'Out of Town' Solicitors?

staceyalison2114

I am 2 months into selling my leasehold flat and I called my solicitor today for an update and he said the only thing he was waiting for was some documentation from the council (who owe the lease) as the documentation already provided by them was not good enough for my buyers solicitors because they are not based in the same town as them. This is so annoying (my solicitor said it would have been fine by him), was anyone else heard of this or had it happen to them??

I was hoping to exchange ASAP, I can't stand all this hanging around!!!

SnowBelle_2

Hi,
Yes unfortunately it happened to me as my buyers had instructed a solicitor they found on the internet who was based in Yorkshire & only worked two days a week!

We are in the Midlands so it was'nt easy for my solicitor to get regular information.
My suggestion would be to make sure your solicitor keeps on to them and just sit tight, I know it's frustrating... two months is a relatively short time.
Mine took six months but we were messed around a bit.
good luck x

Richard_Webster

It could be that local solicitors are used to the format etc in which the local Council supply information for sold ex-Council flats.

Typically buyer's solicitors send a long questionnaire for the landlord/managing agent (or int his case the Council) to answer and sometimes they won't answer the specific questions but will just send back standard replies. Usually the standard replies will deal with all the important points and the buyer's solicitors are just being fussy, so the seller's solicitors may have a point.

If I am acting for a buyer and get a set of such answers from a distant Council I would look through them to see if they actually deal with the main points and if they did I would simply accept them.