Buyer's solicitor is very slow!

noah1234

Hi,

Our shared ownership flat sale process have started around 6 months ago.

A buyer was found in February, we instructed our solicitor at the end of February, it has been now around 3 months since the conveyancing started and I can't seem to have any indication of when it is going to finish.

All the inquiries of the buyers solicitor have been answered 3 weeks ago and our solicitor said that we are just waiting for the transfer document, does the transfer document take that long to be sent?

I am very frustrated now and I don't know what to do.

We need to complete the sale as soon as possible as we are buying another property which we might loose and loose the reservation fee as it is a modern method of auction if we don't complete on time.

Is there anything I can do?

ThemeOne

Solicitors are often slow, and there's not much you can do, particularly as it's the other side's solicitor. What usually happens is the estate agent starts giving them grief, which may or may not have any effect. Have you spoken to the EA?

Your buyers might have selected a solicitor who doesn't know much about shared ownership - even so the kind of delay you're describing isn't so unusual.

3mph

We had that, our EA on checking found that the buyer didn't know their Solicitor was causing the delay so they put a rocket under them, worked well.

Same problem with our later purchase, the sellers thought it was us causing the delay but after their EA explained they complained to the Senior partner of their solicitors which got things moving.

Helped us that our solicitor is a very good friend so we were confident in them.

sultanabran

I feel your pain!

I accepted an offer on my house on the 28th February. As of today, still no sign of missives being concluded (equivalent to Exchange in England/Wales). My buyers solicitor has reached legendary levels of slowness. My buyer moves out this week and then goes on holiday.

I'm due to move in to my new build at the end of June!

bertiewhite

My solicitor kept blaming the sellers solicitor when I last purchased and when I asked what they were doing to move things along, he said that he had written to them repeatedly but not heard back.

Then I asked if they had telephones in that part of the country and did he know how to use one :rotfl:

angela110660

Same old story with solicitors! We bought our home over 20 years ago and I can remember asking them had they never heard of faxes! To send documents? In the end I picked up docs from the office and hand delivered them as I go so fed up with them dragging their feet.
Currently selling late mother's house and this has been going on since mid Feb - first time buyers and us so no chain but still seemingly endless to exchange and complete. Few rockets to be fired where the sun doesnt shine today to gee them and EA up.

noah1234

Thank you all for the replies.

There is no estate agent in this transaction as the housing association that ownes the other share found the buyer within the nominated period.

I was in touch before with the buyer by text messages. I was thinking about asking her to push her solicitor a bit to get it done quicker, but my dad suggested not to as she might try to haggle last minute and ask for a discount. The housing association would not accept such a request as they are obliged to sell for the market valuation by RICS surveyor and I will not accept as the value was very fair and she is only paying 25% of it anyway.

eddddy

As you're finding, solicitor's do the legal stuff, they don't do chasing.

If an EA was involved, they would chase the buyer - i.e. ask them to contact their solicitor to find out what the problem is.

As there is no EA, you should contact the buyer yourself


But... in my experience, people always blame any delays on their solicitor. It's often not really the case.

Again, an EA might grill the buyer a bit to see if the real problem is "buyer's remorse", problems with getting a mortgage, etc. Maybe you need to investigate.