Solicitors - am I being unreasonable?

Marine_life

We are in the process of buying a house in What I thoughts was a very straightforward process (we are a cash buyer, no chain and our sellers are also chain free).

I hear nothing from the solicitor until I chase them and for the last three weeks I have asked for a status report every Friday.

We initially wanted to exchange before Christmas (offer was accepted in late October) but that now seems unlikely.

The lack of urgency and transparency is driving me crazy but is that par for the course?

Thrugelmir

Are you in contact with the Estate Agent handling the sale? Much depends on the speed of activity of the vendors. Nor is Friday a good day for solicitors offices, as it's the day of the week when the majority of completions take place.

Margot123

Are you using a solicitor local to you? It can make a big difference if you can pop into their office and speak face-to-face even if it's just with a clerk.
Sometimes hold-ups can be about silly little things but take weeks. My buyers were arguing over which curtains I was leaving, claiming the EA had told them they were all being left. This resulted in 3 letters and nearly a 4-week delay.

As above though, avoid Fridays like the proverbial. It is when the focus is on completions.

AdrianC

Do you know what your solicitor is waiting for?

Searches can take weeks to come back.
The PIF and draft contract come from the vendor's solicitors.

goodwithsaving

I chase my solicitor, but find out they've already done what I am asking because she is very quick and on the ball. If a purchase property is vacant, and being sold by somebody who hasn't lived there then they need time to find responses to queries etc. It may not even be your solicitor being slow.
Friday is a terrible time to expect an update! Try Wednesday

Marine_life

Thanks for the tips on Friday.

We have agreed everything with the vendor including curtains and various bits of furniture we agreed to buy.

The hold up's were caused by slow management company (which looks after some common areas) response but I have the feeling she does nothing to chase them.

G_M

Marine_life wrote: »

Thanks for the tips on Friday.

We have agreed everything with the vendor including curtains and various bits of furniture we agreed to buy.

The hold up's were caused by slow management company (which looks after some common areas) response but I have the feeling she does nothing to chase them.

She can't chase them. The seller's solicitor is responsible, and even if they chase, there's little they can do if the management Compan drags their feet.

Don't blame your solicitor!

Perhaps ask the seller (or ask the EA to ask the seller) to contact their management company?

anselld

End of October to Christmas exchange was always optimistic.

Cash buyer is not a particular advantage as mortgage offer isn't usually the critical path.

Chain free reduces the risk of chain collapse, but again it doesn't really speed things up since longer chains operate in parallel anyway.

Leasehold is the killer - too many players without any speed motive.

And finally - weekly progress reports are not within the MO of most solicitors. If there is noting to report/do they report/do nothing. Would you want them wasting their time doing pointless work at your expense?

AdrianC

Marine_life wrote: »

The hold up's were caused by slow management company (which looks after some common areas) response but I have the feeling she does nothing to chase them.

The solicitor can chase as hard as they like - it won't speed a response up. All it will do is mean they spend more time on your file. You might well be on a fixed price, but that doesn't mean they're willing to waste hours for no benefit.

fannyadams

be prepared for a high bill unless it's a fixed rate conveyancing solicitor.
Every time you contact them, or they contact you, you have to pay for their time. So getting an update every friday (or whenever) is going to cost you around an hours pay, even if all they did was say "yeah, it's the same as last week".