Advice on contacting solicitor please

Nikkinakkinoo2017

Hey everyone.
What do you guys think about contacting solicitors? We are 7 weeks in and have only contacted when asked to return/call/pay along the process. However, our rent is due on the 1st and we pay 3 months in advance.... We are reluctant to pay the 3 months if we are close to exchange/completing. We are the only house in the chain as seller is moving in with family, all searches/reports are back and mortgage is in place ready to go. We are contemplating calling/emailing the solicitor tomorrow to see what she thinks time wise as rather than pay the 3 months rent, we would ideally just pay one months rent along with our notice to end the 1st of July. Obviously we can only do this if we are guaranteed to exchange/complete before the end of June? So I guess what I'm trying to say is, is this an ok reason to contact solicitor or should we just Carry on waiting for them to contact us?
Thanks in advance
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G_M

He works for you. You have a question. Ask him.

The problem arises (as we see here from time to time) when clients are contacting their solicitor every other day for no other reason than 'an update'. If all their clients do this, obviously they'll spend all day answering the phone to say 'nothing's changed' and get no conveyancing work done.

shortcrust

Ah bless you!:) Yes of course you can contact them. I contacted mine all the time, asking for updates, telling them dates that were important for me etc.

Nikkinakkinoo2017

Thanks for the reassurance ��

Thrugelmir

When did the solicitor receive the mortgage offer from the lender? As "7 weeks in" isn't clear.

When did you last have contact and what was it with reference to?

martindow

Nikkinakkinoo2017 wrote: »

we would ideally just pay one months rent along with our notice to end the 1st of July.

You really don't want to give notice before you have exchanged - a hundred and one things could happen to delay the purchase or for it to fall through altogether.

It is not usual to pay three months rent at a time. Is this specified in your contract?

G_M

martindow wrote: »

You really don't want to give notice before you have exchanged - a hundred and one things could happen to delay the purchase or for it to fall through altogether.

It is not usual to pay three months rent at a time. Is this specified in your contract?

Indeed. You need to Exchange before serving notice. You can always instruct your conveyancer to arrange a longer gap between Exchange and Completion (though I doubt the seller would agree to 3 months!).

Re your tenancy:
* are you in a fixed term? What are the (exact) dates?
* if not fixed term, was there originally a fixed term and what date did it end?
* if never a fixed term (ie periodic from the start) what does the contract say about
a) rent (please quote exact words for meaningful advice)
b) notice (ditto)

ps: I loved the irony of shortcrust's post above - kind of made my earlier point!

agrinnall

Why are you paying 3 months rent in advance? Just pay a month at a time, even if the LL does take umbrage and attempt to evict you (I'm not sure there would even be grounds to do so) you'll be in your new home long before that could succeed.

Nikkinakkinoo2017

G_M wrote: »

Indeed. You need to Exchange before serving notice. You can always instruct your conveyancer to arrange a longer gap between Exchange and Completion (though I doubt the seller would agree to 3 months!).

Re your tenancy:
* are you in a fixed term? What are the (exact) dates?
* if not fixed term, was there originally a fixed term and what date did it end?
* if never a fixed term (ie periodic from the start) what does the contract say about
a) rent (please quote exact words for meaningful advice)
b) notice (ditto)

ps: I loved the irony of shortcrust's post above - kind of made my earlier point!

Thank you all for the advice. Have been in contact with solicitor who has said one of the searches that she had said was back, isn't actually due back until 29th June. So definitely will not be serving notice. We pay quarterly because when we moved in the landlord wanted the rent upfront because he had been treated not so great from a previous tenant. Take your point on board about maybe making the gap longer if necessary between exchange and completion but actually it could work out helpful to have the time to decorate the children's rooms before we move in and get furniture etc, would just be hopeful that this ends up just being a few weeks rather than a couple of months.
We were on a fixed term, signing every six months (I think this is what you are asking.... Sat here with the contract out) from 1st March 2013, we then signed every six months until the 1st March 2016 when the letting agents then said that the landlord didn't feel the need for us to keep signing up for 6 months at a time and we haven't signed a contract since? We still pay the 3 months every quarter for the months ahead. I hope this makes sense as I am quite clueless :rotfl:
The rent has always been stated in the contracts as £650 per calendar month and states that 'rent is payable in advance and is due upon the 1st day of each rental period.'
Regarding notice the contract states that 'at least one month's notice is required to terminate the tenancy agreement. This notice will take effect from the next rent due date and can only be given at least one calendar month before the end of a fixed term tenancy or at any time on a statutory periodic tenancy from the next rent due date.'
Really appreciate any advice for this, we are hoping that we would now just serve our notice upon exchange/completion all being well time wise?As we would be paid from the 1st of June to the 1st September, so as long as we have completed by the end of July, we could serve notice on the 1st August to end 1st September? Am I along the right lines?
Thanks again.
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Nikkinakkinoo2017

Just bumping it up to hopefully get some clarification :-)
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agrinnall

Nikkinakkinoo2017 wrote: »

Just bumping it up to hopefully get some clarification :-)
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What would you like clarified that hasn't already been covered?