Frustrations with solicitor

FantasticMrFox

Long time lurker, first time poster :j Just looking for abit of advice really. I'm a first time buyer growing more and more frustrated with my solictor - here the background first.

I made my offer on the 3rd May and the offer was accpeted before the end of that week, i think it was the 5th. On the 10th May I had my mortgage offer in principle in place and then I recieved the survey reports that had been carried out by the 17th May. At this point I was thinking how smooth everything was going. However this is when the solicitor took over and everything appears to of ground to a halt.

The solicitor thats representing me appears to be making more and more enquires each time they get a set of enquiries back. Everything that has been sent on to me appears to be fine and I cant see how they can be using them to make more enquiries. Every time I call to find out whats happening they either say "we should be able to complete by the end of the week" (they've been saying this since before the end of june) or they pass the blame onto someone else. This is now the 9th week and at the moment there doesnt seem to be an end in sight and I honestly don't know what to do. The longer it takes the more I have to pay due to having furniture in storage and the more frustrated myself and the vendor are becoming (who I might add is waiting to move into an empty house).

Is this time scale the norm or are they seemingly taking the mick with this?

Doozergirl

Ask them for a list of exactly what is needed in order to exchange. It shouldn't be a long list at this point in time.

Honestly, I've had to do it a couple of times with online conveyancers; it does work as it gives you a bit more control and it exposes them. If you know something is expected from the other solicitor then you can chase it through your vendor etc. If it's something ridiculous you can tell them to leave it, if it is something they insist is needed but you don't think is then you can always check back with us lot!

Time to start pushing but in a way in which you can take some control rather than the 'are we there yet' type of question which enables them to leave you hanging.

Bananamana

I agree with the sentiments of Doozergirl. Just remember they're acting for YOU (well and the lender if you're getting a mortgage).

Get a list of whats outstanding. Is it a leasehold property? 2 months for a freehold seems a bit long unless the vendors have been slow or there is an issue in the title.

betmunch

Its slightly on the long side but not that bad.

Who are the solicitors?

jonewer

As someone else said, solicitors are like wheelbarrows. They go as fast as you push them.

FantasticMrFox

Thanks guys and gals so far! Got a list of outstanding enquires, here we go:

1. Please provide copies of local planning entries highlighted in the local authority search? (this has now been forwarded to the council) - This is to do with a building being constructed across the road, however it not just a normal road its like a 4 lane main road and then down a ditch. It cant be seen from my flat and there is no way it could be heard. As i said this has now been forwarded onto the council so this is one I willing to move ahead without as I seem to know more about it than the solicitor. Originally they wrote to me saying, this isnt up to us to chase only me if I wanted - I didnt ask but as we've got closer to completion they'v done it anyway.

2. You've provided bank statements showing you have paid ground rent and maintence charges however we cannot accept these please provide furthur proof.

3. The vendor has agreed to pay all service charges up to the date of completion - please provide us with proof that this has been paid up to 29th September 2010. (Don't know where they've got this date from, me and the vendor had both hoped to be done at the end of last month never struggling to complete by the end of july).

Pretty much every enquiry has been answered but not in a manner they see as acceptable, so im getting all my notes and letters together to ring them and say i want to complete

Doozergirl

Glad you got your list.

It does look like a lot of froth. I'd push them to exchange as well. If you've got it in writing that they take responsibility for service charge et al and the bank statements for it then it's a small risk that you take, although they'd be in breach if they didn't.

Good on you. Let us know when you get to exchange!

Bananamana

FantasticMrFox wrote: »

Thanks guys and gals so far! Got a list of outstanding enquires, here we go:

1. Please provide copies of local planning entries highlighted in the local authority search? (this has now been forwarded to the council) - This is to do with a building being constructed across the road, however it not just a normal road its like a 4 lane main road and then down a ditch. It cant be seen from my flat and there is no way it could be heard. As i said this has now been forwarded onto the council so this is one I willing to move ahead without as I seem to know more about it than the solicitor. Originally they wrote to me saying, this isnt up to us to chase only me if I wanted - I didnt ask but as we've got closer to completion they'v done it anyway.

tell them to abandon this if your satisfied - seems like a waste of time


2. You've provided bank statements showing you have paid ground rent and maintence charges however we cannot accept these please provide furthur proof.

the freeholder should be asked to provide the last 3 years accounts for both service charge and ground rent. Usually the seller doesnt want to pay for them to provide this info and hence it creates delay.

