Buying is painfully slow!

frugaldad

I used to work for a mortgage broker - our job was to constantly nag the solicitors, because it was generally agreed that conveyancy solicitors were absolutely useless. In my experience, nagging the solicitor moved things forward, and on some occasions we would actually do some of the ridiculous outstanding tasks on their behalf, such as waiting for certain documents to be received. Often the solicitors never asked for documents, and we could just fax them across and ask the solicitors to wait by the fax machine so that we KNEW the work would get done there and then.

Sorry - it's probably not what you wanted to hear!

Penelopa.Pitstop

I agree. Solicitors are slowing down the process. They are not talking to each other and are not proactive, just waiting for someone to chase them.

always_sunny

given the love for middle men in the UK, £100+ just to renew the same tenancy agreement every year!!!
I am surprised there're no buying client liaisons that would do all this chasing to exchange/complete for a fee

The seller has the EA, the buyer no one...

G_M

always_sunny wrote: »

The seller has the EA, the buyer no one...

I'm available to act as middleman for buyers, for a fee.

PM me. Or contact me via my constituency office after the next local election.

marksoton

Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »

I agree. Solicitors are slowing down the process. They are not talking to each other and are not proactive, just waiting for someone to chase them.

Only if you choose the wrong one.

Like it or not the vast majority of people would prefer some form of legal representation when making the biggest purchase of their life.

ThePants999

I'm with the OP here. Yes, conveyancing is slower than everyone expects, and yes, we mostly just have to adjust our expectations and deal with it. But some people seem far too accepting of that IMO. Just because it is like that doesn't mean that it's OK that it's like that.

Yes, a property transaction is not a trivial thing, there are lots of pitfalls and lots of ways in which a given transaction could differ from the mythical "norm". However, that merely implies that someone experienced and qualified needs to be involved to look for them - it shouldn't add a massive amount of elapsed time to the process.

The amount of actual work that the various people involved have to do is not all that significant. If, by some magic, one person were in a position to do all of the work involved (obviously not actually possible), they could do it in under 48 hours. So it's not OK for it to take 12+ weeks. When it does, it's because of poor communication, misprioritising and disorganisation, not because that's a fair reflection of the complexities and work involved.

(Note, I'm excluding chains from this. If you agree to buy someone's house, but they won't exchange until they've found a house to buy, whose seller won't sell until they've found a house to buy... sure, that can clearly take an unbounded amount of time to resolve. I'm just talking about the process of getting ready to exchange + complete on a single link in a chain.)

marksoton

ThePants999 wrote: »

I'm with the OP here. Yes, conveyancing is slower than everyone expects, and yes, we mostly just have to adjust our expectations and deal with it. But some people seem far too accepting of that IMO. Just because it is like that doesn't mean that it's OK that it's like that.

Yes, a property transaction is not a trivial thing, there are lots of pitfalls and lots of ways in which a given transaction could differ from the mythical "norm". However, that merely implies that someone experienced and qualified needs to be involved to look for them - it shouldn't add a massive amount of elapsed time to the process.

The amount of actual work that the various people involved have to do is not all that significant. If, by some magic, one person were in a position to do all of the work involved (obviously not actually possible), they could do it in under 48 hours. So it's not OK for it to take 12+ weeks. When it does, it's because of poor communication, misprioritising and disorganisation, not because that's a fair reflection of the complexities and work involved.

To what end though?

What does a solicitor gain by delaying matters and not taking their fee?

ThePants999

I said "poor communication, misprioritising and disorganisation" - none of that implies anyone deliberately slowing the process down!

always_sunny

marksoton wrote: »

To what end though?

What does a solicitor gain by delaying matters and not taking their fee?

TBH - given that solicitors work on a fixed cost basis (I have not received a single quote on time/material) I don't understand why they drag things so long!

Just the fact that they snail-mail document rather than using secure online documentation is mind boggling! The property I am buying is not a new one, it has been bought and sold few times, most of the details should be there already...

I have to say though that after given everyone a nudge yesterday, things are moving along already!

always_sunny

marksoton wrote: »

Only if you choose the wrong one.

Like it or not the vast majority of people would prefer some form of legal representation when making the biggest purchase of their life.

I keep hearing this but is it anymore the biggest purchase of people's life? I don't know where you are, in SE (where I am) all the viewings I have been to barely lasted 10 mins, busy, crowded, quick and forget a second viewing cause it already has offers the moment you walk in the first time!

Will I keep this flat forever? Maybe or maybe, from what I have been hearing (or reading) most seem to buy/sell often!

Sadly (very sad) I spent more time queuing to get onto the tube during the rush hours than viewing this flat!!!