'I'd heard all the horror stories about solicitors'

With the Halifax set to shake up the legal side of house sales, Esther Shaw meets a buyer who fast-tracked his paperwork

Homebuying is said to be one of life's most stressful experiences. And among the many challenges is to find legal services at a reasonable price, and then to get your purchase handled by someone reliable, swift and efficient.

If you are a first-time buyer with no previous knowledge or experience of the property market, it can be especially hard to know where to start.

The legal side of buying a home, including the transfer of ownership, is known as conveyancing. It's a process that can be hideously complicated. While you could try to do it yourself, you would be better off paying a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to do it for you. In both cases, their job is to check the legal documents and carry out a search for any local authority plans that could affect the home: a proposed new bypass, for example.

They will also agree what is included in the house sale, arrange the completion and exchange of contracts, and oversee stamp-duty payments.

To find a reliable firm, buyers usually seek recommendations from family, friends and colleagues - or fall back on suggestions from the estate agent.

Alternatively, websites operated by the Law Society (www.lawsociety.org.uk) or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (www.theclc.gov.uk) provide lists of local practices.

Last week a new conveyancing service was launched by the Halifax bank. Its panel of selected legal practices will act for any homebuyer or remortgagee - not just Halifax customers.

Fixed fees are set on a rising scale: from £299 for properties valued at less than £50,000, to £799 for those in the £401,000 to £500,000 price range. You can also monitor progress online.

Halifax is not the first lender to offer conveyancing - Britannia building society has a similar service - but as it is the UK's biggest lender, its move is likely to make the market more competitive.

"Conveyancing is an unwelcome extra cost that homebuyers have to budget for," says Melanie Bien, associate director at mortgage broker Savills Private Finance. "A fixed price will make that easier."

But while the cost of the Halifax service is reasonable, it is not vastly cheaper than standard conveyancing, she adds.

You can generally expect the fees charged by solicitors or conveyancing firms to start at £400, rising to £1,500 on more expensive homes. However, what you pay depends on how the firm charges. Some quote a fixed sum at the outset, while others provide only an estimate - which may be calculated as a percentage of the property value - and also bill you for expenses like postage and VAT.

If you're lucky, you might find a "no sale, no fee" deal, where no charge is made if the transaction falls through. Not many solicitors offer this (although it is a feature of the Halifax deal).

When looking for a solicitor, get several quotes but don't make your decision based on price alone. You'll want to get on with the person you're dealing with, who should be able to explain the process clearly.

A pilot of Halifax's new service helped Alan Goodwin, 35, buy his bungalow in Sutton-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, within six weeks.

"I'd heard so many stories of people having a complete nightmare when trying to buy a home, because of delays in the legal process. For me, it took no time at all, and the fixed-fee service made life a lot easier."