Sorry prob daft question - solicitor

clairet707

We are buying a house, we appointed solicitiors on tuesday, sent them all the paperwork they gave us back filled in with a cheque for the searches.

They have cashed the cheque (came out of our bank account today) but what next?

Other than the email confirming receipt of paperwork on wednesday we have heard nothing from them.. :mad:

I want to ring them to find out what they are doing but am not sure what I am asking - not done this before..

Should we have heard from them by now? I know its only been a couple of days..

Our valuation was done yesterday and the mortgage was approved on monday

Richard_Webster

They are probably not doing anything because it is most likely that there is nothing they can do!

A buyer's solicitor cannot really do very much until he gets papers from the seller's solicitors and these can take a week or two to arrive.

Unless you are buying a property where a previous sale fell through, and therefore the solicitors are all geared up and can send the papers straight out to your solicitor, normally the seller's solicitor has to wait until he gets a questionnaire completed by his client.

It is not normally sensible to do searches until the precise extent of the property being purchased is known, and this will often only be known when the papers arrive. OK it should be in the HIP - but some HIPs miss out extra bits of land that the sellers might have bought and it is often difficult to extract the HIP from the estate agents and there is delay there.

clairet707

Ah ok thanks Richard, didnt realise that, will leave it till next week then thanks

This is of course assuming the vendor has a solicitor yet, the estate agent hadnt been informed of who they were using when we checked last week (didnt want to use the same one)

Kyrae

Solicitors seem to have a habit of communicating with their customers as little as possible, so don't worry that you haven't heard from them, seems to be normal unfortunately!

Has your solicitor got an email address? We found it better to email our solicitor and get quick replies by email rather than ringing up and waiting for phone calls back which could take a couple of days.

Good luck

Richard_Webster

Has your solicitor got an email address? We found it better to email our solicitor and get quick replies by email rather than ringing up and waiting for phone calls back which could take a couple of days.

It is so much easier to use e-mail from my point of view.

I get clients phoning wanting to speak to me and not telling my secretary what they want to know. I often don't have their file in front of me and cannot remember all the details off the top of my head without the file, so I may have to waffle. Very often my staff can deal with the query anyway, so it isn't a good use of my time.

E-mail is much better because I get a specific question which I can then answer once I've been able to look at the file. It may be a few hours or the next day but this is often quicker than repeated attempts at telephone contact. If it is obvious that a phone call is going to deal with the point more effectively then I phone the client.

clairet707

Yes they do, they were very good at communicating before we gave them money, they sent us the quote by email last friday (and then by post on saturday) and then emailed us on monday asking what we thought of the quote..

I had to email them asking if they had to receive the paperwork which they replied by email straight away but now they have cashed the cheque - nothing..

Am now thinking this may not have been the best solicitor...

Aaaaaagh I see now why this is one of the most stressful things you ever do (having organised my wedding Im not sure which is worse)

Emmylou_2

How quick would you like things to happen?

You instructed them on Tuesday (day 1). They received your paperwork Wednesday (day 2) and presumably banked your cheque. Today, Friday (day 4) you are wondering what has happened?

Well...they'll have opened a file (and a new "client" if this is the first time you've used these solicitors), which means they'll have had to comply with some anti-money laundering regulations and filled some forms in. They have banked your cheque already meaning the money will be hitting their account so they can get on with spending it. They will probably have requested details from the other side, and as Richard Webster says, this all takes time.

I don't get why you said:

Other than the email confirming receipt of paperwork on wednesday we have heard nothing from them.. :mad:

or

Am now thinking this may not have been the best solicitor...

Give them a chance to do their jobs...please remember that although they are (hopefully) your only solicitor, you are NOT their only client...

Richard_Webster

I had to email them asking if they had to receive the paperwork which they replied by email straight away but now they have cashed the cheque - nothing..

Am now thinking this may not have been the best solicitor...

I think that is a little unfair. As I said, there's probably nothing for them to tell you yet.

If you want, e-mail and ask if they have had draft contract papers from the seller's solicitors yet.

clairet707

Sorry but I said those things as I realised they pestered us within 24 (working) hours of their first email but they didnt even confirm they had received the paperwork and cheque until I pestered them

I wont be contacting them until at least next week as Richard explained the process before (which I hadnt realised). I am new to all of this and thought that as they had pestered me twice in 24 hours they might be a bit more communicative, without asking you lot I would never have known it takes so long to get set up, now I do so as said before I wont be contacting them straight away...

They received the cheque and paperwork on tuesday morning not wednesday

notisis

And remember - you said you still didn't know whether the sellers had instructed any solicitors yet! Until they do there is very little your solicitors can do. As others have said your solicitors will now be waiting for paperwork from the sellers' solicitors and will have to carry out their own money laundering checks on you. This usually involves asking you for evidence of ID (generally a passport/driving licence and one other form of proof of address like a utility bill/bank statement etc).

Once the paperwork is in and your solicitors have checked it and asked any further questions they will report to you. You can look at this paperwork and ask any further questions . In between you/your solicitor should receive copies of mortgage offer/valuation, and no doubt you will discuss possible completion dates with the sellers. Exchange happens first where contracts are exchanged and the date inserted for completion (ie moving in). You will need your deposit ready before exchange usually 5% or 10% to hand to your solicitor. Your solicitor will advise.

Don't forget if the sellers are also buying somewhere else they will have to marry this transaction up with their sale to you so things can take a little time. Don't worry, don't be impatient. If you are not clear on anything ask your solicitor via email. Often solicitors will deal with post in the mornings and are more free to take calls in the afternoon or deal with your email queries. Ask your solicitor when is best. If you help them to do their job, they will help you quicker.

Good luck with your move.

chappers

As they got on the case so quickly before I'm sure they will "pester" you again when they need more info from you .