Solicitors and my deposit

BarmyBubba

Morning,

Here is my situation (which has turned me to the drink;) )

I am a FTB, the seller of the house has moved abroad. Got my mortgage offer, all the searches have been done etc etc and everything is fine.

I signed the contract and paid my deposit to my solicitor two weeks ago. There have been problems with the seller's mortgage company because the house was on the verge of being repossessed as he hadnt paid his mortgage for 4 months. But that is supposedly sorted now and his solicitor is waiting for a settlement figure from them.

I assume once he receives that the contracts will be exchanged.

On the day that I signed the contract I went shopping and bought all my electrical goods because I thought it would be plain sailing (I didnt know about the mortgage arreas). So I am using my parents home to store everything at the moment which they dont mind but its not conveinient.

I have my washing machine and fridge/freezer coming Tuesday although hopefully Comet will keep hold of them for me.

My questions are:

1) I am not very happy with how my solicitor has dealt with all this. I have kept having to ring/email him to find out just what exactly is happening. Surely when paying for his services he shouldnt needed pestering. He has also had the attitude of that I am a nuisance and tries to get me off the phone ASAP. Is this the norm for a conveyancing solicitor? Also will he be making any nice interest on the deposit which he will have in the company account? (if so I can see it dragging on longer).

2) Because I just want to get moved into the house I want to complete ASAP after exhange has been carried out. My mortgage company offers the CHAPS service for the mortgage company. My solicitor keeps avoiding the question though when I say I want to complete on the same day as exchanging.

Is it up to him when we complete or can I demand its done on the same day? I am willing to pay the fee that the mortgage company charges for the CHAPS service.

Tassotti

Answers to questions

"I am not very happy with how my solicitor has dealt with all this. I have kept having to ring/email him to find out just what exactly is happening. Surely when paying for his services he shouldnt needed pestering. He has also had the attitude of that I am a nuisance and tries to get me off the phone ASAP. Is this the norm for a conveyancing solicitor?"

YES

"Also will he be making any nice interest on the deposit which he will have in the company account? "

YES

"Is it up to him when we complete or can I demand its done on the same day?"

Its your choice.

Send a letter to the solicitor telling them the date you wish to complete. Any delay, the deposit will incurr interest at a rate of B of E + 4% daily.

This should get them moving.

A good post to show the importance of getting a good solicitor

Bossyboots

Tassotti wrote:

"Is it up to him when we complete or can I demand its done on the same day?"

Its your choice.

Send a letter to the solicitor telling them the date you wish to complete. Any delay, the deposit will incurr interest at a rate of B of E + 4% daily.

This should get them moving.

A good post to show the importance of getting a good solicitor

You are not entitled to B of E rate plus on your deposit money. The Law Society have set up a table of when it is expected that solicitors will pay interest to their clients on money held by them and you are entitled to ask them to pay that to you. I will find the table later although it has been posted here before so you might find it by searching but the basis of that table is the more they hold for you, the shorter the period in which you can request the interest. I am sure it is the case that if they are holding £20,000 or more, they have to account to you for interest after one week and at the other end of the scale for smaller amounts they can hold it for one month. If they are to be holding the money for a lengthy or indeterminate period of time then they should transfer it to a special deposit account which earns interest and they would then pay to you all the proceeds of that account on closure and transfer of the funds back to their client account.

MegS

In answer to your questions :
1. If your solicitor is waiting to hear from your seller's solicitors about whether he has the redemption statement and the proceeds of sale are enough to clear that debt and any other debt then I expect he (your solicitor) has nothing to say to you that hasn't already been said. If your seller hasn't paid his mortgage in four months then his solicitor will probably have to go through the legal department of his lender which is problematic in itself and takes longer. If you are constantly ringing I'm not surprised he wants to get you off the phone - he does have other work to be done. Most solicitors can't wait to get files to completion so they get rid of them.
2. Your solicitor is avoiding the question of exchanging and completing on the same day as until the seller's solicitors is in a position of knowing if he is in a position to complete it is a pointless question. You cannot demand to exchange and complete on the same day but you can request it. Bearing in mind until a completion date is known your solicitor cannot ask for your mortgage funds (and most lenders require at least 5 days) so as he already has your deposit he will probably think it more sensible to exchange and then complete at a later date but if you insist then he will hang onto your deposit for a bit longer until he gets the mortgage monies (and any other money required from you to complete) to do a simultaneous exchange and completion.

BarmyBubba

They are holding a £12,500 deposit.

Its annoying you know because two week after I appointed my solicitor I was on holiday and bumped into some people I know. They had used the same company, and solicitor and told me that he was useless. Sadly the advice came too late.

loulou41

A good post to show the importance of getting a good solicitor[/QUOTE]

And how do you find a good solicitor, I am in the process of instructing one? I have found out that the conveyancer's assistant who will be doing the conveyancing, there are 4 of them and she says she has been doing it for ages. The Solicitor in question is Kidd Rapinet solicitors in Aylesbury or could anybody recommends somebody in that area. I quite warm up to her as she says I could ask the EA to ring her and she will confirm that she has seen my bank statements and have got the funds. Thanks

BarmyBubba

MegS wrote:

In answer to your questions :
1. If your solicitor is waiting to hear from your seller's solicitors about whether he has the redemption statement and the proceeds of sale are enough to clear that debt and any other debt then I expect he (your solicitor) has nothing to say to you that hasn't already been said.

Thats the problem though. It hadnt already been said. As a FTB I am bound to have plenty of questions and queries. Its something I have never gone through before and didnt realise how stressful it would be. I just dont feel I have had the advice I should have had.

clutton_2

Exchange and completion on the same day can be legally a bit risky. House purchasing is the second most stressful thing on this earth !! - stay cool !

hjb123

clutton wrote:

Exchange and completion on the same day can be legally a bit risky. House purchasing is the second most stressful thing on this earth !! - stay cool !

Whats the first?!

Bossyboots

hjb123 wrote:

Whats the first?!

I think its divorce.

BarmyBubba

Bossyboots wrote:

I think its divorce.

Wouldnt that be a relief to some?;)