Our aim is to give an efficient, stress-free and value for money experience
Pot holes and other property buying nightmares
Jacinta Walmsley, head of residential conveyancing at Hatchers in Shrewsbury, offers some sound suggestions on how to choose a legal adviser
The price of moving home can represent a small fortune and most people will look for ways to save money. But, as with most purchases, you usually get what you pay for.
When you see conveyancing (the legal work connected to a property sale or purchase) offered at a knock-down price, it will usually be because the law firm involved is part of a national ‘bulk conveyancing’ organisation. The only way these firms can make their conveyancing profitable is to turnaround the maximum number of property transactions for the minimum amount of effort. The result for you, the client, is a reduced service. Typically, you will not be kept informed of how the transaction is progressing and when you telephone to make enquiries you will rarely speak to the same person twice.
Alternatively, you might instruct a solicitor from a small firm that does not specialise in property matters. His quote might be tempting, but the progress of your transaction is likely to be frustratingly slow, as his involvement in other areas of the law could mean time out of the office for days to attend court hearings. And what happens when he’s away from his desk or decides to go on holiday? Exactly – nothing!
Typical comments we hear from clients who have had bad experiences elsewhere are:
“We never knew where we were in the process, so were living on our nerves for days until we could speak to someone”
At Hatchers, our dedicated team of residential conveyancers work from the office all day, every day. Our clients receive a high quality and timely service which meets their individual needs. You can speak to your conveyancer direct because we provide all our clients with the numbers for the phones on our desks, as well as email addresses. But you will not have to chase us, because we report to you on a regular basis about the progress of your transaction
“Halfway through the process we realised the solicitor had no real idea of our situation”
When you instruct us to handle the legal work for the sale or purchase of a home, one of the first things we do is to establish as much information as possible about your personal circumstances which could have an impact on the move – such as planned holidays and details of people living in the house. Anyone over the age of 18, including lodgers or grown-up children, has certain rights and they must be consulted. Overlooking this may lead to delays down the line.
“My previous solicitor didn’t tell me that the road outside the house I bought is ‘unadopted’ and if it needs repairing the Council won’t do it”
If your conveyancer overlooks vital local authority search results such as this and so does not bring them to your attention, you could be in for a pot-holed or pricey future. Hatchers provides a full report to you on the results of all searches, at the point when contracts are ready to be exchanged. This means you will always have the full facts before you make a decision.
When it comes to establishing whether you are paying a fair price for your property transaction, you should weigh up costs against professionalism and peace of mind. At Hatchers, our comprehensive reports, progress updates, care and attention are all part of our service and are included in the quote which we will give you at the outset. Our aim is to give an efficient, stress-free and value for money experience.
For a conveyancing quote and/or home information pack, contact Jacinta on 01743 237617 or j.walmsley@hatchers.co.uk
