Cheap Conveyancing Quotes - Things to watch out for.

Question, "when is so called cheap conveyancing not really cheap?"

There are two answers to the question:

Where a quote which fails to take into account the cost of "all usual searches" is reflected in a failure to carry out searches which would have revealed an adverse entry.
Where cheap headline rates disguise supplemental fees or disbursements which are really fees.

The Solicitors' Regulation Authority is keen to ensure that disguising fees as disbursements (even unintentionally) becomes a thing of the past so transparent pricing between solicitors to check whether a quote really is cheap should become easier as new rules implemented on 1st July take effect in the solicitors' profession. These rules do not affect licensed conveyancers who are separately regulated.

Some firms quite properly distinguish between legal work to do with checking the title and transmitting it from seller to buyer and more administrative tasks such as completing stamp duty land tax returns (which after all is for the benefit of the government not the buyer) or arranging transmission of funds via the banking system. While this transparency is a good thing proper care should be taken in ensuring that all relevant fees have been identified when comparing quotes.

Some firms (or web based introducers) still think that it is acceptable where there is a mortgagee to carry out only a basic search of the local authority. Thus the disbursement quoted for preliminary fees is only in the order of £100 or so, the cost of a local search. This practice, however, ignores the lenders injunction to carry out all usual searches which is there for good reason. For instance, a common myth is that the local search will reveal planning applications in the vicinity of the property to be bought. Wrong. It will only reveal local planning authority policies for the area two completely different things! Nor will it necessarily reveal environmental matters in detail, a proper environmental search is needed for this and a third party planning search for the former.

So beware of conveyancers bearing cheap search disbursement quotes. You might be buying a Trojan Horse!

Cheap Conveyancing Quotes from Remortgage-Conveyancing.co.uk show all our fees as fees. We disguise nothing as disbursements and we take no referral fees.