Solicitor's Delaying Tactic

FlyingBrief

Hi all

Sorry if this has been posted before, but brand new here, so please just direct me to the right thread if this is a repeat.

We are in the process of moving - in a chain sadly: buying & selling.

Today was meant to have been Exchange of Contracts day, but for some bizarre reason, our solicitor kept delaying the exchange.

Every time we rang her, there was a new excuse as to why Exchange had not yet taken place, ranging from: the vendors will not pay for the chancel insurance [we were NOT expecting them to pay!], to the mortgagees computer system was down [HSBC must have a more robust system than a whole day downtime!].

By mid-afternoon, it was obvious she was NOT going to exchange [by then it was the fault of the mortgagees for not having sent her the right 'pack'; HSBC insisted they had faxed her everything at least 3 times today, including letters authorising her to proceed!]. The other solicitors in the chain were also allegedly not contactable, even though when I rang them they were not only there, but told me they had not heard from her at all!

Much to the chagrin of everyone in the chain, including ourselves, she managed to stall and stall and then said it was too late when it was 5pm!! So, exchange did NOT happen! Our buyer is now threatening to pull out.

What we'd like to know is:
1] is this delaying by solicitors common?
2] why was she delaying? Is there something she has not done? Missed a search? Most importantly, how do we know?

Many many thanks for any advice.

Fire_Fox

I've known of two solicitors stall, both acting for the other party. In the first case it finally came out that the solicitor had lost all the deeds in an office relocation, in the second the solicitor had 'personal issues' and had not completed basic tasks! I would suggest you contact a senior partner and express your reservations and ask them to investigate as a matter of urgency. Point out that your buyer is threatening to pull out.

FlyingBrief

Many thanks Fire Fox.

Unfortunately, she is one-half of a husband and wife team, so there is no senior partner to go to! Worse yet, she is also the friend of a friend [that's how we came to use her!], so reporting her to the SRA is somewhat embarrassing!

We'd simply like to:
a] exchange and complete a.s.a.p.; and
b] know what we might be 'missing' [perhaps she has misplaced the deeds!!]

Many thanks again.

Richard_Webster

Today was meant to have been Exchange of Contracts day

It really isn't sensible to assume that there is some magic day on which contracts will be exchanged and some ceremony is gone through that has to be prearranged for a magic "date for exchange of contracts".

Every time we rang her,

Whilst it is very understandable that clients do get stressed about their transactions continual phone calls don't help - why couldn't OP leave their solicitor to get on with her job without continually interrupting her....

Sorry, I may not have got it right, but I do have to say that is the way OP's original post comes over to me.

Some of the stuff we do is very technical and sometimes it is easier to seek to resolve the issues than to spend a long time on the phone trying to explain what is happening.

FlyingBrief

Many thanks for the explanation Richard. It's useful to have the other side of the story.

I have to say, as a professional, I find the vagaries of conveyancing frustrating.

So, if there is no such thing as an Exchange date, why does everyone allegedly have one? And why did our solicitor say "we will exchange on 12th March", rather than say what you did i.e. there is no such thing as an Exchange day?

I do accept that ringing her repeatedly was interuptive, [and I did think that yesterday when I picked up the telephone] but I had everyone else in the chain ringing me at various points throughout the day to say that our solicitor was the person holding things up - their solicitors were all ready to exchange.

And whilst I accept that solicitors do technical things, why could she not have said so to me, rather than "I can't exchange because I can't get hold of your buyer's solicitor", when he then says, "Really?? I've been sitting here all day, and my telephone log shows no attempt by your solicitor to get in touch with me. Even if I had popped out of the office, my call log would show her missed call" when I rang the buyer's solicitor myself! Unfortunately that lost her a lot of credibility in my eyes, and that was compounded after 5 pm yesterday, when I also received emails from both sides of the chain where their respective solicitors have laid the blame squarely on my solicitor's door for the failure to exchange yesterday. [I again accept there might be elements of passing the buck here!].

Thanks for your explanations...I'd be really grateful if you'd let me pick your brains - what sort of technical things might be holding up the Exchange? Or might she be awaiting a missing search result? Or maybe there is a hitch with missing flies?

Fire_Fox

The only person who knows what really happened is your solicitor. As there isn't a senior partner and you don't want to rock the boat with your friend there really is little we can say! If it were me I would write to the solicitor herself expressing your reservations and asking for a written explanation.

Radsteral

i fired the solicitor for just getting my surname wrong-- i know i got long surname but i thought still that was too much to handle for a solicitor that cant even spell my name properly

timmyt

FlyingBrief wrote: »

Hi all

Sorry if this has been posted before, but brand new here, so please just direct me to the right thread if this is a repeat.

We are in the process of moving - in a chain sadly: buying & selling.

Today was meant why who said it was? did your lawyer promise you or did you tell her she had to....to have been Exchange of Contracts day, but for some bizarre reason, our solicitor kept delaying the exchange.

Every time we rang her, there was a new excuse as to why Exchange had not yet taken place, ranging from: the vendors will not pay for the chancel insurance [we were NOT expecting them to pay!], to the mortgagees computer system was down they often are, or that is the lenders excuse anyway [HSBC must have a more robust system than a whole day downtime!].

By mid-afternoon, it was obvious she was NOT going to exchange [by then it was the fault of the mortgagees for not having sent her the right 'pack'; HSBC insisted they had faxed her everything at least 3 times today that doesn't sound normal, had you not had your mortgage offer as you NEVER exchange if that is outstanding ....your lawyer, like me, may have been trying to get your lender to agree to release the mortgage monies on the date you wanted for completion before exchanging....did you impose a qick completion date on her.....had she enough time to check the lender was happy to release monies by then ....you do not explain what dates re involved and who decided on them and how long your lawyer had known about them , including letters authorising her to proceed!]. The other solicitors in the chain were also allegedly not contactable, even though when I rang them they were not only there, but told me they had not heard from her at all oh other lawyers often deny that so don't trust that 100%...but it may be the case here true!

