Slow solicitors- or worse?

Perelandra

OK, so maybe buying is stressful...

I wonder if I could ask for views on my situation.

I am in the process of buying a house. There is no chain on either side.

Offer was accepted about three weeks ago, Memorandum of Sale received within two days from EA. Vendor asked for 28 days to exchange.

My solicitor was instructed the day after the offer was accepted. He has received confirmation from their solicitors that they are acting in this sale, however no draft contract has yet been received.

Survey has been done, and is essentially fine (some legal issues around shared liabilities). My solicitor has raised questions around these roughly two weeks ago.

Mortage offer (including valuation) have been confirmed from my lender.

So from my side, I have progressed about as far as I am able to get, and I know I have a good solicitor. However, to date we have received virtually no communication from their solicitors at all.

The EA has indicated that both he and the vendor have tried chasing their solicitors, but little seems to have resulted from that.


I have a few questions-

Three weeks feels like a long time to have waited for a draft contract?

Should I accept the "slow solicitors" answer at face value, or do you think there might be something worse underneath this?

I'm wondering if I should ask the EA to ask the vendor to contact me directly.

I'm getting nervous around the house purchase now- I'm obviously financially invested (surveys, fees etc) and it doesn't seem to be going very far.

Thanks for your time,
Pere

WestonDave

What do you know about the other solicitors - small firms sometimes suffer if a key person is off sick or on leave with no-one able to progress matters in their absence. On the other hand some of the big factories have so many clients on the go at once that the desire of one to progress quickly don't really create enough of an issue for them to pull their finger out. If the other side are known to be reputable then maybe there is something else going on.

Its possible that the questions about shared liabillities are either taking time to resolve, or were something they hoped your solicitors wouldn't spot because they are a problem. One other thing to check is whether the property was already registered at the Land Registry - if its not then putting together a contract from pre-registration deeds etc can take longer. On the face of it 3 weeks seems a long time if all is straightforward but if the agent still seems to think a sale is on then I wouldn't worry yet as they obviously have a vested interest in the sale going through.

sonastin

3 weeks fits together perfectly well with the "slow solicitor" excuse. If you were getting to 9 or 10 weeks I would think that something else was going on but at this stage it sounds perfectly reasonable. If there is something a little bit more complicated on their side, it would take a bit longer than expected and you are still well within the margins for that.

House buying is stressful at the best of times. The best advice is to be patient, but make sure you keep the pressure on the other side so they don't get complacent. If you're still in this same position in a couple more weeks, that is the time to start getting concerned.

Chinkle

Sounds like they're just being slow to me. If the vendor wanted exchange in 28 days you think they'd be pushing on their side.

Why not give the EA a quick call and say that you've done everything on your side to keep things moving swiftly and ask them to speak to the vendor about their slow solicitor.

However, it could be the vendor themselves being slow, not filling in the fixtures and fittings forms etc. Often solicitors wait until they have the full bundle of papers before they send on the sellers paperwork in one package.

missile

I would try to contact the home owner and see if he is aware of the issue. He is the only person who is in a position to exert pressure on his solicitor.

mchale

Solicitor's are like wheelbarrow's, they only work as hard as you push them

Perelandra

Thanks for your feedback- and it's reassuring that the view seems to be "don't worry yet".

In answer to the specific points-

It's a smallish local firm, I think. Not part of a large chain.

The purchase is fairly straightforward, it's an older property (not recently built), although there's more than one person who had to agree to the sale price.

The liabilities questions are, IM inexpert O, fairly minor (around maintenance for a shared driveway, for instance), which I wouldn't have expected would affect the draft contract? I believe my solicitor will find anything that's even slightly questionable about the property, though, so there's little chance of the vendor hiding anything. :rotfl:

I've spoken to the EA, who have been helpful in chasing both the vendors and their solicitors.

I'm not worried about any fixtures and fittings as I'll be effectively gutting the place anyway.

My solicitor has chased them a number of times- he copies me in on any communications he makes.

So.. will sit tight for now, but if there's still no movement I'll try to contact the vendors directly. It's more the uncertainty that's the worrying part, as as missile says it's them who would exert the pressure (or not, as the case may be). Just a shame that the original 28 days isn't going to happen, as that would've suited me perfectly as well.

Ah well...