This has both benefits and a downside, as an irresistibly low quote for online conveyancing might not be the best deal for your conveyancing needs.

Advantages of online conveyancing

Conveyancing used to be a formal and often stressful process, involving meetings with solicitors and other conveyancing professionals – and the through of having to deal with a mountain of paperwork.

Online conveyancing has kicked the whole process into the 21^st century and the advantages are:

• Meetings with solicitors are not required, making the process cheaper and faster

• Online access to your conveyancing account 24/7, enabling you to check progress

• Faster responses from authorities such as the Land Registry as most records are now online.

The disadvantages of online conveyancing include:

• Less or no direct contact with your conveyancing professional

• Documents such as leases may not be in electronic format and may need to be copied or uploaded, meaning extra costs

• Costs such as postage, phone calls, completing forms and disbursements may apply to the final bill, so check exactly which services your quote for online conveyancing covers

• Some online conveyancing companies are based on a call centre system, so if anything goes wrong it may be difficult to actually get to speak to someone.

Find an online conveyancing quote

Most firms of conveyancing solicitors and other professionals now offer quotes online – or there are specialist comparison websites offering quotes for online conveyancing.

Whether you are a vendor (seller) or purchaser, it is advisable to obtain a selection of conveyancing quotes from different sources, such as individual firms or online comparison websites.

The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accredits conveyancing solicitors and many reputable firms now offer online conveyancing as a fast and more economical way of handling the process – as opposed to just offering a cut price service, as some providers do.

The options are:

• Looking for a firm of online conveyancers which is a member of the CQS offers some reassurance that your conveyancer has been approved by the Law Society – look for online conveyancing offered by firms which supply an established  business address and telephone or direct email contact

• There are other online conveyancing providers which may offer cheap or even conditional fee deals (“No move, no fee”), but these may turn out to be faceless, web-based companies – estate agents now run some online conveyancing services, so check out any companies you are referred to by other parties involved in the sale before you decide.

Once you have chosen your online conveyancing provider, make the most of the advantages – check your account regularly to make sure everything is proceeding to schedule.

However, remember that any extra services – even an extra email or a phone call to your conveyancing solicitor to discuss a problem – may incur extra fees.

Don’t be shy about talking money and clarifying additional costs with your conveyancing firm – when the final invoice is drawn up, your conveyancing firm will not be shy about billing you for them.

Ask for a complete breakdown of costs if there is anything you are not sure about – all fees should be logged on your account as they accrue and a printout to explain how these have accrued should be available without any problem.

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The Legal Services Board (LSB) is currently reviewing conveyancing services in a bid to cut mortgage and conveyancing fraud – and make sure that any conveyancing quote and marketing information about costs are accurate.

The Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) also accredits firms and it is advisable to use the services of a firm of conveyancing specialists with CQS membership

Your mortgage lender may select a conveyancing firm for you if its has its own conveyancing panel of accredited professionals, such as conveyancing solicitors; otherwise obtaining a conveyancing quote online or approaching a local firm of conveyancing specialists are the best ways of finding conveyancing quotes.

Find a conveyancing quote for vendors

Vendors need  conveyancing quotes that will cover the whole process without cutting corners – remember that if your sale falls through because your conveyancing is not completed to schedule, you will lose money.

A vendor’s conveyancing quote should include:

• Information about how your solicitor will charge for time – eg, a set rate, hourly or a rate based on the value of your property, which is the usual arrangement for setting professional fee levels

• Details of the costs of any disbursements, which should be itemised and include Land Registry fees for copies of documents and fees for transferring monies

• Extra costs such as fees for processing the sale of leasehold properties, which take more time because the lease has to be read, copied and sent to the purchaser in the initial information pack.

If your conveyancing solicitor charges an hourly rate, fees even for a legal executive can cost more than £100 plus VAT per hour – and more senior solicitors can charge £200-£300 plus VAT per hour.

Make sure you know what your conveyancing quote covers and are aware of any possible additional costs such as phone calls, postage, searches, completing forms – and even making a payment towards your solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance. Ask for a breakdown of all potential costs and what is included in the conveyancing quote you have been given.

Your solicitor must advise you if any fee level set is going to be exceeded, so insist on being kept informed about how costs are adding up to avoid a nasty shock when the final bill arrives.

Find a conveyancing quote for purchasers

Obtaining a conveyancing quote has become a highly competitive market with the advent of online conveyancing – and for many purchasers this can seem like a cheap and easy option.

If you choose a conveyancing quote which seems cheap and cheerful you may find that extras soon bump up the bill, so it is important to know exactly what the quote will cover from the outset.

