Unhappy with solicitor when selling property

mrvillicus

Hi everyone, I'm currently in the process of selling my house and I'm unhappy with my solicitor. He is 72 years old and only works part time which before commissioning him I was not told about. His age means nothing however we are now on our 2nd buyer because our first buyer pulled out saying our solicitor is taking too long. He never responds to emails and I just seems to be poor at communication. What options do I have regarding this? Is there much I can do on a legal basis?

Margot123

This is the exact scenario I had in the past and my solicitor was in her mid 20s.

Having read on this forum about the speed of conveyancers, I don't think they move very fast at all. Rarely do any of them answer emails or return calls.
If they do, you have struck lucky.

CommitedToChange

Does he work for a firm - they should have a complaints procedure and you could ask for a different solicitor I would guess.

mrvillicus

Good shout I'll try requesting a full-time solicitor, thanks

alumende27

Sounds entirely normal for a conveyancing solicitor. Mine have always been slow to respond to anything until they're ready to complete. I'm sure they only review the file once a week unless there's anything urgent they need to deal with.

Don't forget that he'll be waiting on things too, but you'll only see him as the source of delays without knowing more.

That said, if you've had a buyer pull out it because your solicitor was causing delays, and you're able to show that was due to his negligence you may have some recourse to complain.

When you say he works part time, assume that means only several days a week rather than only a few days a month?

Gary123456790

My solicitor had a team of legal secretaries, they would do the donkey work and he'd check it and do the exchange and completion.

We always got prompt replies from the legal secretaries.

Find yourself a better solicitor!!

Gary.

mrvillicus

I can't just get another solicitor can I? I'm guessing my current guy would be invoicing me for the work he has done?

mrvillicus

Also I should advise, we are yet to receive a draft contract or terms of engagement from our solicitor, is this normal considering we are 5 months down the line and on our second buyer?

david1951

Wherever you are in the process, you can withdraw your instruction from your current solicitor, pay the fees that you agreed to (some negotiation here may be possible), request the written/electronic copy of your file and pass this to a new solicitor to process the transaction.

You will likely end up paying some duplicate fees, and I don't recommend doing this close to exchange/completion.

If you do instruct a new solicitor then make sure they agree to respond to communications within a certain timeframe if this is a concern for you (and this is in the contract).

Otherwise, use the complaints process (if there is one - ask)

mrvillicus

Thanks for your reply David 1951, i don't really want to instruct another firm because I guess our current form would require payment for outstanding work done before they release our file. I'm getting concerned though as it sounds like there is only one conveyance solicitor within the firm and he's been off yesterday and today so I can't even get in touch with any questions regarding our sale! What would happen if our solicitor, (being the only conveyance solicitor within the firm) died? Would we have to get another firm to takeover? I'm amazed that there's no back up within the firm to take over when our guy is off ill !!

pink_pirlie

My conveyancing solicitor is amazing and she is recommended left right and centre throughout my friendship and employment circles.

A poor solicitor can completely scupper a sale as you have found from your first experience.

I would cut my losses and get a new firm. For the sake of a few hundred pounds I would want to know my sale is in good hands. Losing buyers is costly and stressful!

Unfortunately my solicitor has been off sick since before Christmas and my sale has progressed through to exchange without her as her legal secretary has remained on top of her work and other partners in the firm have done the legal bits.
I put this down to the right attitude permeating throughout the firm and everything being in order to enable someone else to pick it up.

Get a new one. Save yourself the stress and cost of possibly losing another sale!