Lawyers slammed in house-hunter survey
In a house-hunter survey comparing how well surveyors, estate agents, lawyers and mortgage lenders perform in the house buying process, respondents voted lawyers the worst. Lawyers were voted as not only providing the poorest quality of service but also as the most obstructive in the buying/selling process. One respondent commented, 'My lawyer insists on writing three letters when one email or phone call would have been perfectly adequate.'
Lawyers also scored badly on value for money. Women were particularly hostile to the legal profession: 61% of female respondents thought they were bad or terrible value for money.
At the other end of the spectrum, estate agents were top performers on minimising delays, and both buyers and sellers found them the easiest to get hold of, particularly because the work at weekends. However, they scored less well on quality of service and came bottom on value for money.
Respondents found surveyors provide the best value for money and the best quality of service. Even though a full structural survey has a high cost, people felt it was money well spent. Surveyors only scored badly on ease of communication, but this may reflect more the fact that buyers do not generally need to speak direct to their surveyor. One respondent commented, 'A full survey is not cheap, but I wouldn't buy a house without one'.
Other findings included:
- Almost twice as many home buyers thought banks.building societies provide excellent or good quality of service compared to lawyers.
- 63% of participants said estate agents were excellent or good at minimising delays compared with 51% who felt that lawyers were poor for causing them.
- 45% males voted lawyers as poor value for money but a massive 61% females raked them bad or worst.
Warren Bright, Cheif executive of Propetyfinder.com said:
Laywers are still the top villains in the house buying process. Although their role is a crucial one, many of their practices are out of date and they cause buyers and sellers an enormous level of frustration at 3what is already a very stressful and anxious time. Surveyors scorec top marks - a good survey can make or break a deal and save buyers thousands of pounds in unexpected repairs.
