Stuck in the middle of two solicitors who won't work together

Bear1404

We are virtually there with our first house purchase and signed our contract last week. However, when I chased up our solicitor re an exchange date she said there were still queries outstanding, 6 in total. Our estate agent has been saying for over last week that everything requested has been sent to our solicitor, but our solicitor is adamant that it hasn't and sent me an itemised list(which was also sent to the estate agent and seller’s solicitor).

The seller's estate agent and solicitor seem to be ignoring this list and just telling me that everything that has been supplied is sufficient. Our solicitor doesn’t seem to be chasing them, and they don’t seem to talk to her – the seller’s solicitor goes to the estate agent who comes to me.

We are now stuck in the middle with our solicitor saying we cannot proceed until we get the documents requested and the estate agent saying they have sent everything required to exchange. Both the estate agent and the sellers solicitor seem like cowboys to be honest, but maybe our solicitor is being too thorough.

We really want to buy the house and the sellers really want to sell it to us. Has anyone experienced this? Any tips on how to resolve this would be much appreciated. Thanks

kingstreet

as only your solicitor is in a position to know the outcome of any discussions he has held with your mortgage lender over the results of these enquiries, I tend to think your solicitor is ensuring the replies meet your lender's requirements.

I can't see there's a lot your solicitor can do, other than clarify to the vendor's solicitor what is required and why. Perhaps the vendor can instruct their solicitor to actually answer what is being asked?

FWIW you won't be exchanging until you've agreed a target completion date with the other parties in the chain

ValHaller

Bear1404 wrote: »

Our estate agent has been saying for over last week that everything requested has been sent to our solicitor, but our solicitor is adamant that it hasn't and sent me an itemised list(which was also sent to the estate agent and seller’s solicitor).

Any tips on how to resolve this would be much appreciated.

Write out the solicitor's list yourself (rather than use a direct copy of the solicitor's correspondence to you) and take it in to the agent. Say that you are ready to conclude the deal once your solicitor advises that the list has been satisfactorily addressed.

Bear in mind that the seller may need a delay

• issues with a chain for an non new build
• delays in completing the build for a new build

and sometimes the seller's solicitor will assist the seller by sitting on things

cajef

Bear1404 wrote: »

Our estate agent has been saying for over last week that everything requested has been sent to our solicitor

the seller’s solicitor goes to the estate agent who comes to me.

We are now stuck in the middle with our solicitor saying we cannot proceed until we get the documents requested and the estate agent saying they have sent everything required to exchange.

Not quite sure what you mean by our estate agent, unless you are selling a property you will not have an estate agent.

The sellers solicitor should be contacting your solicitor not the estate agent, the estate agent is employed by the vendor not you, they should not be coming to you to get issues resolved it sounds like they are pushing to get their commission.

Personally I would tell them not to keep contacting you but to go through the vendors solicitor it is they who are holding the sale up by not responding to your solicitors requests.

SuzieSue

Bear1404 wrote: »

and the sellers really want to sell it to us.

In which case it is up to them to speak to their solicitors and get them to answer the questions.

Why don't you give the list to the sellers to pass on?

khgibb

cajef wrote: »

Not quite sure what you mean by our estate agent, unless you are selling a property you will not have an estate agent.

Whilst this is true, we've had to contact the estate agent that we are buying through to help us get the vendor's solictor to answer some queries. The estate agent was very helpful as they knew we weren't stalling and were able to speak to the vendor on our behalf to explain the situation. The vendor is more likely to listen to their agent and then instruct their solicitor to release answers accordingly, rather than queries coming via other solicitors.

Anyway, for us it worked and got things moving again. Good luck!

Bear1404

Thank you for all the advice everyone - much appreciated.

Cajef - I meant the estate agent we are buying through. They feel like "our estate agent" the number of times they call each day. Have told them to go through the vendors solicitor and will reiterate next week. He seems totally clueless though.

Khgibb - good to hear it worked for you. We are trying to do the same but going round in circles at the moment. Hopefully we'll get there next week

Thanks again for all the advice and enjoy the weekend.

NBOATER

I truly sympathise see my post Action Conveyancers so slow. I am the vendor suffering due to the buyers Conveyancers doing nothing slowly. Hopefully we will all be completing soon, keep the faith.

Spitroast

I feel for you. I'm in a similar position. Our solicitor advised I'd be exchanging contracts this time next week ...that was 2 weeks ago. When I chase they say they've not received anything from the sellers solicitors yet, other than a communication that they want to exchange quickly (about 2 months ago). We've not even received the sellers fixtures and fittings inventory yet! Seems to either be the seller or the sellers solicitor holding it up, but I guess you never really know for sure. My wife and I are alternating chasing our solicitor and the sellers estate agent daily. Very frustrating.