Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services in Hope Valley:
There are a lot of terms to contend with when searching for help with legal matters. Did you know that 'solicitors' and 'lawyers' are not the same thing in the UK? If you didn't know, don't worry. Sadly that difference is often not explained well by either. Also, while you may have gone through a dozen websites today of 'Conveyancing' firms - not all are the same. There's a distinct difference between a 'licensed conveyancer' and a 'conveyancing solicitor'.
For today's article we will be talking about Conveyancers who are regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), and Solicitors who are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Both of these types should be trained, regulated and insured. Both deal with preparing contracts, land registry searches, local authority/access checks, money transfers, etc.
That's the tagline for the Eve Lake website which is an example of a Licensed Conveyancer. These are usually a lower cost option compared to a conveyancing solicitor. However, if you already know there might be legal issues surrounding your sale such as a boundary dispute or if the sellers are getting divorced - then the extra legal expertise a solicitor brings could be necessary.
Be aware though, in either case, most mortgage lenders will only deal with certain conveyancers and solicitors on their panel. If they are not on your mortgage lender's panel then there could be an extra fee required (at the very least) so it's something to check on before signing on the dotted line with any conveyancer.
Of course once you've settled on the idea of which route to go, picking the firm is going to be difficult as well. Every property firm will make a promise like this one from the Eve Lake site above. The first thing people tend to do to check up on this, though, is read public review boards such as Google, Facebook or Trustpilot. How does Eve Lake Conveyancing fare on the comment forums?
"extremely quick to get the purchase completed"
"went above and beyond to bring things in within timescales"
"fantastic communication and frequent updates on the app"
As these snippets show, the majority of reviews are positive with average star ratings in the 4s. This is actually more significant than you might first think. We've been writing in the legal industry for over twenty years and conveyancing firms with star ratings in the 4s is actually rather unusual. Unlike divorce, criminal law, or a will - with a property sale, 99% of the time someone is frustrated with how it's going. We've even seen people leave reviews on the other side's solicitors trying to badger then into hurrying up with something. That's a tactic you simply don't see anywhere else in legal matters.
A quick note on navigation as the branding has quite a long official name. The official full name is Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services with the official web address being www.evelake.co.uk The site is HTTPS secure for submitting your personal details into their callback form. But most variants we tried such as the .com version or evelakeconveyancing.co.uk all returned domains owned by other companies or not at all.
This is hugely important to note because for property matters you absolutely need to make sure you are on the correct site and only discussing the sale with your firm. There have been tens of thousands of people across the UK handing their entire house deposit to fraudsters sometimes over a simple email telling them the bank details had changed. Be alert throughout your transaction.
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Currently rated 4.4 from 17 votes*
General Notes: Legal Aid availability changes constantly, so ask up front. If you are looking for a career with Eve Lake Conveyancing & Legal Services it's best to visit the website (www.evelake.co.uk) and locate the correct phone/email contact details. Any quoted here will be for potential clients. Alternating or adding words such as Eve Lake Conveyancing may bring up different background/reviews on the firm. Each firm's Law Society and/or SRA number should be on their site too.