My solicitors ignoring me and its urgent

laura103

Hello,

Might seem more like a rant but I really need help!

We are First time buyer with no chain, the house we are buying the sellers have a house lined up which is empty and told us they where in a rush to move before a new baby comes along.

We put the offer in and got it accepted in April. Our broker who was fantastic recommended our solicitors we went with them because they where on the brokers panel. The solicitors contacted us for the search payments 2 weeks later after we got in touch to say we hadn't heard from them or had their welcome pack.

After a week we hadn't heard anything so rang them, couldn't get though to our case handler so left messages and emails. After 2 and a half weeks we finally got our searches back. The most annoying part was they where dated weeks ago. We than requested a coal mining report to be done, it took them a further 4 weeks and daily ignored emails and phone calls to send it:mad:

At this point they sent us our deed and than requested us to send all our documents to them AGAIN to confirm who we are, where the deposit was coming from etc.. So we sent it again.. They than sent out the contract which we signed the same day and posted the same day.

A whole month has pass and deeds and we haven't heard from them again. They have our signed deeds and contracts but we have no idea where we are. They ignore our calls and emails. We have a deadline to get out of the property we are in and have told them this from day one. Even the broker has got involved trying to get an answer from them but.its like trying to get blood out of a stone. The worse part is we are having to get and extension on our lenders offer and have just been told the solicitors have to do it. They have ignored our emails and calls about it. So now we are wondering if it will all fall through.:(

To this day we haven't even spoke to our case handler and have just left messages for her or sent emails to her with no reply.

Can anyone offer any advice at what to do? Thanks

xylophone

Your solicitor has an office premises where she is normally present?

harshitguptaiitr

Do your solicitor have a complaint procedure? Are your solicitor regulated by SRA or someone else?

Regardless, send them a formal complaint and mention that if they don't respond back to the complaint within 8 weeks, you will take them to legal ombudsman

ReadingTim

Many solicitors will have lots of clients and lots of work, and simply don't have the time to proactively phone or e-mail to say that there hasn't been any progress or they're still waiting for a response to their queries etc since the last time you or they phoned or e-mailed.

In fact, they probably won't even remember off the top of their head where they are without consulting their files on your purchase, and that takes time away from other clients who might be closer to completing. I appreciate it's a big thing for you, but you're just one of many clients (aka just another number) to them.

Finally, I dunno what you're like in your professional life, but if I get bombarded with constant and needy requests for updates and progress reports when there's nothing for me to update someone on, or progress to report, they get put to the bottom of the pile or straight to voicemail. You might want to assess how "urgent" your queries really are, or how you'd react if you received the volume of calls, e-mails etc you've been dishing out - do unto others and all that.

If it's any consolation, as a FTB 10-odd years ago, I also noticed the process seemed excessively lengthy with long periods of seeming inactivity, finishing off with a mad rush at the end. But as the matters was out of my hands, throwing my toys out of the pram would have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. If however, you feel you have been reasonable, and the timescales not, then perhaps a visit to their offices and a request to see the person dealing with your purchase might be in order.

davidmcn

It's obviously slow, but you haven't said why it's become urgent? If there was actually a threat of it falling apart, that's when the solicitors will probably spring into some sort of action.

saajan_12

laura103 wrote: »

We have a deadline to get out of the property we are in and have told them this from day one.

Note the property purchase can be delayed or fall through until exchange and only you will be responsible for your costs, as the vendor is not obligated to sell to you.

What is the deadline to leave your current property? If you are renting, DON'T serve notice until you have exchanged, as if you stay on in the rented property beyond your notice, you'll be liable for double rent.

Most LLs want a minimum 6 months on another AST so it will be difficult to get another short let especially over summer if the purchase is very delayed.

If your current LL has given you notice or your fixed term has ended, you don't have to leave until the LL serves a valid notice, the notice expires, the LL applies to court and gets a possession order, and bailiffs arrive. This could be an extra couple of months though you may be liable for court / bailiff costs if it gets that far.

steampowered

Finally, I dunno what you're like in your professional life, but if I get bombarded with constant and needy requests for updates and progress reports when there's nothing for me to update someone on, or progress to report, they get put to the bottom of the pile or straight to voicemail

If I acted like that in my professional life, I would be fired.

It is perfectly reasonable for clients to expect to be kept in the loop as to how their matter is progressing. Especially if there has been extended delay. It takes 30 seconds to send an email.

The only advice I can give the Op is to make sure the solicitors understand what your timings are and why the matter has become urgent, and ask for an update. Make sure you do that by email.

If you don't get at least an acknowledgement within 24 hours, email the partner/director responsible for the matter explaining that you are concerned about timeframes and that you are not getting a response.

If you still don't get anywhere, ask for a copy of their complaints policy.

aneary

ReadingTim wrote: »

Many solicitors will have lots of clients and lots of work, and simply don't have the time to proactively phone or e-mail to say that there hasn't been any progress or they're still waiting for a response to their queries etc since the last time you or they phoned or e-mailed.

In fact, they probably won't even remember off the top of their head where they are without consulting their files on your purchase, and that takes time away from other clients who might be closer to completing. I appreciate it's a big thing for you, but you're just one of many clients (aka just another number) to them.

