How long solicitior keep draft contract?

mrcol1000

So we are buying a house. Repossession. FTB. Anyway I just wanted to know what kind of timescale between our solicitor recieving the draft contract and them passing it to us to agree it. Obviously they want to make sure its right but how long should that roughly take?
I just need to know to see if our solictors are being slow or if we are being too over eager. It seems to be a very slow process considering its just us, our bank and the bank thats selling the property involved.
Thanks for anyones help

Richard_Webster

between our solicitor recieving the draft contract and them passing it to us to agree it.

How would you know whether or not to agree it? Are you familiar with the detailed terms of the Standard Conditions of Sale (4th edition)? Unless you are, the contract itself won't make a lot of sense. You are paying your solicitor to check that detail for you.

In any event, if it is a repossession sale the wording of the draft contract is rarely negotiable.

The issue isn't usually the wording of the draft contract but the solicitor being satisfied about all the legal matters about the property. When he is he will report to you(preferably in writing) with contract and other documents to sign.

Evilm

It would normally be a month or so before they call you in to sign things and explain the contract to you and get your mortgage deed signed. It takes time to do searches and checks on the property.

They will let you know when they are ready. If you think they are being slow call them and ask them nicely when they expect to be ready to get you to come into the office.

Lady1981

Hi mrcol1000

The other thing to remember is that your conveyancer will be dealing with many many other files as well as your own. A fairly straightforward freehold contract package takes approximately 1 hour to go through but your conveyancer may have, say, 6 more complicated contract packages he needs to look at, together with 10 straightforward ones, all of which he received before he received yours. He also needs to meet clients (a meeting to go through the contract package takes around an hour), spend hours and hours talking to agents, IFAs, other solicitors, clients etc etc, deal with other paperwork etc etc.

All of the above is very time consuming so as long as you have chosen a well respected solicitor, try not to worry too much. (easier said than done I know!). Having said that, if you really want to speed things up you might want to think about paying another, more expensive solicitor to act for you because he is more likely to have less files to deal with.

Good luck!

Lady xx

G_M

As it's a repo I would chase your solicitor just in case he's sitting on it/swamped with other clients.

Repos stay on the market until Exchange so you could be outbid at any time and lose the poperty.

Quicker you get to Exchange the better. Give him a ring.

timmyt

Evilm wrote: »

It would normally be a month or so before they call you in to sign things and explain the contract to you and get your mortgage deed signed. It takes time to do searches and checks on the property.

They will let you know when they are ready. If you think they are being slow call them and ask them nicely when they expect to be ready to get you to come into the office.

if you employ a firm who ends up calling you infor a meeting (old fashioned for a start as who has time in their working day to see a solicitor) then you must demand, demand!, that they also send you a written report, as verbal discussion is not enough, as you need time to think about the papers you are being presented with.

as for how long it takes, it is impossibloe to say, as every transaction is different. i have done a deal in 5 days or three months.

No point your lawyer sending you anything if you don't have your mortgage, or his replies to enquiries are not satisfactorily in.

if they send you a report too quick then that is obviously a rush job and be wary.

how long has it been for you so far OP?

Evilm

timmyt wrote: »

if you employ a firm who ends up calling you infor a meeting (old fashioned for a start as who has time in their working day to see a solicitor) then you must demand, demand!, that they also send you a written report, as verbal discussion is not enough, as you need time to think about the papers you are being presented with.

Ours did, they had a face to face meeting and backed that up with a written document which we could review at our leisure before exchange occurred.

And I understand you find it old fashioned but when agreeing to spend several times our annual salary its hardly a waste of time to take out an hour to go and see the solicitor to ensure you do understand everything before you commit!

Thrugelmir

timmyt wrote: »

if you employ a firm who ends up calling you infor a meeting (old fashioned for a start as who has time in their working day to see a solicitor) then you must demand, demand!, that they also send you a written report, as verbal discussion is not enough, as you need time to think about the papers you are being presented with.

Old fashioned? Face to face conversation is the only way of avoiding misunderstandings between parties.

No doubt you'll find time during your busy working days to get the dentist, so why should a solicitor be any different.

Richard_Webster

Isn't it reasonable to produce a written report and say that if there is anything that the buyer doesn't understand or is unsure about, they should contact me to talk about it on the phone or arrange a meeting if that is necessary?

mrcol1000

We are just finding it very diffcult to have faith in our solictors. They are a big local firm but we have to keep chasing them up to find out what is going on. Whenever we contact them they are always "just about" to do something. Also our mortagage company has been writing to the wrong branch of the firm yet it took the estate agent to point this out. When we contacted the solicitors they hadn't even noticed but did wonder why the bank hadn't been in touch.

Evilm

mrcol1000 wrote: »

We are just finding it very diffcult to have faith in our solictors. They are a big local firm but we have to keep chasing them up to find out what is going on. Whenever we contact them they are always "just about" to do something. Also our mortagage company has been writing to the wrong branch of the firm yet it took our letting agent to point this out. When we contacted the solicitors they hadn't even noticed but did wonder why the bank hadn't been in touch.

Well this will be why they haven't reported to you yet then. Most prefer to do one comprehensive report with all of the details included (searches, contract terms, covenants or easements in the deeds, mortgage etc).

Sometimes they will say they were "just about" to and mean it, sometimes its just an easier way to talk to clients as its more positive than a list of outstanding items that still need to be done.

Solicitors do handle quite a few cases at once so if its not been a long time they may have just thought the lender was being slow in producing the paperwork for some reason.

I would keep chasing (nicely obviously) on a regular basis and ask for indications on timescale from them.