Problem with solicitor

JoeyEmma

We are buying a house and are deeply unhappy with our solicitor.

He has been appalling at communicating with us eg not calling us to pass on important info, writing letters that aren't received until three days later.

He is patronising and dismissive of us at times and has given inaccurate advice. He told us we could not exchange contracts without agreeing a completion date which is rubbish. My mum is buying a house at the moment and has just done that.

He implied we had exchanged contracts and told us we had to give us our deposit for this. He has had our deposit for over 2 weeks and we have not yet exchanged. Our money is now earning interest in his firms bank account instead of ours.

The final straw has come today over completion dates. The vendor is playing funny !!!!!!s over dates. We told him to tell her it was this Friday or we pull out. He called me back four minutes later to tell me that he had found out this is not possible. It is actually impossible for him to have contacted her solicitor in this time, for them to have contacted her and for them to have got back to him. We know she is in a meeting as we have called her at work. Therefore we know that our solicitor is lying to us.

Finally, we do not believe that he is actually a solicitor, we think he works under somebody who is the solicitor as letters are signed Mr So and So FOR Mr So and So

We do not feel we are getting value for money and do not believe that we should pay him.

What can we do and what are our rights?

Bossyboots

You are making some assumptions here and may be getting your knickers in a twist for nothing.

Firstly, the completion date IS set at exchange. Is your mother buying a new build? If not, I cannot understand why she has done what she has but that is NOT the normal way it is done.

You can ask the solicitors for the interest on your money.

We had the same problem with someone in our chain. We gave instructions that under no circumstances would we change the date everyone agreed was target completion date. Our solicitor did not have to ring us everytime someone in the chain made a proposal, he had our instructions. It would have taken less than four minutes for someone to ring any of the solicitors in the chain and get the answer.

It doesn't matter if he is not a solicitor. Most conveyancers are not. His work will be supervised by a solicitor. You should have received a client care letter at the start of the transaction. That will tell you the status of the person doing the work on your file. It is an offence to claim to be a solicitor if you are not but, as I have said, it is not unusual for conveyancing work to be done by staff who are not actually solicitors.

Lack of communication is unacceptable and you could negotiate a reduction in the fee but you will still be liable to pay something. Your rights will be set out on the back of their bill.

clutton_2

each practise has a senior partner responsible for investigating complaints - ask to speak to him/her if you are dissatisfied.

loveandlight

Also speak to Law Society Consumer Complaints. Tel: 0845 6086565. Lines are open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (all calls are charged at local rates).

I had similar problems myself. The person who handled my file wrote and told me they were a Solicitor and I subsequently found out they were not. In my experience, firms like this don't get any better, so make sure you are on the ball at all times, be persistent, and keep involved as much as you can. Complaining to the partner was a waste of time for me. I wish you well.

Bossyboots

It is too soon to be speaking to the Law Society and the OP needs to establish that what they have complained about here is fact. You have to go through the firm's complaints procedure before you can make a complaint through the Law Society.

Unfortunately being patronising and dismissive is not something the Law Society will look at. I have pointed out that it is unusual to exchange with no completion date so that is not an issue for complaint as this advice appears on the face of it to be correct.

The deposit has to be cleared funds before exchange can take place, therefore it has to be paid ahead of exchange. The solicitor "implied" exchange had taken place. I am sure it would be argued that that was the OP's interpretation of a conversation. Exchange would not have happened without the solicitor being in funds for the deposit.

One other thing that occurs to me as well. Just because the OP was told the vendor was in a meeting does not make it so. It is possible her colleagues were the ones lying. If she is being difficult, then undoubtedly she would not want to talk to her buyers direct, especially at work.

loveandlight

It is most definitely not too soon to speak to the Law Society Consumer Complaints. They are there to give guidance as to what to do (e.g. follow the firms complaint procedure) during a problem not just afterwards.

