draft contracts and rude solictior raising enquires

hells_bells

Hi there,


I am a first time buyer and need some help please.


My solicitor received the draft contracts on the 3rd of October for a leasehold property we are purchasing. She said she is still waiting for the vendor's solicitors to respond to her enquires.


Once she is happy all of her enquires are dealt with will she then send me the draft contracts??


I have asked her lots of questions and she isn't very friendly and very blunt. In fact I' am scared to ask her anything now. She also completely forgot that I told her it was okay to go ahead with the searches two weeks ago. And she said 'it was impossible' for her to have the time to put a note on the system because she is so busy.


She also hasn't told me what the enquiries are and cant give me a possible date for exchange.

agrinnall

Get another solicitor?

hells_bells

But if I get another solicitor wont the whole process have to start again?

rosie383

It will but it may well be worth it. Look at your contract and see if you can just drop them. If you are having problems like that right at the outset I dread to think what they would be like if you run into difficulties with the purchase. A good solicitor can get paperwork out to you very quickly. So you may save time in the end if you use an efficient one.

sydenhambased

hells_bells wrote: »

Once she is happy all of her enquires are dealt with will she then send me the draft contracts??
With any luck, yes!


I have asked her lots of questions and she isn't very friendly and very blunt. In fact I' am scared to ask her anything now. She also completely forgot that I told her it was okay to go ahead with the searches two weeks ago. And she said 'it was impossible' for her to have the time to put a note on the system because she is so busy.
How did you find this solicitor? Our solicitor also barks sometimes, but we respect the fact that she's a busy lady and has a stressful job, and we KNOW that her track record's very good.


She also hasn't told me what the enquiries are and cant give me a possible date for exchange.Solicitors are sometimes apprehensive about handing out their lists of enquiries because it often leads to more queries from more people. This means more phone calls that distract them from actually getting on and doing the work

See my responses in red.

To risk repeating things I've said on other threads, we're also first time buyers, buying a leasehold flat, and there's no chain (property is already vacant). Our offer was accepted on the 13th of August, and our solicitor was already fully instructed.

The searches took a few weeks, it took us and our lender another week or two to do the surveys, but our poor solicitor's still waiting for responses to enquiries another month after that.

In our case, it's the management company dragging their heels. Our solicitor's requested the last three years of (service charge) accounts. The company's accountant has not yet prepared the accounts for the tax year ended (in this case June) 2014. Until this has been done (and it's totally a "how long's a piece of string" question) we have no exchange date - and why should we? It's totally out of our solicitor's hands AND the vendor's solicitor's hands AND the vendor's hands. Actually the vendor's the management company's accountant; but that's another story.

While you're waiting, grow a thicker skin - you're going to need it!

MysteryMe

You are not dealing with Royalty, put this paid agent in their place. You are paying her to perform a service in the same way you would pay a skip hire company.

andymd

hells_bells wrote: »

But if I get another solicitor wont the whole process have to start again?

It doesn't necessarily need to be a new firm, we're using a large firm and the first person we were assigned was completely useless, she would take 2 weeks to respond to anything and then only when chased. She left the firm a couple of weeks ago (possibly because she is rubbish!) and her replacement has been excellent, responding to queries within minutes. I wish we had asked to have someone else weeks ago!

Pete9501

sydenhambased wrote: »

The company's accountant has not yet prepared the accounts for the tax year ended (in this case June) 2014. Until this has been done (and it's totally a "how long's a piece of string" question) we have no exchange date - and why should we? It's totally out of our solicitor's hands AND the vendor's solicitor's hands AND the vendor's hands. Actually the vendor's the management company's accountant; but that's another story.

We are in a similar position, our solicitor said there is likely to be a retainer to cover the current service charges which have yet to be calculated, from the beginning of the financial year (1 Sep 14) to the date we move out, about £400 in total which is fine by us.

brightonman123

ask solicitor firm to review process, change to another staff member?


seems a poor show, so far!

steeeb

Complain about the staff member and say you'd like someone else to deal with it.

And then go from there.

martin.cat

You need to be blunt back

Our solicitor let thinks slide so I set some milestones and every time they missed I hounded them

In fact the receptionist kindly hand delivered local authority search to contact for priority

The vendors EA is usually good at chasing vendors side as they are eagerly waiting their commission