Arc Property Solicitors - dreadful service, awful reputation!

chesneyoctopus

Upsetandannoyed - have you managed to complete yet?

Richard_Webster

It is very unusual for a lender to ask a solicitor to provide site plans. This might be needed if there was something unusual about the layout of the building and the land with it but I would have expected these to be needed so that the valuer would know what to inspect and therefore they would have been requested before the offer came out, because apart from HSBC (bless them) the valuation always comes before the formal offer.

chesneyoctopus

Richard, I have come across Abbey and Santander mortgage offers where they require a copy of the plan - these have usually been on new builds where there is a separate garage or parking space. It is a special condition, which ARC have clearly overlooked.

Upsetandannoyed_2

chesneyoctopus wrote: »

Upsetandannoyed - have you managed to complete yet?

Not yet.

ARC sent plans on Monday, I mailed them 3 times on Tuesday asking for updates, at 3:30pm I got a reply asking if I had heard anything.

I phoned Santander, who told me that the plans were not clear and that they had mailed ARC at 2:30 the day before asking for clearer plans to be sent. I emailed ARC with this info - waited 20 mins then phoned them, I asked to speak to my solicitor, but she was busy(as always) I spoke to a lovely girl, she checked the system and told me the clearer plans had been sent at 4:10pm(Which was 5 minutes before I phoned them) I was pretty livid, she explained that they had been waiting for the plans from the sellers solicitors, I asked when those plans had come through, she told me they were in at 2:30 on the MONDAY!!! So, ARC had sat on them for over 24 hours... cheers guys!

Late afternoon today the surveyors looked at plans but said they still were not clear as my actual property was not specifically clear on the development plans, I had to call ARC and ask them to fax then through on the emergency number with a clear marking as to where my property was. ARC did this straight away but it was too late for anybody to look.

I was advised to go for completion tomorrow at 3pm as this will make the survey approval a high priority.. hopefully somebody will look at it! I had to mail ARC asking them to send info regarding completion so that Santander are ready.

If it doesn't happen I will have to pay another £120 fine..

I feel like I'm in the middle of hell right now... All of these calls and emails are happening while I'm at work in a secondary school... it's really not ideal. Added to the fact that I had to pay ARC their fee last week, I feel there is nothing else I can do but carry on doing what I am doing. I have just over a week left where I am living so I am hoping that I don't end up homeless! This all started at the beginning of February. :mad:

Upsetandannoyed_2

chesneyoctopus wrote: »

Richard, I have come across Abbey and Santander mortgage offers where they require a copy of the plan - these have usually been on new builds where there is a separate garage or parking space. It is a special condition, which ARC have clearly overlooked.

Richard and Chesneyoctopus,
Mine is a new build with a parking space so I guess that is why.
Grrr it:mad:

florida05

i am selling an investment property to another experienced investor. No mortgage on either side. The simplest kind of transaction there is. Yet to date it has taken thre months and we have not exchanged yet. DO NOT USE THIS FIRM. I went to Harrogate and collected all the paperwork I had supplied so if it falls through I can use another solicitor without being handicapped as Arc have the paperwork.
CUT YOUR LOSSES and GO ELSEWHERE.

Upsetandannoyed_2

I'm still waiting for Surveyors from Santander to look at the site plans which were supposed to be sent to them months ago, but were if fact only sent on my original completion day which was 3 weeks ago. I am hoping that at the latest we can complete this coming Monday as that's when I need to vacate my rented apartment. I am considering hiring a van now and moving in with inlaws, but this means moving twice when I may not have to. Added to that, they live miles out of town and I can't drive to get to work. Flipping ARC!!

shimano

To be honest, I don't understand why people go for these outfits, "just because I'll save a few hundred quid"

You're buying a property, not trying to find the best price for an iPod touch or something, always, always go for a local, reputable firm with real solicitors.

Upsetandannoyed_2

shimano wrote: »

To be honest, I don't understand why people go for these outfits, "just because I'll save a few hundred quid"

You're buying a property, not trying to find the best price for an iPod touch or something, always, always go for a local, reputable firm with real solicitors.

I second that!!!

I didn't go with ARC to save money, I thought it would all be easier online, easier to call them and faster service. I believe I read all this on their website, and fell for it. I would NEVER EVER do that again... I wish I had gone with a local firm. My sellers solicitors can't even contact ARC as they never answer their phone. It's all very embarrasing for me :mad:

emdrops

shimano wrote: »

To be honest, I don't understand why people go for these outfits, "just because I'll save a few hundred quid"

You're buying a property, not trying to find the best price for an iPod touch or something, always, always go for a local, reputable firm with real solicitors.

You've got to remember not everyone's as clued up about these sort of things. We're the same - we went with ARC thinking a nationally operating solicitor would be more reliable and more efficient than a 'little local one' - oh how naive we were...and why shouldn't we be - we're buying our first house! Not having done this before, we had an excuse for not knowing!

We're first time buyers, and the sellers were vacating to their second home, so no upward or onward chain.

We've been waiting since the middle of march (so i actually feel kind of lucky compared to some of the poor !!!!!!s on here...)

Nothing much happened for ages, but they kept us ticking along with different searches etc being completed. Only within the last few weeks things have kicked into action.

There's been the same confusion with us, and today, completely at the end of my tether, i phoned arc to ask what the hell was going on. I spoke to a pleasant but entirely unhelpful girl, who further annoyed me by telling me "we're all ready for the completion on friday" when the actual solicitor who's been dealing with us so far had emailed us a few hours earlier telling us the friday completion date he's been promising us is impossible.

It's been an absolute nightmare. My partner has dealt with them mostly, but each time getting inadequate responses. In reply to a string of exasperated questions, we got "Leave it with me, regards." Talk about stoking the fire!

Whatever you do, DON'T GO WITH ARC! Incompetant, inconsistant and inconsiderate! (...Is the polite way of describing them.)