Tip of Exchanging Contracts ... UPDATE .. how late in the day ???

PottyHouse_2

Hi all,
Our Vendors have requested completion date of this Friday 13th August - there are 3 of us in the chain, them, us and our Buyer (no chain and buying as Buy to Let).

The only thing holding up exchange of contracts is our Buyer posted his signed contract and other papers to his solicitor last Tuesday which they are saying have not yet been received - hopefully sitting in a big pile in their office ????!!!!

This is our 3rd solicitor acting for us in the same firm (over 3 chains in total in the last year - a very long story ......).

Basically, all along she has waited for the information to come to her, she has not done any chasing and in my opinion had it easy as our file must be brimming with two lots of enquiries already answered by her predecessors.

Anyway, when I spoke to her late Friday afternoon to see why exchange of contracts wasn't happening she basically told me to "back off" - she had not spoken to our Buyer's solicitor nor chasing them up so that the completion for this Friday can take place. I was very shocked and very upset as I feel our interests aren't fully being looked after.

Our EA has been fantastic and I think even she has got fed up as by this stage all contact should be between Solicitor to Solicitor ? and she has had to ring every few days to see what stage they are at. She is now on holiday - our Solicitor even said someone else at their office will chase Buyer's solicitors instead for us so she definitely is quite happy for the EA to do all the work !

All weekend we have been packing getting ready for Friday 13th (if not by then the next date will be 3rd September) but cannot cancel utilities or book removal van and with 2 small children our life is hell at the moment.

Any advice/thoughts welcome - I'm in shock as I mistakenly expected she would be as proactive as our previous 2 ladies, appreciate everyone works differently but what would you do in our position ?????

garbaldisham

We had an idle solicitor the move before last. Every time you rang he was out, on the phone, yada yada, so I made an appointment, sat down in front of him, and as he couldn't pretend he was otherwise engaged I insisted that he phone the other party's solicitor there and then.

It's quite a British attitude, I think, this "Oh, don't rock the boat, let them get on with it, etc etc." You have to remember these people aren't doing you a favour. You're paying them a significant sum of money and as such you expect value for it. I've only recently learnt to be productively assertive (calm, never rude or aggressive, but politely stubborn and persistent) and it's well worth it. You're paying them, therefore they're working for you. So long as you're not demanding the impossible or making objectively unreasonable demands you are entitled to competent and speedy service.

So go and politely kick some donkey .

spirit

Pottyhouse,

You are paying her for a service at the end of the day so get back on the phone today and hassle her all you like.

I did pretty much the same thing in March/April this year. I knew my buyers wanted to get a wiggle on, the house I was buying was empty (a probate sale where the family also wanted a wiggle on).

Each time I spoke to my solr about exchanging, it was always "we are waiting for whatever bit of paperwork". So I asked if I could hurry them up so got on the phone to the council for copies of building regs and planning permission. Another time I rang the agent selling this place and told them that if they wanted to sell it to me then they must get x paperwork from their vendor.

don't be afraid and certainly don't be put off by your solicitors attitude. Some of them still live in the dark ages of 'it will happen when it does and you can do nothing to hasten it'

complete poppycock

PottyHouse_2

Thanks both, its very nice and reassuring to hear it's not just us !!!

We are taking time out this morning with our boys as we have gone through hell in the last 18 months - our IFA is now taking this up for us as well and I'm sure he will kick butt !!!

I have said to my OH he can have all the contact now with Solicitor, perhaps its a "woman" thing ???

Lets see what today brings ..........

Richard_Webster

Our Vendors have requested completion date of this Friday 13th August

So how do you know that your buyers can achieve that date? Have their solicitors requested their mortgage advance money - have your solicitors done that? Lenders take 5-10 working days to produce money when it is requested, although depending on the lender it is often possible to get the money more quickly but it is not guaranteed and exchange of contracts can then be further delayed while a solicitor waits to check that his client's mortgage lender will send the money in time for the desired completion date.

