When you’re buying a house, you need to have so many people, so many pieces of paperwork, so many dates and dotted lines and agreements in place all at once that to call it a ‘juggling act’ would seem very reductive.
From your removal firm to your conveyancer, your property surveyor to your mortgage broker, simply keeping up with communications is a full-time job – one very few of us have time for.
For that reason, you need to be sure you’re making the right choice, particularly when it comes to your conveyancer. They deal with the legalities, and look out for you on your behalf during a complicated and stressful process.
E-conveyancers are on the rise as the most convenient option, but do they really hold up against a local solicitor?
The benefits of a local solicitor
For starters, local solicitors like willans.co.uk have built a reputation within the local community over the course of many years – or, in some cases, decades. There’s a seal of approval that the most respected firms have that cannot be replicated by new, nationwide, digital conveyancers, and that comes highly valued by clients who understand the gravity of a house purchase.
Beyond that, however, there are plenty more benefits to consider:
- Care
E-conveyancers are profitable because they hire a large workforce and work through a massive number of cases on any given week. Each agent will have a target to meet and, out of necessity, will have to treat each client as ‘just another number’.
This may work for their bottom line but, for clients who have their own questions, concerns and worries, being ‘just another number’ is far from ideal. No two house sales or purchases are the same and the cookie-cutter approach makes that point abundantly clear.
Local solicitors take on fewer cases, which means they can invest more time, attention, care, and expertise into your house move. - Availability
Whether you’ve completed a house purchase before or this is your first time, it’s inevitable that questions and concerns will pop up. When you’ve got the personalised experience offered by a local solicitor, you can feel confident that they will respond as soon as possible. If you’re another number in the spreadsheet, it’s easy to be forgotten about. House moves are stressful, and while there are things you can do to deal with moving stress, a solicitor will be paramount to minimising that stress, too. - Local knowledge
It really helps to work with someone so closely connected with the local area. Conveyancers have to communicate with one another, along with estate agents. If they have strong relationships with those local entities, things can run a lot smoother.
The benefits of an e-conveyancer
Some house sales are easier and more straightforward than others, and those are the types of cases that the big e-conveyancing firms bank on. The right automations can push paperwork through very quickly and, provided a case fits the mould, things will run relatively smoothly. This is why there are people out there who have good stories to tell about e-conveyancer – things can and will go through without a hitch.
The trouble is, you can’t be sure ahead of time whether or not your case will be simple. There’s a risk that important things will be missed or delays could be set in motion long before anyone is aware of them.
For the overwhelming majority of cases, a local solicitor is by far the best choice. For the rest, a local solicitor remains the safest bet.
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