CMS panel of lawyers and local solicitors  

Conveyancing is the word that defines the transfer of land or houses from one party to another. Licensed conveyancing in England & Wales is carried out by conveyancing solicitors who are governed by the Law Society and licensed conveyancers by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers. These organisations are there to protect the public and all property conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyancers must have in place indemnity insurance to protect their clients. The conveyancing law process can be complex and stressful and it makes sense to use a qualified conveyancer to take care of your property law transaction. If you have a mortgage on the property all mortgage lenders will insist that you use a qualified conveyancer who is on their conveyancing panel. 

Depending on the type of property you are buying or selling may influence the type of conveyancing solicitor you choose to instruct to handle the legalities of the property sale or purchase - if a property comprises more complex aspects such as flying freeholds, leasehold elements, shared boundaries etc you may well prefer to appoint a conveyancing solicitor who you can speak to directly rather than a strictly online conveyancing firm where your conveyancing may be handled, in the majority, by an administrator, rather than a trained conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer. In these more complication situations, the more information you can provide at the outset, the better - it could save you weeks in the long run as questions will inevitably be posed by the other party's conveyancing team. Cheap conveyancing deals are sometimes loaded with hidden charges so the initial fee that you thought you signed up can be far removed from the final bill you pay on completion. Sometimes, when it comes to conveyancing, the old adage is true - you get what you pay for so if your house sale or purchase looks relatively straightforward, or if you are selling your house to somebody you know (a private sale) then you might be happy to go with an online conveyancing service.

The definition of a disbursement is a payment that has to be made to a third party such as The Land Registry for online or direct registration of houses in England or the UK generally. When you see the word disbursement on a conveyancing estimate or quote you would assume therefore that the items listed under the disbursements section would be payments that the solicitor will be making on your behalf to third parties. This is not always the case and items are often wrongly listed in the disbursements section.

Some conveyancing firms charge an unrealistically low conveyancing fee hoping that the consumer will just compare that fee to other companies’ fees and accept is on face value as a lower quote. However, it is very important to check the TOTAL amount quoted by the conveyancing firm as some companies are in the habit of including part of their conveyancing fees in the disbursements section.

CMS have been providing solicitors and legal conveyancing services since 1995. Our Directors have between them almost 60 years of experience of working in the conveyancing industry and we know what we are looking for in a good conveyancing firm. We insist that our conveyancing solicitors are registered with the Law Society or the CLC. Every conveyancing firms must have at least two partners and be on the panel of all major mortgage lenders. We insist that a dedicated and named conveyancer is appointed to take care of CMS clients and every conveyancer must be qualified to carry out conveyancing services.