Of course your solicitor should be checking to see if the desired date is possible. Having a client phone up with a "we're moving on Friday aren't we?" message should be enough for her to do some chasing, if only to avoid the further stress and hassle that usually ensues in trying to make sure it does happen if everyone else is ready and definitely wants that date.

goldbyron

The absolute last resort thing to do (I have done this on three occasions previously - my last resort comes quickly!) - e-mail or fax the buyers sol to ask very very nicely if they can hunt out the contract, ring your sol and proceed to exchange. At the same time ask the EA to do the same thing - and finally ask your sol to actually please ring their solicitor and confirm if completion is still possible for friday.

brightonman123

make a complaint to the solicitor partners- should be listed on their paperwork.

stress pressing time issues, and withhold payment until resolved.

PottyHouse_2

Richard_Webster wrote: »

So how do you know that your buyers can achieve that date? Have their solicitors requested their mortgage advance money - have your solicitors done that? Lenders take 5-10 working days to produce money when it is requested, although depending on the lender it is often possible to get the money more quickly but it is not guaranteed and exchange of contracts can then be further delayed while a solicitor waits to check that his client's mortgage lender will send the money in time for the desired completion date.

Of course your solicitor should be checking to see if the desired date is possible. Having a client phone up with a "we're moving on Friday aren't we?" message should be enough for her to do some chasing, if only to avoid the further stress and hassle that usually ensues in trying to make sure it does happen if everyone else is ready and definitely wants that date.

Thanks for reply, us not being Solicitors we have left all that for our Solicitor to sort out and I mean that sincerely not sarcastically - we have learnt a lot in this business for the last year or so having been through it 3 times already but readily admit we don't know the "ins" and "outs" of the legal procedure for exchange and completion.

Our Solicitor advised us last Friday she is ordering "our money" but as to our Buyer he is apparently paying his deposit today or tomorrow via his Solicitor. You probably know more about that scenario than me????

The good news today is our Solicitor has actually spoken with Buyer's solicitor - thats a novelty - and they are just going through 2 more last minute queries (last Tuesday we were told they were happy with all the answers to the enquiries).

PottyHouse_2

PottyHouse wrote: »

I have said to my OH he can have all the contact now with Solicitor, perhaps its a "woman" thing ???

Lets see what today brings ..........

OH on phone to Solicitor today - she was nice as pie !!!!!!!

ztan

I refuse to do anything over the phone or via letter. My partner and I had our contracts etc for about 2 weeks to review them and make sure we were happy, we then took the day off work and took the documents in, sat down with our solicitor and signed the docs there and then.

We've done the exact same with our mortgage advisory company as well, and refused to send them anything via post. The only phone conversations I have are to book face to face appointments. I know it takes time... but at the end of the day you want it done right.

My partner and I are FTB's, buying a new build so we are making our presence very much felt so that we're not taken advantage of etc.

Hope it all comes through for you- we should be notified of legal exchange in the next few days, and then we're good to go. Just got to wait for the house to be finished and we can move at last. Deposit is paid... nearly there now!

PottyHouse_2

Richard_Webster wrote: »

So how do you know that your buyers can achieve that date? Have their solicitors requested their mortgage advance money - have your solicitors done that? Lenders take 5-10 working days to produce money when it is requested, although depending on the lender it is often possible to get the money more quickly but it is not guaranteed and exchange of contracts can then be further delayed while a solicitor waits to check that his client's mortgage lender will send the money in time for the desired completion date.

So for the past 6 weeks Buyer's solicitor saying Friday 13th August achievable (but no guarantee which is fine) his money was ordered 'yesterday'? and we were advised this could take 5 days - Tuesday today Day 1, Weds Day 2, Thurs Day 3, Fri Day 4 .... Saturday Day 5 - I'm not a legal expert but I can count !!!!

So here we are still .... waiting for monies to come through with no guarantee anything is going to happen Friday ... exchange or completion.

Can anyone advise if exchange and completion were possible by this Friday we would know by THURSDAY 12th August at the latest ???? or is it a case of we wake up Friday and we know whether we can move or not ?????

I daren't ask my Solicitor she won't commit to anything at the moment !!!!