A purchaser’s conveyancing quote should include:

• Information about how your solicitor will charge for time – eg, a set rate, which is preferable, or an hourly rate

• Details of the costs of any disbursements, which should be itemised and include the following searches
  • Land Registry
  • Local Authority
  • Local searches
  • Bankruptcy
  • Environmental Search

Purchasers will also have to pay disbursements based on the property’s value such as Land Registry Fees and Stamp Duty, which your conveyancer will be able to estimate when the conveyancing quote is issued.

Other costs may accrue from postage, telephone calls, completing forms, dealing with the lease and any subsequent queries – plus a possible payment towards your solicitor’s professional indemnity insurance.

With so many different factors which may inflate a conveyancing quote, it is important to make sure you know what you will be paying for – and insist on being advised in good time if any fee level is to be exceeded and also the reason for this.

A conveyancer has your future in their hands to a certain extent – so make sure your conveyancing quote covers the work you require.

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Some put this down to the falling prices of international travel particularly with in Europe, whereas some suggest that actually it is more down to the unprecedented rises in the property values in the UK compared to other countries. Despite the falling costs of purchasing a house including services of conveyancing solicitors, the economic crisis has put a halt to the seemingly relentless rise in property values in this country but properties remain two or three times the price of their European equivalents.

With over a million British (or former British) citizens now owning property in Spain alone and equally substantial numbers spread across other southern Europe nations such as Italy, France and Portugal as well as further afield such as the United States, Canada, China and Australia – the number of expats grows annually. Whilst this may be the dream for many, the low costs of buying a home abroad is making it very much a reality. The cost of conveyancing solicitors in the UK may be lowering thanks to the growth of online conveyancing solicitors, their european counterparts can remain quite expensive with conveyancing solicitors particularly in Europe charging a lot more for foreign clients.

The work involved for conveyancing solicitors preparing a house purchase for foreign residents can be slightly more than locals, but by choosing the right conveyancing solicitors you can ensure you not only get a good deal but also a good service. This incredible migration trend from the UK to warmer climates has made it easier, with many conveyancing solicitors now catering specifically for English speaking clients. In fact, in most southern European countries you will find that there will be conveyancing solicitors that are expats themselves and will work solely with other Brits and leave the local work to local conveyancing solicitors.

Whether you are buying a new build property or an established one, ensuring you appoint reputable, local conveyancing solicitors is essential to ensuring a smooth transaction. It’s difficult buying a house in this country, but factor in the difference in procedures, laws and of course the language barrier and you will see why few people dare to try and purchase property abroad without the assistance of a experienced conveyancing solicitors.

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If you are buying a house, you will probably already be aware that it is far from a simple process and that without the support of experienced local conveyancing solicitors, you will likely struggle. A lot of first-time buyers, often the younger generation, are beginning to use online conveyancing solicitors as opposed to going to their local conveyancing solicitors for advice. This may be the convenience of being able to google conveyancing solicitors and see your prices and information in front of you, or it may be that they think local conveyancing solicitors are likely to be much more expensive – but it’s not always advisable.

As a first time buyer you will likely have to deal with a wide variety of new terms and phrases that you have never heard before and whilst the internet can also help with that, with local conveyancing solicitors it’s as simple as picking up a phone and asking them. The cost-conscious amongst you may worry that this may again end up costing you money, but if you are looking to use local conveyancing solicitors you will find that the majority will not charge on an hourly basis but rather give you a one-off fee. So you can ask as many questions as you want without paying a penny extra! Online conveyancing solicitors will likely have the same sort of thing with a helpline, but the likelihood of the person answering the phone being the actual conveyancing solicitors dealing with your individual case is unlikely.

Local conveyancing solicitors and online conveyancing solicitors both have their own advantages. But with the difficulties and the learning curve you will experience when buying your first property, the piece of mind and personal touch of having your local conveyancing solicitors handling your case so that you can pop in whenever you wish, adds a lot of value with a little extra cost. Online conveyancing solicitors may (and this is not always the case) be slightly cheaper, but local conveyancing solicitors will quickly prove their worth.

Conveyancing solicitors are not the only thing a first-time buyer will need to consider, but they can take a lot of the hassle out of buying a property. You will need to consider if you are eligible for a mortgage and then think about the actual property you want to buy, but the difficult comes when you have made this decision. Making your offer in writing, arranging the contracts, checking over the contracts of the seller, assessing the stability of the property, submitting documents to the land registry – all things that need to be considered. This is where conveyancing solicitors come in again, they will take care of the vast majority of these things and allow you to focus on actually moving house. Conveyancing solicitors will liaise with the seller and deal with the paperwork so that, if you’ve chosen good conveyancing solicitors, all you need to do is keep in touch with them to see how the deal is progressing. Your conveyancing solicitors will then ensure that the transaction is completed smoothly and just let you know when they need certain things from you i.e. to sign the contracts, transfer the money etc.

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