Do Home Buyers Need Local Conveyancers?

It is not necessary for home buyers to get a local conveyancer to buy property in England and Wales. While their local expertise may be a benefit, online conveyancing lawyers can also provide faster, more transparent, and more efficient services regardless of location.

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What are local conveyancing lawyers?

Local conveyancing lawyers are law firms handling property transactions in the same area where you’d like to purchase a property. If you do a Google search for conveyancers in your area, it will probably bring up a number of solicitor firms based in your nearest town centre.

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll probably find that most of these firms don’t just deal with property. Many pride themselves on being a ‘one-stop shop’ for a whole range of issues affecting people in their local area. So alongside conveyancing, they may also handle matters such as family, wills, employment, and criminal defence.

This type of business is often called a high-street solicitors’ firm.

The benefits of local

Accessibility

Local conveyancers offer in-person access, allowing you to visit their office, submit requirements, sign documents, and discuss the process face-to-face. This can be reassuring for buyers who are cautious about the process due to the high cost of buying a property and who would like hands-on support.

Going local can also make sense if you prefer to handle matters personally rather than over the phone.

With an office nearby, you can drop off documents and requirements and even verify your ID in person.

Local knowledge

Local conveyancers understand regional property trends and have a geographic network that enables them to connect and collaborate, helping get things done quickly.

While this remains an advantage, access to digital systems that standardise processes across England and Wales could mean that location-specific expertise is less critical than before.

The limitations of local

Outdated processes

Smaller local firms can be slow to adopt new processes that make the practical side of conveyancing easier. For instance, you may have to wait for routine documents to arrive in your letterbox, rather than them being sent to your phone. Likewise, despite the existence of digital ID-check technology, you might still be expected to come into the office to produce formal documents in person.

Many of us are now well used to dealing with banking and insurance entirely online. So when it comes to conveyancing, the traditional way of doing things can be a little frustrating.

Staying in touch

Local conveyancing solicitors often pride themselves on high levels of personal service, delivered face-to-face. But in practice, the property department of a small firm might comprise one or two conveyancing solicitors and a few assistants. Many are unable to take queries or arrange appointments outside of traditional office hours, which can be inconvenient if you are tied up during the day.

These local conveyancers don’t have a go-to account manager to handle the entire transaction. Instead, a solicitor might handle the key parts of the process (such as the exchange of contracts), while assistants handle day-to-day queries. If you want to know what’s going on, or if you have a quick question, it can sometimes be difficult to get hold of someone who can give you an answer.

Fees

A local conveyancer isn’t always able to give a definitive answer. Many local firms still prefer to work on the basis of ‘likely estimates’ rather than ‘fixed fees’. If it’s a simple transaction, you should find that the estimate is pretty close to the actual amount. However, if there are special considerations (a leasehold flat, a group purchase, or a requirement for specialist conveyancing searches, for instance), smaller local firms can be more reluctant to provide a definite quote from the outset. You may also be required to pay, even if the purchase doesn’t go through.

What are online conveyancers?

Online conveyancers are qualified solicitors or licensed conveyancing lawyers who operate online rather than in a brick-and-mortar office. Unlike many high street firms that do a little bit of everything, online conveyancers tend to specialise in using technology to streamline the conveyancing process, improve communication, and reduce delays across England and Wales.

The benefits of online

Accessibility

Online conveyancers allow home buyers to complete the conveyancing process remotely through efficient digital tools. From searches and contract exchange through to gaining formal mortgage approval, most elements of the conveyancing process can now be done online. There’s no need for clients to physically come into the office at any stage.

Online conveyancing firms also tend to be very good at giving you the information you need, right when you need it. If you want to check your progress, you can simply log in to the online portal for an instant update.

Proactive account management

Online conveyancing often provides a dedicated support system and proactive updates throughout the transaction. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean personal touch is sacrificed. With Muve, for example, you get fully up to date via the client portal, and you’ll be assigned a dedicated account manager to answer queries by phone or email.

Behind the scenes, online conveyancers are often much better equipped to keep things moving than their traditional counterparts. For instance, case management technology will automatically flag that another party needs to be chased, so matters move swiftly.

Fixed prices

Online conveyancing firms offer fixed-fee conveyancing with no hidden costs. It can also include a “No Move, No Fee” guarantee to help buyers reduce financial risk.

Good online conveyancing firms combine knowledge and technology to progress your property purchase as quickly and effectively as possible. As part of this, they can be much more definite on things like timeframes and (just as importantly) fees.

Transparency

Local firms often thrive on word-of-mouth recommendations. For online conveyancing firms, reputation is just as important. Thanks to independent review sites such as Trustpilot, it’s often easier to verify the firm’s reputation than to rely on anecdotal accounts.

The limitations of online

Absence of local knowledge

Online conveyancing may not be locally based in the region where you are buying a property, but that doesn’t put them at a disadvantage. Most legal processes, authority searches, and communications are standardised across England and Wales. This means legal expertise is not reliant on personal familiarity with the local area.

Back when local authority searches involved a lot of manual processing, it sometimes helped to be on first-name terms with the person handling them at the council to move things along. But now that these processes have mostly gone digital, local familiarity is much less relevant.

No in-person meetings

Modern communication tools, dedicated account managers, and online case-tracking tools enable fast response times, providing a better conveyancing experience despite the lack of in-person meetings.

But if you are the type of person who prefers to conduct business face-to-face, it’s fair to say that an online solicitor might not be for you. But remember, the personal touch means much more than being in the same room as your conveyancer. Is there a single point of contact looking after everything for you? Do they respond when you need them? This is what matters—and it’s something the best online conveyancers excel at.

Which is right for me?

If you value having your conveyancer physically nearby, or perhaps you have a longstanding relationship with a local firm, then staying local may be right for you.

Alternatively, if you are looking for the most efficient service possible, making the most out of the latest technology (while still keeping that personal touch), an online conveyancer makes perfect sense.

For more information about conveyancing, be sure to check out our knowledge hub. Alternatively, you can meet our amazing team of online conveyancers right here. Get an instant conveyancing quote now!