change conveyancer days before exchange?

500pages

okay, so I made a really bad choice of conveyancers (I used "Homeward Legal" to arrange it) and we are days away from exchange. Unfortunately, I have concluded that I have lost ALL faith in them.

How much disruption would be involved and what are the risks of changing conveyancer at this stage?

Survey done, offer in place, searches done, queries all answered. The only outstanding thing is the vendor needs to arrange indemnity to cover the lack of planning permission docs relating to a 1970s extension and recent windows without FENSA cert.

Until I got a really sarcastic and superbly unprofessional email from them (my conveyancer) on Friday evening, I was just willing to go with it and ignore their incompetence but actually, I just don't trust they will be acting in our best interest.

I know it would involve the lender re-issuing the offer and just wondering how much a hassle that is and what time delay that involves. Anyone with experience of this?

Thanks!

stator

If there is a mortgage involved I wouldn't even think about doing it. How many days left till exchange?

Bossypants

500pages wrote: »

Until I got a really sarcastic and superbly unprofessional email from them (my conveyancer) on Friday evening, I was just willing to go with it and ignore their incompetence but actually, I just don't trust they will be acting in our best interest.

Personally I would forward the email to their senior management, along with a note pointing out how unsatisfactory their service has been and insisting on getting a competent senior conveyancer to oversee your file from now on.

Unless you have cause to believe they have actually been acting against you or been grossly negligent in some way, I wouldn't start trying to switch firms at this stage. With straight-forward conveyancing, you don't really need someone pushing for your interests as such, because they aren't negotiating anything for you. You just need someone decently competent to check all boxes, do all the due diligence, and report back to you with any adverse findings.

Of course, if you don't trust them to do that, that's another story (see also my current vendor's conveyancer from when she bought the flat I'm trying to buy off her, who apparently failed to check whether there was a valid lease in place for the property - there wasn't - which she is now having to sort out at her expense, many years after the fact).

rosie383

If you really want to get things moving you can pay for the indemnity yourself and according to my conveyancer this is something that can be done in minutes by them. It was going to cost us £54 for indemnity for lack of building regs for internal wall removal. As for FENSA cert, you can go online yourself for free and check if the certificates were issued. I think it costs £10 to get a replacement. Rather than paying possibly a huge amount of money and holding everything up for possibly a long time, it may be worth considering those options. Of course, if there are others in the chain who need to get their finger out to answer queries etc., then maybe not necessary.

AdrianC

500pages wrote: »

The only outstanding thing is the vendor needs to arrange indemnity to cover the lack of planning permission docs relating to a 1970s extension

No, they don't. What a waste of everybody's time and money - there's absolutely zero comeback against lack of planning permission four decades down the line. No indemnity needed, and absolutely zero point in having one.

Hoploz

.... Unless the lender requests it.

rosie383

I agree with AdrianC. Once we looked into it we decided we didn't need one. But as Hoploz says, if the lender requests it, there isn't much you can do except wait or agree to pay for it yourself.

500pages

AdrianC wrote: »

No, they don't. What a waste of everybody's time and money - there's absolutely zero comeback against lack of planning permission four decades down the line. No indemnity needed, and absolutely zero point in having one.

I agree, but it's a lender requirement.

I actually instructed my conveyancer that I would pay for it if we could exchange sooner but they basically ignored my instruction. One of many contributing factors in why I'm not trusting them.

500pages

stator wrote: »

If there is a mortgage involved I wouldn't even think about doing it. How many days left till exchange?

We were supposed to exchange on Friday but then at the last minute my conveyancer re-raised the issue about the indemnity, which I'd already said I'd pay for. To be honest, the vendor's solicitor has also been really rubbish and not particularly communicative but mine is absolutely awful.