EarthCitizen

Conveyancing can be done technically from anywhere, so long as the solicitor has appropriate qualifications; it isn't like getting a building survey, where your surveyor should really have expert local knowledge from doing many surveys in the area. ID checking can be done entirely online and there's only a few things, for example, that have to be sent by snail mail (original documents). Conversely, if you opt for a local solicitor, a chunk of what you're paying for is for that solicitor to have a physical office on a high street. Make that a London high street and you can see your bill rising. All this said, you do get what you pay for and from what I've heard, people would have paid more in retrospect if their conveyancing had been handled more speedily and efficiently than it was. My personal recommendation here has to be SAM Conveyancing. They work according to a fixed fee basis so I knew what my bill was going to be right from the get-go. They were very proactive in their customer care and quick to act when there was the odd hold-up in the process. You can find them at www.samconveyancing.co.uk. I found SAM Conveyancing to be brilliant in terms of online solicitors

Hi there, I wouldn't be taken in by claims of local knowledge by a solicitor: conveyancing is a process-driven process and whereas surveyors have to have local knowledge (stands to reason! soil types, building styles, knowledge of whether subsidence is common in the area etc), conveyancers do not: they can achieve nearly all of it by email and telephone. What you need is an experienced conveyancing solicitor who responds to your phonecalls and emails and keeps everything running efficiently. The best I've found online is SAM Conveyancing - www.samconveyancing.co.uk. My mother asked me to handle the conveyancing business for her when she was downsizing. selling the old family home and moving nearby into a cosy flat. They provided pretty much everything: they not only instructed a great solicitor, John Allison, to work for us, I also got a homebuyer's report from them. There was a minor issue about service charges which looked like it was turning ugly but John really stood his ground for us and probably saved mum a lot of money down the line. If you want your moving handled from start to finish, go with SAM Conveyancing, you won't regret it.

That's a wonderful story: I'll bear this lady in mind and if anyone I know needs cleaning, you can bet she'll hear from me!