Dozy solicitor...

daisiegg

Please forgive me, just a bit of a rant!

Things were all ticking along nicely with our house purchase. There was a period when we received things in the post from our solicitor every day for five days - great, we always sent everything back immediately, it was all good.

Then we heard absolutely nothing for a week and a half...fine, we thought, there's probably all sorts they need to do at their end.

Today I thought I'd give our solicitor a call just to see how things are going, what we're waiting for, etc, and to tell him that we're going on holiday on Sunday.

Solicitor: "Oh, I suppose we ought to get the contract signed before you go on holiday then."

Me: "Yes, that would be good...when will it be ready?"

Solicitor: "Oh, it's been ready for a week or so."

Me: "Erm...ok...well, can we sign it?!"

Solicitor: "Yes, I suppose so. Shall I post it over?"

Me: "Um...yes please?!"

!!!!!

While we've been waiting around thinking there's all sorts of mysterious solicitors' business going on at his end, actually the contract has been sitting on his desk for a week and he just hadn't thought to tell us! It's practically comical....

NeverAgain_2

I had a similar experience, which leads me to believe even otherwise competent solicitors need chivvying along.

Alter_ego

Signing the contract is not really that important, it's likely then to wait at your sols for exchange. The important thing is to sort an exchange/completion date.

timmyt

daisiegg wrote: »

Please forgive me, just a bit of a rant!

Things were all ticking along nicely with our house purchase. There was a period when we received things in the post from our solicitor every day for five days - great, we always sent everything back immediately, it was all good.

Then we heard absolutely nothing for a week and a half...fine, we thought, there's probably all sorts they need to do at their end.

Today I thought I'd give our solicitor a call just to see how things are going, what we're waiting for, etc, and to tell him that we're going on holiday on Sunday.

Solicitor: "Oh, I suppose we ought to get the contract signed before you go on holiday then."

Me: "Yes, that would be good...when will it be ready?"

Solicitor: "Oh, it's been ready for a week or so."

Me: "Erm...ok...well, can we sign it?!"

Solicitor: "Yes, I suppose so. Shall I post it over?"

Me: "Um...yes please?!"

!!!!!

While we've been waiting around thinking there's all sorts of mysterious solicitors' business going on at his end, actually the contract has been sitting on his desk for a week and he just hadn't thought to tell us! It's practically comical....

it might help you understand some conveyancers actions (though dont use 'solicitor' unless you are 100% sure they are actually one, as they are rare and only clever money gets one):

- most conveyancers juggle 50-100 clients at any one time. that gives each client a possible 6 minutes of activity every 3 days.
- lawyers tend not to sit on things on purpose, as they get paid once they can secure an exchnage. they appear to sit because they are over loaded or have bad admin suppport, or are not a solicitor and so not as zippy getting work out


Your post does not mention whether he is ready to prepare his Report on all the documents for you - or is he a conveyancer that trickles letters to you explaining things as he goes, with no overall Report on all the legal papers he gets in one go for you - that you can keep as a bible if you will, throughout your ownership. tricklers are the ones where things get missed by you or them. a full Report in one go is where your money works hardest.

good luck

LandyAndy

Your solicitor probably didn't think that clients in the middle of a house purchase would bugger off on holiday for a fortnight with just a few days notice to him.

daisiegg

LandyAndy wrote: »

Your solicitor probably didn't think that clients in the middle of a house purchase would bugger off on holiday for a fortnight with just a few days notice to him.

He's known about our holidays since the day we instructed him, as has the estate agent, and the vendors, and the vendors' solicitor. I was just reminding him.

Holidays have been booked since last year. Life doesn't just stop because you're buying a house.

daisiegg

timmyt wrote: »

it might help you understand some conveyancers actions (though dont use 'solicitor' unless you are 100% sure they are actually one, as they are rare and only clever money gets one):

- most conveyancers juggle 50-100 clients at any one time. that gives each client a possible 6 minutes of activity every 3 days.
- lawyers tend not to sit on things on purpose, as they get paid once they can secure an exchnage. they appear to sit because they are over loaded or have bad admin suppport, or are not a solicitor and so not as zippy getting work out


YOur post does not mention whether he is ready with his REport on all the documents - or is he a conveyancer that tricles letters to you with no overall one REport in one central place that you can keep as a bible if you wil, throughout your ownership. tricklers are the ones where things are missed. a full Report in one go is where your money works hardest.

good luck

I am 100% sure he is actually a solicitor.

I appreciate they're busy (although whatever time of day I call him he answers the phone on the second ring, and always knows exactly who I am without having to trawl through a list of possible clients in his mind...), I was just venting my frustration at the fact that he knew we were going to be away most of August (which he DID know - and he has it in writing) and didn't seem to feel there was any hurry.

I don;t really understand what you're on about in the rest of your post.

timmyt

daisiegg wrote: »

I am 100% sure he is actually a solicitor.

I appreciate they're busy (although whatever time of day I call him he answers the phone on the second ring, and always knows exactly who I am without having to trawl through a list of possible clients in his mind...), I was just venting my frustration at the fact that he knew we were going to be away most of August (which he DID know - and he has it in writing) and didn't seem to feel there was any hurry.

I don;t really understand what you're on about in the rest of your post.

sorry corrected my typos. hope it works out, you just never know what other things they have on, but my goodness, there are some slow conveyancers, many of whom are not qualified and need the Team solicitor to check their work...whenever the solicitor is next free.

joess

I'd keep on top of them, our buyers solicitor is so slow. In fact they are that slow our buyers buyer has pulled out of the sale and our chain has just collapsed.