Much to the chagrin of everyone in the chain, including ourselves, she managed to stall and stall and then said it was too late when it was 5pm!! So, exchange did NOT happen! Our buyer is now threatening to pull out.

What we'd like to know is:
1] is this delaying by solicitors common?
2] why was she delaying? Is there something she has not done? Missed a search? Most importantly, how do we know?

Many many thanks for any advice.

see red above

timmyt

Radsteral wrote: »

i fired the solicitor for just getting my surname wrong-- i know i got long surname but i thought still that was too much to handle for a solicitor that cant even spell my name properly

if only lawyers could fire clients, oh the stories conveyancers could give....

FlyingBrief

timmyt wrote: »

see red above

who said it was? did your lawyer promise you or did you tell her she had to....
we told her in consultation with everyone else in the chain...she never said "I can't do it for that date" [as I said in my later post]; To the contrary she was perfectly happy to go with that...but cometh the hour...


that doesn't sound normal, had you not had your mortgage offer as you NEVER exchange if that is outstanding ....
Mortgage offer had been received [and incidentally it's not even up to 40% LTV, so we are not talking high risks here], and she had acknowledged previously that she had been faxed a copy too.


your lawyer, like me, may have been trying to get your lender to agree to release the mortgage monies on the date you wanted for completion before exchanging....did you impose a qick completion date on her.....had she enough time to check the lender was happy to release monies by then ....you do not explain what dates re involved and who decided on them and how long your lawyer had known about them
I wish it was a Quick Completion date!! Due to various people along the chain not being able to move on certain dates, the Completion Date is set for mid-April. And yes, she has been privy to that date. In fact she was the one who suggested it!!

oh other lawyers often deny that so don't trust that 100%...but it may be the case here true!
It's lawyer v lawyer...so who's lying? And what about the emails I received subsequently where lawyers from both ends of the chain have written to their respective clients laying the blame squarely at her door for the failure to exchange? Your responses have been extremely defensive of lawyers, understandably so...yet the other lawyers in the chain have been far less slow to be critical of her...so, which lawyers do I believe?


Thanks for taking the time to respond, timmyt, but the clear theme to your message appears to be that I forced my poor lawyer into things she was uncomfortable / unable to cope with, so it's entirely my fault - if she was a 15-year old shelf-stacker at a supermarket, I'll take your point, but solicitors spend at least 3 years getting an LLB, then another year on the LSF/LPC, followed by 2 years of a training contract, and usually a number of years of working experience too - I'm surprised that you have not learnt to say "No that's not realistically achievable" in all those years of hard graft! Surely part of the reason I pay you is to THINK and advice accordingly?


if only lawyers could fire clients....
Provided you are not barristers operating under the cab-rank rule, you can, can't you?...But then you won't get paid the full whack...which is presumably what holds you back from doing so...

timmyt

FlyingBrief wrote: »

who said it was? did your lawyer promise you or did you tell her she had to....
we told her in consultation with everyone else in the chain...she never said "I can't do it for that date" [as I said in my later post]; To the contrary she was perfectly happy to go with that...but cometh the hour...


that doesn't sound normal, had you not had your mortgage offer as you NEVER exchange if that is outstanding ....
Mortgage offer had been received [and incidentally it's not even up to 40% LTV, so we are not talking high risks here], and she had acknowledged previously that she had been faxed a copy too.


your lawyer, like me, may have been trying to get your lender to agree to release the mortgage monies on the date you wanted for completion before exchanging....did you impose a qick completion date on her.....had she enough time to check the lender was happy to release monies by then ....you do not explain what dates re involved and who decided on them and how long your lawyer had known about them
I wish it was a Quick Completion date!! Due to various people along the chain not being able to move on certain dates, the Completion Date is set for mid-April. And yes, she has been privy to that date. In fact she was the one who suggested it!!

oh other lawyers often deny that so don't trust that 100%...but it may be the case here true!
It's lawyer v lawyer...so who's lying? And what about the emails I received subsequently where lawyers from both ends of the chain have written to their respective clients laying the blame squarely at her door for the failure to exchange? Your responses have been extremely defensive of lawyers, understandably so...yet the other lawyers in the chain have been far less slow to be critical of her...so, which lawyers do I believe?


Thanks for taking the time to respond, timmyt, but the clear theme to your message appears to be that I forced my poor lawyer into things she was uncomfortable / unable to cope with, so it's entirely my fault - if she was a 15-year old shelf-stacker at a supermarket, I'll take your point, but solicitors spend at least 3 years getting an LLB, then another year on the LSF/LPC, followed by 2 years of a training contract, and usually a number of years of working experience too - I'm surprised that you have not learnt to say "No that's not realistically achievable" in all those years of hard graft! Surely part of the reason I pay you is to THINK and advice accordingly?


if only lawyers could fire clients....
Provided you are not barristers operating under the cab-rank rule, you can, can't you?...But then you won't get paid the full whack...which is presumably what holds you back from doing so...

not at all, just asking, so based on your further info, it does sound as though your version is as it is, and she has no excuse.

as for firing - indeed, we don't usually - just such a shame that some clients fail to see that they could forge a life long chemistry with their lawyer - how cool to have a lawyer you are friends with who you can call at a moments notice for advice.

Then again it is a stressful time for many and so not really their fault.