Finally, I dunno what you're like in your professional life, but if I get bombarded with constant and needy requests for updates and progress reports when there's nothing for me to update someone on, or progress to report, they get put to the bottom of the pile or straight to voicemail. You might want to assess how "urgent" your queries really are, or how you'd react if you received the volume of calls, e-mails etc you've been dishing out - do unto others and all that.

If it's any consolation, as a FTB 10-odd years ago, I also noticed the process seemed excessively lengthy with long periods of seeming inactivity, finishing off with a mad rush at the end. But as the matters was out of my hands, throwing my toys out of the pram would have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. If however, you feel you have been reasonable, and the timescales not, then perhaps a visit to their offices and a request to see the person dealing with your purchase might be in order.

From the OPs post it appears the solicitor has not responded once to their enquires or even spoken to them I would say that is unacceptable no matter how many cases you have.

lika_86

ReadingTim wrote: »

Many solicitors will have lots of clients and lots of work, and simply don't have the time to proactively phone or e-mail to say that there hasn't been any progress or they're still waiting for a response to their queries etc since the last time you or they phoned or e-mailed.

In fact, they probably won't even remember off the top of their head where they are without consulting their files on your purchase, and that takes time away from other clients who might be closer to completing. I appreciate it's a big thing for you, but you're just one of many clients (aka just another number) to them.

Finally, I dunno what you're like in your professional life, but if I get bombarded with constant and needy requests for updates and progress reports when there's nothing for me to update someone on, or progress to report, they get put to the bottom of the pile or straight to voicemail. You might want to assess how "urgent" your queries really are, or how you'd react if you received the volume of calls, e-mails etc you've been dishing out - do unto others and all that.

If it's any consolation, as a FTB 10-odd years ago, I also noticed the process seemed excessively lengthy with long periods of seeming inactivity, finishing off with a mad rush at the end. But as the matters was out of my hands, throwing my toys out of the pram would have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. If however, you feel you have been reasonable, and the timescales not, then perhaps a visit to their offices and a request to see the person dealing with your purchase might be in order.

I agree with the first two sentences but having worked in conveyancing for a few months, it was the clients who were complete pain in the !!!!!! who got their files looked at just to get them off our backs. The lovely sweet clients who didn't bother us sadly got pushed down the priority list. Obviously bothering solicitors about stuff is only helpful when something can be done to move things alone (phoning every day to see if searches are back when they've just been sent is not productive).


In this case though I'd be trying to speak to someone more senior. Emailing is pointless (unless copying in someone senior with the whole chain and asking them to explain the lack of responses).

Muttleythefrog

Sounds like it is dragging on and that they may not be the most efficient or communicative. They will likely have lots of cases as another poster advises and simply not the time to keep clients updated especially in a process where sometimes weeks can pass with nothing of note. But they should be more communicative so I can only reiterate the advice above. I would however say I've (years ago now) worked amidst conveyancers and solicitors mass processing property transactions... I found them in general a disaster in terms of client communication... and in constant need of barraging with key data of their cases to focus their minds. Someone mentions the last minute high activity... yes that sounds about right... things can happen slowly then all rapidly move at end when minds are focussed on key dates. I got so frustrated when I was a FTB I took the unprofessional step of using admin privileges to maintain access to my own purchase file as a colleague was acting for me... and sadly it did indicate they were not updating me efficiently or telling me some rather important information.

Give it a few days maybe then try to raise complaint with company saying you appreciate there will be periods during which little to nothing is happening or need responding to but you seem to be getting little to nothing for some time now and are concerned you are being ignored causing you to have to consider your circumstances in the background regarding where you are living.

There is always with property transactions a very slim chance that money laundering may be suspected and in such cases solicitors may shut down communications (to prevent risking committing a crime themselves) until given clearance to proceed. Extremely unlikely to be the case here but for those reading it can on occasion perhaps explain some of the worst apparent cases of lacking communication.

TBagpuss

aneary wrote: »

From the OPs post it appears the solicitor has not responded once to their enquires or even spoken to them I would say that is unacceptable no matter how many cases you have.

I agree. I am usually one of those saying don't phone or e-mail you solicitor constantly, but it's not unreasonable to have some contact and to be given some idea of what stage you have reached, what timescales are etc.

OP, I'd suggest that you look at the original letters you got when you instructed your solicitor.You should have a client care letter / terms of business which would normally include details of the firm's complaints process.
Use it.
Mark you letter 'complaint' and be specific - e.g. say when you called or emailed, and the fact that you have not had a response.
Say when you phoned, and that your calls have not been returned.
State that youneed information and advice about the likely timescales and have not been able to get this inforation from your case handler.

Be specific about what you want them to do (e.g. respond with x days, set out the current position, set out what is outstanding and who is responsible for providing it (i.e. are they waiting for anything from you, for anything from your lender, for anything from your sellers) and what the estimated timescale is for exchange and completion, and, if the delays are down to the seller or other third parties, when they last followed up and what the response was.


Obviously they cannot control third parties or the speed with which they respond, but they should be able to tell you what is happening and what is causing any delay.
If you are using a conveyancing company rather than a firm of solicitors then the process for escalating complaints may be different, check their terms of business and website to see how they are regulated by.