Moving day change again...is it allowed?

evening_all

Hi just a bit of general advice wanted please

We have bought our very first home and have been messed around so much with the moving day it has taken weeks for everyone to agree to one. It is a 4 house chain and we had finally settled on this friday, and we have done a lot of moving annual leave at work etc around for this.

Now this morning we recieve a phonecall to say its a special walking day in the county on friday and one of the solicitors out of the 4 is closed, putting the blockers on friday.

We are undoubtedly fuming as we have changed hols at work booked deliveries etc.

Can any thing be done about this or is it just tough? Can we claim any compensation for anything. We have done everything on time right the way through the process, the solicitor has had our deposit for a week or two now just waiting and waiting. We are fuming, and Im really upset by it, its so stressful.
They are pushing for thurs and if its not thurs it going to be set back another 3 weeks, as our seller goes away next week and thats what we all aimed for friday for.

Surely this solicitor needs to face some sort of wrath for this? The woman dealing with the case said she didnt know they were closed when she signed off all the paperwork for the 2nd!!! Stupid cow!!

Is there a soliciting body to complain to?

Any advice would be appreciated, its been a nightmare!

Thanks

sonastin

Have you exchanged contracts already? Does the contract specify the moving date? If yes then you are entitled to some sort of compensation - not quite sure how it works but they are basically in breach of contract and need to pay damages.

If you haven't exchanged yet, there isn't a lot you can do...

Evilm

If the exchange has already happened then they are in breach of contract. If not.. nothing you can do.

Complaints can be placed here: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/redressscheme.law

I do however think that you can only complain about a solicitor you have used and not another parties solicitors - might be worth a try and see.

I hope it goes through on Thursday.

Richard_Webster

Dates are not committed and there are no legal obligations until contracts are exchanged and they obviously haven't been in this case. It follows that nobody owes any compensation because you chose to arrange your affairs on the assumption that a particular date would be met.

Until exchange of contracts it is unwise to set everything in concrete for a particular date that you think everyone has agreed.

Your solicitors certainly should have given you a general warning not to "count your chickens" over dates because it is an almost standard problem that your solicitor would be aware of - but did you tell him you were making all your arrangements on the assumption of a particular date ?

Here's a an extract from the Client Care/Terms and Conditions that I send out to people on a conveyancing transaction:

"Timescales

If you have concerns about completing a transaction within particular timescale please explain your reasons for this to us so we can understand how we can best help you.

Generally in conveyancing transactions, although we will do what we can to press others to proceed quickly, we cannot compel this and there are limits to what we can reasonably do in this connection. We cannot normally carry out searches on a purchase without a plan, which is provided by the seller's solicitors when they send the draft contract papers to us.

We cannot give you guarantees about how long a transaction will take and you should not make arrangements based upon any assumed dates for completion of the transaction. We may tell you at a particular time that a suggested date for completion is feasible, but that view may need to be revised in the light of the way the transaction has progressed and you should not assume that it will remain unchanged. Also, you should not rely upon what others tell you about whether they agree and can achieve particular dates. Too often we find that others make statements about timescales, which are based upon incomplete or out of date information.

Do not make irrevocable commitments based upon assumptions about when a transaction will complete. Buyers presently in rented accommodation should not give in their notice until we have confirmed that contracts have actually been exchanged."

Your solicitor may well have sent you some similar explanation.

Communication in a chain is notoriously bad and there should be a sticky here to warn people about that!

Here you can't do much - all you can do is threaten to pull out unless the date is achieved. That isn't very helpful advice to most people who don't want to pull out, and even if they say they do, others in the chain are not very likely to believe them unless they have a very good reason why it is worth their while abandoning the whole transaction if a particular date is not achieved.

It is certainly pretty bad for a solicitor to actually close on a Friday, given that it is such a popular day for completions, but there isn't much you can do.