Hoping to move house and have a quote for selling and buying from solicitor - 5k!!
On line it can be for 1.5 - 2k but how good are these firms? There are loads.
Any recommendations or experiences appreciated.

The biggest drawbacks to on-line conveyancers are that you might not talk to the same person each time you call, you will have no idea of the quality of service, and most important they can’t deal with anything more than a simple conveyance - if any more complex legal problems come up they wont be able to do anything and will have to tell you to a get a solicitor.

Average costs for conveyancing done by solicitors rather than conveyancers should work out around £500 - £1500 for selling/buying a house so the quotes you have received seem high to me (unless you are in London!).  Solicitors can charge in different ways however - some you can get a fixed price, some charge you a percentage of the value of the house and some charge by the hour. I would recommend that you do NOT get one that charges by the hour unless you are able to look at a file and tell how many hours it should have taken and how many hours it did take etc etc plus you wont have a clue of the final cost until the bill arrives and they wont care if their bill exceeds their quote/estimate since it wasn't a guaranteed fixed price.

Solicitors in this country are struggling. Many are going belly up. Especially Criminal Lawyers or anyone paid by Legal Aid - they are going bankrupt at a huge rate - something the public probably aren't aware of.  Conveyancing solicitors are also not doing well since most companys that deal with conveyancing normally also deal with probate and family law and family lawyers are often reliant on Legal Aid - so are likely to be struggling too. 

Ring around all the solicitors around you, any that deal with conveyancing - be aware that big offices normally charge big prices as they have big overheads. Small practices, sole practitioners etc should be just as good but are likely to charge less or be more amenable to negotiating a fixed fee. Ask for a fixed price from each around you that will do it, find who will and who wont charge like that - and if at all possible avoid mentioning anything about your finances in any depth before they give a quote. (that sounds bad but.... I know a big firm (one of the ones that have lots of departments dealing with all sorts of law and are well known and respected) who quoted a woman £13,000 to deal with a motoring offence in Court for her - but a criminal lawyer would've done if for a fixed fee of less than £300 - and did. The only possible reason? because they thought she could afford it).

Fixed price systems are the best - you know where you are from the beginning and if something goes awry you know you have fully qualified lawyers to deal with any legal issues and that they wont be charging you any more for it than the fixed agree price.  (Try to avoid solicitors that any estate agent has suggested since they often are more expensive - and the estate agent is likely to have a financial interest in your using particular firms.

I wouldn't recommend on-line conveyancers not because they are all bad but because you cant physically chase them up or speak to them so easily (at least not the same person each time) - If everything goes smooth and it is a straight forward conveyance they may well be okay and cheap - but not your best option if something unusual or complex pops up.

(The other iffy thing is.......... how do you know if it is a real conveyancer doing all the paperwork and not the office mail boy doing it for them? Trust and trust alone is the answer to that one since you cant even see or meet them).

Importantly, whoever you choose make sure that any solicitor you use is a member of both the Law Society and the Law Society Conveyancing Scheme and if you use a conveyancer make sure they are a member of the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

Thank you
I am not in london but selling and purchase properties not cheap so I guess that gets factored in. The quote I had was from my usual solicitor but even the agent thought that was extortionate. They advised against on line conveyancing as most hold ups come from these companies.
Have done other ringing around today and most are coming in at 2k which is much better.