear idea of how the firm values its customers and how they handle customer dissatisfaction.
Website
Once you’ve narrowed down your options to just a few it’s worth visiting their individual websites.
Thanks to new rules that came into effect in December 2018, all property lawyers are now required to clearly publish price, service, and quality information on their websites (or in alternative formats if requested).
This is part of an industry wide push to empower consumers and foster innovation and competition across the legal services market.
A firm’s website often helps to give you a ‘feel’ of how they work as a business and you’ll also be able to find their contact details. From here you can then choose to make contact via phone or email to ask for more information and to discuss your specific circumstances.
Stephen Ward is director of strategy and external relations at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)
The CLC is the regulator of specialist property lawyers. For more information visit www.conveyancer.org.uk
