Solicitors!!! a waiting game

alexbarber90

ok so we have had our mortgage offer we've had our searches back and all is good how ever the solicitors seem to be useless ,they have had our deposit for just over 1 month now yet still nothing seems to have been done yet ,is this normal?

oli_ro

I was in a similar situation and one of the few tools you have at your disposal is a flavour of micro-management. I don't like doing this, but it was the only thing that worked. I am not convinced that if I didn't do this, I would be now in my flat.

Call them every day twice, once in the morning asking what is outstanding and when are they are going to address it and then in the afternoon to check progress.

Use phone, rather than email, of course provided they answer your call.

If there are blocking issues involving other party, call the EA to ask the other side solicitor to call your solicitor to sort out issues.

Their preferred way of: write letter, receive it, sit on it five days, answer, sit on it for three days, can go on and on....

Thrugelmir

alexbarber90 wrote: »

ok so we have had our mortgage offer we've had our searches back and all is good how ever the solicitors seem to be useless ,they have had our deposit for just over 1 month now yet still nothing seems to have been done yet ,is this normal?

Is your Estate Agent keeping you informed ? What are your vendors plans?

alexbarber90

heard nothing off the estate agents, i have been attempting this ringing every other day just to be told a number of excuses like the solicitor is on holiday etc .the house is empty so we are literally just waiting on the paperwork .

Landofwood

alexbarber90 wrote: »

ok so we have had our mortgage offer we've had our searches back and all is good how ever the solicitors seem to be useless ,they have had our deposit for just over 1 month now yet still nothing seems to have been done yet ,is this normal?

I'm not sure that it's normal for you to send them the deposit so much in advance of Exchange. I've only ever bought 2 houses and the money was transferred just before exchange of contracts.

Thrugelmir

alexbarber90 wrote: »

the house is empty so we are literally just waiting on the paperwork .

That means nothing. Is this a probate sale?

LottieLou

My OH is a conveyancing solicitor, and although I recommend doing a little 'pestering' I think ringing twice a day is a tad extreme. If they have a reason for the delay ie: waiting for queries from the sellers solicitor, pestering your solicitor twice a day is just going to be an annoyance and take up time that could be spent working on your file. That being said, if they cannot justify the delay or they are waiting on the other party, I agree with oli_ro to check the progress in the afternoon.

Why have they had the money for so long? Did they ask for it? If so, I would remind them that they have had your money for a month and have therefore lost out on X amount of interest that you could have gained. Because of this, I would then be asking them how they are going to compensate you for the delay.

Good luck

Lifes_Grand_Plan

oli_ro wrote: »

I was in a similar situation and one of the few tools you have at your disposal is a flavour of micro-management. I don't like doing this, but it was the only thing that worked. I am not convinced that if I didn't do this, I would be now in my flat.

Call them every day twice, once in the morning asking what is outstanding and when are they are going to address it and then in the afternoon to check progress.

Use phone, rather than email, of course provided they answer your call.

If there are blocking issues involving other party, call the EA to ask the other side solicitor to call your solicitor to sort out issues.

Their preferred way of: write letter, receive it, sit on it five days, answer, sit on it for three days, can go on and on....

This is good advice IMHO, although I agree with LottieLou that twice a day might be a bit extreme.

Solicitors can be lazy bar-stewards and so you want to make sure you pester them enough to a) embarrass them when they are lizy gits and b) annoy them just enough to want to get the work done so they get rid of you.

As above though, if your solicitor is genuinely waiting on info or anything else from the vendor's solicitor or the EA ect then chase them or get the Vendor to chase their solicitor for the same reasons I stated above.