super slow unhelpful solicitors! (house buy/sell process)

kdolll

Hello all, firstly, excuse the ranting tone that may be evident!
OH and i are just at the end of our very last tether and are willing to try any suggestions! The situation is, we have had flat up for sale since january, and have lost both a flat buyer and a house that we loved. We found both again, and am desperately awaiting exchange for our flat/ house. Our house buying is good to go, whilst the solicitor dealing with our buyers side of things has been slow to say the least, incomptent at best (failing to notice piles of rerturned paper work, forgetting/neglecting case for several weeks, no communication, finding problems where there are none) all who are involved in the chain are extremely anxious, as there are time constraints on both ends of out chain (we are only a chain of three). Our buyer has already received an extension on his mortgage offer, and this is due to expire again next week, out sellers are worried about the people selling their end due to ill health. We are massively anxious about this, and have spoken to our solicitors today who have said they will be busy dealing with their existing exchanges today and will speak to us and deal with enquiries afterwards. (i am fuming to say the least - feeling neglected and teased with the fact that others are exchanging today whilst i am still waiting! also, we are all packed up and waiting to go, at the suggestion of the EA, so am looking at a pile of boxes everyday and using basic rations of everything! (ea has been saying everyday this week that she cant see why we cant exchange, which i think has probably made us worse )

rant aside, my questions are, does anybody have any marvellous suggestions that may help us in pushing this forward?
failing that, does anybody know of any way to complain about the attitudes and communication efforts of the solicitors involved?

big thanks!

DVardysShadow

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kdolll

Hiya, and ohhhh how i would love to, but its just not practical as my flat buyer went with an internet based firm who said they could complete in 4-6 weeks, (we now at end of week 9) but they are based in Dorset, whilst i live in Kent! Beside from that, the way i feel at the moment i think i would end up needing solicitors assistance to get out of jail!! hahaha!

DVardysShadow

kdolll wrote: »

Hiya, and ohhhh how i would love to, but its just not practical as my flat buyer went with an internet based firm who said they could complete in 4-6 weeks, (we now at end of week 9) but they are based in Dorset, whilst i live in Kent! Beside from that, the way i feel at the moment i think i would end up needing solicitors assistance to get out of jail!! hahaha!

Sorry misread.

Yorkie1

Frankly your buyer's solicitors were hugely ambitious in saying there would be completion in 4-6 weeks. If you're only at week 9, that's still quite quick - on average I think it can take 12 weeks to complete.

I can understand your frustration at feeling un-prioritised by your own solicitor today, but Fridays are their busiest day for conveyancing and you wouldn't want your own completion to go wrong (when you get there, which you will) because another client who didn't have a deadline that day was insisting on interrupting things.

I suggest that on Monday you contact your own solicitor, ask them to specify exactly what is still outstanding, since when, what action they've taken to date to chase, and what actions they propose to do to chase it further.

Also ask if there is anything else you can do e.g. chase your buyers through the EA etc. It's possible that their solicitors are laying the blame for any delay on you, whilst your solicitors are doing the same in respect of the buyer's.

PS. Much of what you say the other solicitors are doing is, if true, not excusable. But flat purchases are often not as straightforward as house purchases - not least because of the leasehold aspect - and it may be that part of the reason for delay is because they are doing a thorough job for their client, even if you believe there is no reason for them finding "problems".

Fire_Fox

Your buyer needs to be chasing their conveyancer once or twice a week, they are the ones who appointed them and they are paying the bill. Set your estate agent onto the task of hassling the buyer once or twice a week, because they work for you and only get paid when the sale completes. Don't let them tell you they have done all they can or can't understand, you want them to take action and come back to you with a response each time.

Continue to have your conveyancer chase up weekly but recognise they have no 'sanctions' against the buyer's conveyancer so cannot force the matter. Don't harass your solicitor on a Friday, that is their busiest day and they are right to ask you to call back on Monday.

kdolll

Thanks for the responses.
I think that from our perspective, (our and our buyers) we were promised such a lot in terms of time to complete, that now it has long since, passed and problems are still being discovered, we feel very let down. Obviously, we are aware that they have many people like us, requiring their services, however, we feel that at each stage the solicitor (buyers solicitor) has let us down, or in several cases, failed to respond. For example, we were informed late friday afternoon that we will be ready to exchange on monday. Great! We thought and exhaled. However, several phone calls and two days later, we are still not in a position to exchange as they have mislaid/not found a document. I just dont understand how at week 9/10 they still are making mistakes. Anyway, we have the EA's on the case again. And i will be emailing the solicitors to ask for their complaints procedure based on the fact they have made claims around times and failed to meet them without adequately explaining or communicating their reasons as to why. I dont think it is unreasonable to expect communication in such a major issue and feel incredibly let down by the lack of it.

kdolll

I might also add that after chatting with the EA's (both buying and selling), our solicitor and our buyer, a total of 5 messages have been left with no response to any of them.

Yorkie1

You have no standing to complain to the buyer's solicitor as you are not their client.

Just focus on keeping in touch with your own solicitor and making sure you are doing all that is needed.

As previously advised, leasehold purchases are more complicated than freehold purchases, and 9-10 weeks is ambitious for a freehold. You are now aware of that, so need to readjust your expectations instead of keep going back to what your buyers were wrongly told a few weeks ago.

House buying is stressful, don't make it more stressful by allowing yourself to get too angry!