Conveyancer enquiries

martan01

Hello,

I'm in the process of hopefully buying a house, searches are done, mortgage is underwritten just awaiting the valuation next week and the formal mortgage offer.

It looks like the only stumbling block at present is the lack of response from the vendors conveyancers. They sent the contract pack promptly in mid August, with the deed information etc. My conveyancer replied with enquiries immediately, we are currently awaiting a response to the enquiries. It's coming up to three weeks now.

My conveyancer has chased them recently and to my knowledge not received a response, how long do these enquiries normally take? Why would there be a delay?

Thanks

Richard_Webster

Get the estate agents to chase the seller - either he is sitting on the questions or he has replied and his solicitor may be sitting on them.

AlexMac

Yes- Agent;

they don't get paid til completion, and my solicitor takes the view that they do little for their fee (which on pricier sales far exceeds her legals) so they might as well work for it.

But as regards your Q " how long do these enquiries normally take? Why would there be a delay?" could be any of a variety of reasons; I always choose solicitors who will do business by email, and on my last couple of sales, I took the trouble to complete and return the enquiries immediately- often the same day- by email.

But if all three parties (your solicitor, the vendor's solicitor and the vendor) use snail mail, pen and paper, it could easily take a couple of weeks. And over half a dozen sales over 10 years I've noticed that the questions asked on standard enquiries- about certification of any building improvements or FENSA certs for any replacement windows etc - are getting much more tricky to answer. Or maybe there are simply inefficient people in the 3-part chain of communication.

In a recent extreme case, after 2 months inactivity, our kids had to get their seller to sack their solicitor as he was a useless cheap conveyancer who couldn't handle some aspects of the transaction (admittedly a tricky lease). Both parties were getting desperate,

But that's unlikely so I wouldn't panic over a 3-week delay- just get the agent on the case! Good luck-

martan01

Thanks,

I emailed and called the conveyancer this afternoon asking them to find out what the sticking point is. If it is the vendor I will chase them tomorrow through the estate agent.

My conveyancer has been good to date, they use an online system onto which all of the documents are uploaded. Guess I'll have to wait and see, thanks for the advice.

This whole house buying process seems totally inefficient, geared towards delays, places far too much power in the sellers hands and causes questions and doubt to creep in.

I have never made a bigger decision or purchase than this in my life and I am relying on other people and businesses, some of whom have shown themselves to be imbeciles.

Surely this frustrating process is due an overhaul....

Thrugelmir

martan01 wrote: »

I have never made a bigger decision or purchase than this in my life and I am relying on other people and businesses, some of whom have shown themselves to be imbeciles.

Surely this frustrating process is due an overhaul....

Perhaps they've been on holiday during the intervening period.

Vetyver

I am certainly finding the enquiries the most painful part of the buying process. So far, it has taken over four months on the enquiries alone. Despite me making myself a pain for both my solicitor and the agent; still not everything is resolved - they keep answering piecemeal, and weeks go by without a peep at all! I'm getting frustrated, as my mortgage offer will run out in a few weeks, and it's a great fixed rate that isn't available anywhere anymore...

Sorry martan01, just commiserating, as opposed to helping! I'm sure your path will run more smoothly than mine

martan01

So they eventually responded to the initial enquiries in mid September, only answered 3 of the 9 queries in a satisfactory manner, my conveyancer replied the same day with further enquiries and I've had nothing back in a month.

Is this normal?

My solicitors have chased their solicitors and I've also contacted the estate agent. Nothing seems to be working.

I'm sick of this ridiculous, inefficient process.

I'm £1k out of pocket having spent money on searches, valuation etc, the property market has moved on in the 3 months it has taken to get to this stage and still there is no clear prospect of exchanging.

I'm in a chain and seem to be the only person bothered with actually completing this transaction.

Vetyver

martan01 wrote: »

So they eventually responded to the initial enquiries in mid September, only answered 3 of the 9 queries in a satisfactory manner, my conveyancer replied the same day with further enquiries and I've had nothing back in a month.

Is this normal?

My solicitors have chased their solicitors and I've also contacted the estate agent. Nothing seems to be working.

I'm sick of this ridiculous, inefficient process.

I'm £1k out of pocket having spent money on searches, valuation etc, the property market has moved on in the 3 months it has taken to get to this stage and still there is no clear prospect of exchanging.

I'm in a chain and seem to be the only person bothered with actually completing this transaction.

I'm still right there with ya ((sighs))

3 months for you... over 6 for me...

Richard_Webster

Sometimes the chain has fallen apart further up and the seller is not bothered about doing anything until it gets back together. Has OP investigated that aspect?

If there is a problem then he may want to pull out or threaten to do so unless someone is prepared to exchange on a sale without buying.

martan01

I don't know what the hold up is, the estate agent is not returning my calls and the vendors solicitor is not engaging with my solicitors.

Vetyver, 6 months is ridiculous, what's the hold up in your process? I feel for you, this system needs an overhaul.

martan01

Update on my never ending purchase,

So the vendors conveyancer took 7 weeks to respond to the second set of enquiries, the response was a single typed page in bullet point format. This took nearly two months and required constant chasing.

The chain update this week was that the vendors want to complete ASAP, so I transferred the deposit to my solicitors and all they needed from the vendors conveyancer was a completion date. Apparently all other enquiries are now complete.

The vendors solicitor has not retuned their calls or emails for 4 straight days, I have chased the estate agent, my solicitors, I don't know what else I can do.

The estate agent has advised their clients to call their solicitor to push them and has called the solicitor themselves.

Any suggestions?