Searches taking awful lot of time

ric1982

UPDATE : So I just called council and they said they have sent LLC1 to the service company on 26th June!

So its either service company not sending those back to the solicitor or the solicitor is not processing for xyz reasons!

Any idea who to chase up? I can ask for service company's detail from my solicitor and chase it up (if they give me details). Or I can tell my solicitor that "I got update from council about this could you please chase up?"

Are there any other documents/process that searches requires apart from LLC1?

Its freehold house btw.

Surrey_EA

ric1982 wrote: »

Any idea who to chase up?

Start with your solicitor.

phoebe1989seb

When we sold our house in Wiltshire in 2014 our buyer's searches took six weeks whereas those for the house we were buying in the West Midlands took two weeks.

ric1982

Surrey_EA wrote: »

Start with your solicitor.

Thanks, Is it wise to mention to my solicitor that "I have phoned the council and they have sent the LLC1 on 26th June so please chase it up with your service provider."?

or does it sounds like I am stepping over their toes !?

Tiglet2

Without being rude, why is it so important to chase up? You know when the request was made, it now won't make any difference as to when you'll get the search and it probably won't slow the transaction down because there will be other matters that the solicitor is dealing with. In the big scheme of things, it is just one small part of the transaction that has to be ticked off. Solicitors do have more than one client.

Did you pay the search fees before the solicitor had the draft contracts? If so, they will not usually order searches until they can see from the draft contract the correct property they need to get the search for. If you paid by cheque, they would have waited until that was cashed before ordering searches. Bear in mind that the Accounts Department deal with your payments but a conveyancing paralegal would probably order your searches once the Accounts Department have approved the payment. Since Accounts probably have hundreds of payments in and out, it would not be instantaneously passed to the conveyancing team - they might be forwarded in batches. The conveyancing paralegal would also have to check the lenders handbook to find out which searches the lender wants, because sometimes some searches are not acceptable to a lender. There would be forms to complete, print and put on your file, so not a 5 minute job.

To be honest I do think you would be stepping on their toes. Every time you call or email about this, you are stopping them from ordering someone else's searches.

Margot123

One thing to bear in mind is that some (not all) solicitors charge for any additional work. That could include returning your phone call, sending an email, or indeed 'chasing' on your behalf.

parking_question_chap

ric1982 wrote: »

UPDATE : So I just called council and they said they have sent LLC1 to the service company on 26th June!

So its either service company not sending those back to the solicitor or the solicitor is not processing for xyz reasons!

Any idea who to chase up? I can ask for service company's detail from my solicitor and chase it up (if they give me details). Or I can tell my solicitor that "I got update from council about this could you please chase up?"

Are there any other documents/process that searches requires apart from LLC1?

Its freehold house btw.

Doesnt surprise me in the slightest.

I used to work in propertly and in my experience when it cames to searches it was usually the solicitors slowing things down and blaming the council.

The problem often arises where solicitors employ search companies to conduct the work, who then actually get the council to carry it out for them anyway. Then as the council are the last ones in the chain they usually get the blame.

nkomp18

I had a cash buyer with no chain, so I thought it would be quick. However searches took 5 months and at the very end the buyer decided to pull out.
Worse experience ever