As a buying agent, I probably buy a flat or house for one of my clients about once a month or so. As in most things in life, you get what you pay for. On line services in my experience may well be cheap, but you don't get the same level of customer service that a good High Street solicitor can provide.
This is probably the most important and highest value transaction you will ever have to do, so better to spend a little more to ensure a rapid painless sale. In London £1500 would be considered a reasonable price to pay for a solicitor to act for you in the sale of your property.

Good luck with your sale.

I agree with the above. My experience with online conveyancing is not good. Very poor service, rarely able to speak with a qualified solicitor or lawyer direct and no proper advice regarding searches or other issues. Often you don't get a proper title report and they are often slow to respond. I would definitley avoid and use a good firm of solicitors with the proper qualifications and experience in residential conveyancing.

Guess it depends how important it is for you to see/speak to your adviser. A local high street solicitor may well cost more but will be accessible and available, which if things get difficult may well be important.

As a qualified property lawyer who believes in providing a professional personal and quality service to clients, there is nothing more frustrating than finding that I have to deal with a "low-cost bucket shop" on the other side. Althougth the "headline" price is low there are often "add-ins" which are not immediately apparent to the average 'man on the street'. For example, often they use 0870 numbers meaning that when you call (and hold whilst you are either in a queue or being passed from one person to another until they find someone who can help) they are making money out of you, even if you are the professional on the other side of the transaction!!

My experience is that you can rarely get hold of anyone; when you do it's usually an unqualified "processor" who can only tell you what "computer says"! If you start getting into the legal technicalities and need someone who can think "out of the box" they simply don't have a clue. Transaction times are therefore extended for all parties; due to the extra work that we have to do, in chasing and, on occasion, basically doing their job for them (explaining how to do something if it's slightly out of the ordinary) our costs are increased but we are unable to reclaim this increase from them or our client. If you start talking leasehold....well forget it.. The old saying "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys" holds true....

Whitegates has also made a very valid point that unless you can have an overview of how a property transaction fits into someone's whole estate from the point of view of tax (CGT & IHT) marriage, divorce, children and inheritance then the advice that's given as to how the property should be held between co-owners is not going to cover all the aspects which should receive consideration at the sale / purchase stage to save difficulties later on.