Solicitors dragging their heels....

Pandastyle_2

Sorry....long story!

I have been trying to get the sale on this house to go through for weeks now but keep being given the runaround by solicitors. It should have been a reasonably straight forward purchase as there was no chain on either end (my first home!)

The original timeline which was presented to me mid-September had a completion date (I know this was just an aimed for date) of late October. We are now almost in December and I'm really losing faith with the whole process. I have done everything they have asked me to do and I'm constantly asking what they need from me to make this go smoothly. They outsourched the searches to another company at the end of October (it took that long to get everything else done!!), the outsourced company only applied for the local search last Tuesday and they came back last week. Now my solicitor just needs to look the searches over and then I was told the next stage is completion.

After calling the solicitors today, I have now been told that they won't get a chance to look at them until next week and then a Financial Report needs to be written so exchange might not be for a while yet. Am I right in thinking this is a unacceptable way to treat me? I'm so stressed right now, the last month has just been chasing people every day and I'm trying to finish my AAT too. I just want to be in my house in time to enjoy Christmas, I don't want to be moving on Christmas Eve!

Any advice to help get this moving? Can I register an official complaint?:eek:

Thanks in advance for any help!

AndyGuil

6 weeks would be incredibly fast. 8-12 weeks is the norm. even then I would air towards 12.

cayennepepper

Completion date by late October was very optimistic and while it can be done, it is not easy to achieve, especially if you need to get a mortgage. We offered mid September, exchanged mid November and are completing mid December. This is after chasing everyone nearly every day and paying a lot of money to a top solicitor to make sure things were dealt with quickly. No chain here either. Totally understand your frustration though.

GlynD

These things do take time Pandastyle. Try to relax and be more patient even if it is frustrating. If you allow yourself to get frustrated it doesn't help in your interface with the solicitors and you can even get ill through worry.

So take the advice of the experienced posters who'll chat to you here and above all else stay calm. Deep breaths and a nice cup of tea. Tell yourself that things will come to completion eventually and there's no point in trying to worry them to happen faster.

We've done a Christmas Eve move btw and it's not that bad. You make the best of these things when they happen. Getting your new house will compensate for the waiting. I hope you'll be very happy in it too.

SmlSave

I too don't think that this is taking that long although I am confused by this:

They outsourched the searches to another company at the end of October (it took that long to get everything else done!!), the outsourced company only applied for the local search last Tuesday and they came back last week.

Do you mean the Local Land Search? All you need to do this is normally cleared funds from you and an Official Title Plan.

If they didn't have the Title Plan till end of October then that's the buyer's solicitors fault firstly.

But why outsource the Local Land Search? The only reason I can think is that maybe they've ordered a Personal Local Land Search - do you know?

loubel

The timings you have stated all sound pretty standard whereas the original target date sounds very optimistic to be honest. Conveyancing nearly always takes longer than people expect and there's still plenty of time to get you completed by Christmas, so just let your solicitors know that that's your aim and try hard not to stress about it.

Miss_Marple_2

I have just bought my first house - no chain at all ( house I was buying was empty and I was moving from a house owned by a family member).

Offered 15th August, completed 4th November, so 11 weeks and 4 days.

It could have been done in less time than that, but the vendor's solicitor was on holiday for 3 weeks, but that gave me time to sort my mortgage and my solicitor have searches etc done so that I knew I wasn't holding the process up.

Mind you, I have vowed never to move again !

GlynD

Miss_Marple wrote: »

I have just bought my first house - no chain at all ( house I was buying was empty and I was moving from a house owned by a family member).

Offered 15th August, completed 4th November, so 11 weeks and 4 days.

It could have been done in less time than that, but the vendor's solicitor was on holiday for 3 weeks, but that gave me time to sort my mortgage and my solicitor have searches etc done so that I knew I wasn't holding the process up.

Mind you, I have vowed never to move again !

Aye, until the next time lol. Been there, said that, and have the teeshirt. :rotfl:

Pandastyle_2

Thanks all for your replies, I was having a bit of a bad day yesterday! I was just getting upset because there's a distinct lack of communication from my solicitors. I can never get through to the person who is processing my account and have to speak to their assistant who, although they are lovely, keeps repeating that we can exchange but then changes their mind!

With regards to the searches, I asked why they outsourced them and they just replied it was their policy and they can't be held responsible for the outsourced companies timescales.

I'm hoping that it will all go through next week and then we can relax and start having a home

Kazza_Monkey

Hi pandastyle you sound like you started the process round about the same time as me we started 20th September we are also still waiting and I feel your frustration too. We also are not in a chain FTB buying ours we have another house to move into. I also get the same sense of lack of communication but believe me the solicitors are doing their jobs we will hopefully be exchanging this week or next. Try not to let it stress you out too much it will happen just some people are extremely lucky when they complete in such a short space of time. Good luck with your move x