Long delay after completion. Reasonable?

simonb73

I'm a FTB who completed and moved in at beginning of December 2009. 4 months later and my solicitor has still not completed the paperwork. I've not seen a completion statement and only saw a Land Transaction Return to sign about 7 weeks after completion! I'm wondering whether or not this is normal or if my solicitors are either not on the ball or worse.

I have to say that the purchase was problematic as it was a leasehold with a short term of 82 years which I insisted was extended as part of the contract. There seemed to a number of delays in doing this that were always attributed to the vendor's solicitors. But things seem to be very slow now that we've completed!

As a FTB I don't have much to judge this against - so any guidance appreciated! Is there a mad rush for completion followed by a few months where loose ends are dealt with? Or is this something that should take a few weeks and no more?

tufnellhome

Hi, I moved in September and got my paperwork after much chasing in January! I am a lawyer and although I dont practice in this area I am not aware of any reason why it should take so long save for it not having a deadline and therefore not being urgent.

There is nothing wrong with calling the solicitors and asking for it, or at least asking when they expect to get it out to you. As far as I am aware it should take no more than a few weeks to deal with....my view on it when I moved was that I didn't actually need it so I only chased them a couple of times. The only thing that slightly annoyed me was the fact that they also had to reimburse me some fees as I had overpaid and I would have liked these back soomer!