Here is what to ask before you instruct.
1. Who will actually be doing the work?
Ask for the name of the person handling your file and how many files they carry. High-volume operations can run to well over a hundred at a time. You want a named contact who knows your matter, not a case reference passed between departments.
2. How will I reach them, and how quickly will they respond?
Ask whether you get a direct dial and an email address for the fee earner, or only a general enquiries line. Ask what their normal response time is. A firm that will not commit to one has told you something useful.
3. Is the quote a quote, or an estimate?
A proper quote separates the firm’s legal fee from disbursements — searches, Land Registry fees, bankruptcy and priority searches, and Stamp Duty Land Tax where payable. Ask specifically what is notincluded: leasehold work, a gifted deposit, a Help to Buy redemption, an indemnity policy, expedited searches and dealing with a management company are all common extras.
4. Are you on my lender’s panel?
If your solicitor is not approved by your mortgage lender, the lender will instruct its own — and you will pay for both. Check before you instruct, not after your mortgage offer arrives.
5. Have you dealt with a property like mine?
Leasehold flats, shared ownership, new build with a fixed exchange deadline, unregistered land, properties with a management company or a septic tank — each has its own traps. Experience of the specific type matters more than general volume.
6. Where are you, and does it matter?
Local knowledge is genuinely useful in a conveyancing transaction: knowledge of local authority search turnaround times, of mining and brine searches in parts of Cheshire and Merseyside, of the developments and estates that come with known title quirks. Being able to drop in with documents rather than posting originals is not a small thing either.
7. What are your searches, and how long do they take?
Local authority search times vary considerably between councils. Ask which searches the firm will carry out as standard and what the current turnaround is in the relevant area.
8. Are you regulated, and by whom?
Check the firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. A regulated solicitor carries professional indemnity insurance and is subject to a complaints process that ends with the Legal Ombudsman.
Talk to us
Our conveyancing team acts for buyers and sellers across Widnes, Runcorn, St Helens and Merseyside. For a quote, call 0151 422 0982.