Debt_Free_Chick

I agree with Bossyboots. Completion date is set when you exchange as the contract is actually a contract to complete the sale on a specific date. You can certainly sign the contract with a blank completion date, which is filled in later ... but you MUST have an agreed completion date at the point of exchange.

Re completing on Friday - this is almost certainly not possible. Your solicitor needs to have called for the funds from your lender to ensure that they are received on completion date. He doesn't need to speak to the seller about this ... he will know what the usual timescale is. If everyone "pulls out all the stops" then there's a slim chance the funds are there - but I wouldn't risk it. In particular, lenders have their own process and it's very prudent to follow that process to avoid any cockups! Your solicitor is actually trying to protect your position here by avoiding commitment to a date that seems, at best, unfeasible.

It is common for solicitors to sign their letters on behalf of the firm. From a legal point of view, the firm as a whole (all the partners, collectively) are responsible for your conveyancing - the liability rests with the firm, not the individual solicitor. In addition, if the person sending the letter is not a partner in the firm, then their letters will usually be peer-reviewed by a partner, to ensure they are accurate. This might account for the fact that it takes three days for the letters to reach you.

I can't see anything glaringly wrong with your solicitor - not sure how much communication you were expecting or what "important info" has not been passed on. Try and chill out a little His poor communication is probably raising all kinds of doubts and concerns in your mind that don't actually exist. You have enough stress without imagining that your solicitor is "out to get you" :rotfl:

AndrewSmith

JoeyEmma wrote:

We are buying a house and are deeply unhappy with our solicitor.

He has been appalling at communicating with us eg not calling us to pass on important info, writing letters that aren't received until three days later.

He is patronising and dismissive of us at times and has given inaccurate advice. He told us we could not exchange contracts without agreeing a completion date which is rubbish. My mum is buying a house at the moment and has just done that.

Unless under very unusual circumstances or buying a new build property a conveyancer will advise their client not to exchange without setting a completion date. This then legally binds your seller and you to complete on that day. Why on earth would you not want the conveyancer to protect your interests in this way by setting a completion date at exchange?

JoeyEmma wrote:

He implied we had exchanged contracts and told us we had to give us our deposit for this. He has had our deposit for over 2 weeks and we have not yet exchanged. Our money is now earning interest in his firms bank account instead of ours.

I cannot comment on this except to say that it has more than likely been a mis-understanding or mis-interpretation of the chain of events. Perhaps you were told to sign the contracts and bring in your deposit to be ready for echange?

JoeyEmma wrote:

The final straw has come today over completion dates. The vendor is playing funny !!!!!!s over dates. We told him to tell her it was this Friday or we pull out. He called me back four minutes later to tell me that he had found out this is not possible. It is actually impossible for him to have contacted her solicitor in this time, for them to have contacted her and for them to have got back to him. We know she is in a meeting as we have called her at work. Therefore we know that our solicitor is lying to us.

Your buyer's solicitor may not be ready to exchange thus it is very possible for the solicitor to have discovered this very quickly.
I was buying a house about 2 years ago. Our solicitor was waiting for replies from the other side regarding access across a shared driveway. We were told to exchange on the coming Friday or they would re-market the house. We called their bluff and pulled out, found another property and completed 6 weeks later before they had found another buyer. Don't make such profound demands unless you have a contingency plan, the buyer may just take you at your word and walk away.

Also if the seller was calling me direct at work after such a demand had been made I would not take their call.

JoeyEmma wrote:

Finally, we do not believe that he is actually a solicitor, we think he works under somebody who is the solicitor as letters are signed Mr So and So FOR Mr So and So

We do not feel we are getting value for money and do not believe that we should pay him.

As said above you do not have to be a 'solicitor' to carry out conveyancing work for clients, as long as you are a licensed conveyancer.

I agree with other posts and that you have no grounds to go to the law society merely to complain about someones demeanor.

It sounds to me like an everyday conveyancing process, except that maybe your conveyancer is a little brusk.

Andy