Files are being reviewed - what does this mean

Help1234

Hello,

We are in the process of buying our first house. Mortgage approved, survey done, searches are back. Our broker has contacted our solicitor and they said: "the files are being reviewed. Once the reviews have been completed we will report our findings to you and raise further searches". Why is this taking so long? It's been over a week. And what further searches could they need to do?

JoJo1978

It perhaps means the draft contract from the seller has been received by your solicitor and is being looked over.

They will be checking that the information on the property form the sellers filled in matches the results of the searches. They will also be compiling a list of questions they want to go back to the sellers solicitor and get answers on before reporting back to you. This is frustrating but it is to ensure that you are aware of everything you need to be before you buy it.

Is it leasehold? If so this to and fro takes longer because the freeholder needs to be contacted and answer some questions too.

A week is not long if both sets of solicitors use the post to communicate rather than email or phone:

Up to 2 days to send a query
A couple of days to be read and worked on
Response drafted and goes to secretary
Up to 2 days in post back

G_M

It means the conveyancer is doing what you are paying him to do!

He is reviewing .... er.....reading? checking,? understanding?.... all the searches, and seller enquiries, and Title documents etc, and using his trained professional ability to make sure everthing is in order.

He will then either say: "Yes, all OK" or " There's a problem heere you need to understand." etc

Yes, it takes time.

martindow

It probably means the paperwork has been received and is in a pile waiting to be looked at. Once he has got round to dealing with it, he will be in touch.

Your solicitor is no doubt dealing with dozens of transactions.

phillw

Help1234 wrote: »

And what further searches could they need to do?

Probably nothing, but they have to check what comes back.

http://www.fridaysmove.com/what-are-conveyancing-searches/148

shortcrust

martindow wrote: »

It probably means the paperwork has been received and is in a pile waiting to be looked at. Once he has got round to dealing with it, he will be in touch.

Your solicitor is no doubt dealing with dozens of transactions.

Exactly this. It doesn’t take a week to review a file, but it does take a week to wade through 50 of them.

I agree that a week isn’t a long time in the world of conveyancing.

AlexMac

Help1234 wrote: »

...Our broker has contacted our solicitor and they said: "the files are being reviewed. Once the reviews have been completed we will report our findings to you and raise further searches". ...

It could also mean "tell your broker to get off my case and stop wasting my time... I'll report when I'm ready!" lol

Help1234

Just heard from the solicitors via my broker. They said they are now ready to raise enquiries. I am confused it's been over 2 weeks since the searches all came back. So they have been reviewing all this time but not raised a single enquiry yet.

JoJo1978

It is more efficient for your solicitors to review multiple search results then draw up one list of enquiries to send over, than send each query as it emerged. Better chance of the other solicitor answering them all and nothing getting lost. Not all the queries will be based on searches. Some may be on the seller's paperwork if that's been reviewed yet. I know it's frustrating but 2 weeks is OK, they'll be working on other cases too and will prioritize the cases that are near completion and exchange.