Exchange Failure - Lazy solicitor!!!!

dunroving

The conditions of employment I was hired under said "Working hours: The number of hours necessary to compete assigned tasks"

No kidding, that's what it said.

Many jobs require flexibility to stay late, work evenings (or weekends) in order to meet the needs of the job. Considering the importance of a property transaction, and the knock-on effect of not exchanging on the parties involved, it hardly seems excessive to expect a solicitor to work an extra half hour or so. Especially considering the generous salaries most of them earn.

Can you imagine having a heart attack and the EMT saying halfway through treating you, "Oops, 5 o'clock, gotta go!"

Kynthia

Not everyone can work late. They may have children to collect from nursery, tickets to a show, a late doctors appointment, or an evening class, etc. Most people know exchange dates are just an aim and there can be many attempts to exchange that are unsuccessful before it finally happens. This is why there should be two weeks between exchange and completion, with one being the minimum before many solicitors charge an additional fee or refuse to do it at all. Vent if it helps, as it is stressful, but exchanging contracts comes secondary to any completions being worked on and fails often, but there's always tomorrow.

Red-Squirrel_2

I actually have a fair amount of respect for somebody who has a clear boundary/line in the sand and won't be bullied/nagged into compromising it.

Its not actually urgent, he's not a heart surgeon in the middle of a bypass, or an air traffic controller juggling dozens of full passenger planes, he's just a solicitor and they deserve a work/life balance same as anybody else!

The lesson here is not to be too invested in/prepared for any completion date until exchange actually happens. There's so much that can delay it.

G_M

markymark1983 wrote: »

....we were meant to exchange today,
there is no 'meant to'. You mean 'hoped to'.

.....Then at 4.30 today I get a call from my sols saying we can't exchange today

Not uncommon
We are still aiming to complete on Friday 25 ......What things could I do before exchange as I am sure it will happen.
you cannot be sure. You should do nothing till you've exchanged

You appear from your subsequent posts to understand the point that exchange is always uncertain, and yet you wite as if ou expected it to happen without fail.

warehouse

hazyjo wrote: »

Friday's a mad day to exchange anyway seeing as a lot of completions happen that day

Exactly this. Why exchange on a Friday? It's never going to end well.

steampowered

markymark1983 wrote: »

Highly frustrating, solicitors are paid a fortune and the won't work beyond 5pm!

I can assure you that a residential conveyancing solicitor does not get paid a fortune.

A quick search of reed suggests those jobs are paying £25 - 40k depending on experience and location. Much less if you are in fact dealing with a paralegal (which will is probably the case).

Doozergirl

You'll exchange on Monday and complete as expected. And that will be it.

3 days insurance is hardly worth moaning about. Funnily enough, no one else will be exchanging contracts over the weekend to steal your removal slot either.

Go and enjoy your weekend and allow the solicitor the respect to enjoy theirs too.

bowlhead99

Doozergirl wrote: »

3 days insurance is hardly worth moaning about.

Also, if you bought the insurance today do you have a cooling off period for the insurance without a cancellation fee? If so, you could use it.

Maybe the solicitor had to leave the office on time to pack for a trip to Windsor tomorrow to do their patriotic duty and show support to our 'Arry. Or to Wembley for the footie final. Those dates have been in the calendar for ages and nobody has any appetite to move them for your solicitor to more easily fit them around your exchange, and the solicitor with a pile of cases to plod through doesn't have any particular desire to cancel their social life to make your exchange happen one business hour earlier than Monday morning.

Having been messed around by sellers or law firms myself I know it's good to let off steam by moaning about it to somebody. But really, your new council tax form can wait until you own the property and the council later write a letter to 'the occupant' saying "nobody is registered at this address any more, here is the website link to sign up".

hazyjo

I work for solicitors (corporate law) and as much as they all wind me up, I wouldn't wish their hours on anyone. They're often still there at 5am. If being a conveyancing solicitor means 9-5 or whatever, I wish them well and wouldn't want them working late for me!

Ten minutes is never just ten minutes. It's always more like half hour min.

Tiglet2

Doozergirl's post no. 19 sums it up. I work for a conveyancing solicitor - they will never promise to exchange on a particular day because they don't know whether the other solicitors in the chain are ready, have gone to a meeting, hospital appointment, or got stuck on a difficult completion etc so exchanges are often hit and miss. You are just one of hundreds of cases on their desks but everyone has agreed Friday 25th for completion and I fully expect that you will be moving on that day.