Find out if the delay is client side or whether the solicitor needs to chase. You need to know this as there could be arrears which you could become liable for (it also shows average expenditure for the block)

3. The vendor has agreed to pay all service charges up to the date of completion - please provide us with proof that this has been paid up to 29th September 2010. (Don't know where they've got this date from, me and the vendor had both hoped to be done at the end of last month never struggling to complete by the end of july).

sigh - ths is covered by 2.

Pretty much every enquiry has been answered but not in a manner they see as acceptable, so im getting all my notes and letters together to ring them and say i want to complete

This seems like the usual delays with leasehold based opn the landlords side

G_M

The solicitor is doing his job. He is checking things to ensure you don't end up buying somewhere a) with unexpected building work nearby or b) costs to pay

In either case you can instruct him to stop his enquiries and Exchange, and tell him you are prepared to take on the risk.

With Planning, it is often the case that the buyer, who has actually seen the property and area, knows more than the solicitor who only has documents to go on.

The accounts relating to a leasehold however are pretty critical and could potentially bite you in the bum later on.

If they are causing extreme delay, another approach is to speak yourself to other leaseholders in the building - your future neighbours. they can at least tell you what the annual charges are, what the freeholder and/or management company is like, whether maintenance work is planned or recently done etc etc. What they can't tell you is whether your seller has paid his bills!

Richard_Webster

With Planning, it is often the case that the buyer, who has actually seen the property and area, knows more than the solicitor who only has documents to go on.

The seller can tell his solicitors to tell the buyer's solicitors that these planning entries are irrelevant.


I have often done that as a seller's solicitor in this sort of case and sometimes the buyer's solicitor won't be told and insists on seeing them. A couple of times I've had seller clients get so cheesed off that they have forked out around £100 to get copies of 5/6 totally irrelevant planning decisions just to shut the buyer's solicitor up and cause an exchange to happen!

FantasticMrFox

Thanks again guys for the assistance so far.

Prior to ringing the solicitors on wednesday the estate agent called me and asked if I was happy with the documents provided by the vendor, these showed furthur reciepts that the ground ren had been paid - these however hadnt been forwarded to me by the solicitor so the EA faxed and emailed me a copy. Then I rang the solicitors to put my views across about whats supposidly outstanding and how they've been answered in previous documents. Again got alot of faff from them. In terms of the planning documents requested told them what I knew about the project and told them to forget it - again fobbed me off telling me my lender was requesting the information. Considering I work for my lender I could happily tell them straight away no my lender wasnt requesting any of this information.

Anyway I told them I wanted a proposed exchange and completion date by the end of the week, I was happy enough with everything - only to get told they werent happy with the information and that they have alot of clients so were unlikely to have the time to contact the vendors solicitors, I told them I was instructing them to get me a completion/exchange date - the solicitor then begrudgingly agreed before hanging up on me mid sentance!

After that I though right lets give them some breathing space til Friday. Friday arrived and nothing, 12 came along so I rang - voicemail, 2 came along so i rang again - voicemail. Called the EA to speak to the vendor to see if he had heard anything then got a call back about an hour later from the EA saying that neither the vendor nor their solicitor had been asked about a completion/exchange date. Its the end of friday and what I requested seemingly hasnt happened and Im quickly approaching my 10th week of this supposidly quick sale.

At the moment I am close to losing it, I'm apparently paying for absolutely no service and since the end of June I've been getting told lie after lie....the main one being "yes we'll be able to complete next week". The enthusiasm I had for buying my first property is diminishing daily and in all honest I dont know where to turn because the people Im paying to help me are in all due respects doing the opposite.