Changing solicitors before new mortgage application?

Buyer_K

I've just come to the end of a 6 month journey with what I think is not great solicitor on account of my mortgage offer expiring in in 4 days. The offer is not eligible for extension so reapplication is necessary instead.

I would like to change solicitors. The sellers solicitors are baaaaad for sure but I think their unresponsiveness has been comically bad rather than just poor - i.e. so bad that at their rate they were on course to exchange in 2020 rather than '19. I think my solicitors should have realised this and kept me up to date with the suspicious lack of progress. They had told me they were 'still awaiting responses to enquiries' rather than telling me truth that they had not received a single response to a single enquiry for 3 months. They repeated this line when I asked them which ones remained. Once I pushed them again to give me the full picture I was able to pass on the message of exasperation to the Estate Agent in such a way that actually elicited some responses.
Anyway - even with a new deadline created by a (hopefully successful) new mortgage application I can't really countenance continuing to work with solicitors that withhold information that allows me to advocate for my own case while they continue to tell me they're powerless to effect quicker progress. Add to this the poor communication and the tendency towards defensiveness over slow document turnover even as the mortgage expiry looms, and I've got a recipe for jumping ship.

My questions are as follows:

- Should I get my current solicitor to transfer files to new solicitor knowing that I will probably have to pay full fees for work done so far before they can do so?
- Or should I just instruct a new solicitor to start a new case and challenge the fees that I have yet to pay to my current solicitor, seeing as I'm not happy with their service?
- Would I be able do use my existing searches (ordered April)?

I'm aware that may be a increased overall cost because of this move. But I don't mind spending even a thousand pounds more to effectively audition another candidate for future transactions. My current choice ain't good enough.

Thanks : )

G_M

The key problem seems to be either the seller, or the seller's solicitor. However if you genuinely want to switch your own solicitor

* you will incur additional costs
* you will add further delay as your new solicitor gets up to speed and possibly needs to repeat some of the work already done
* ask your new solicitor to request the file from the current solicitor. At the same time, authorise and instruct the current solicitor to release the file to the new solicitor
* 'Starting a new case' will add yet further delay
* I doubt you have sufficient grounds to challenge the fees, and remember this is a solicitor you'd potentially be taken to court by.....


Your solicitor sent out enquiries. It was the other side that was tardy. Your solicitor told you 'still awaiting responses to enquiries'. OK, they could provided a bit more detail but essentially they had done their job.

steampowered

Buyer_K wrote: »

They had told me they were 'still awaiting responses to enquiries' rather than telling me truth that they had not received a single response to a single enquiry for 3 months.

I fail to see how what you were told by your solicitors was not the truth. They were still awaiting responses to enquiries !!!

Buyer_K

I asked them ‘is it the case that every enquiry set out in letter dated x remains unanswered’. They wouldn’t answer that question or send me the enquiries that remained. Once I was able to get out of them that ALL the enquiries remained unanswered I was able to advance the case through talking with Estate Agent. Now most of the enquiries have answered satisfactorily during the last month, but alas, not enough of them and in not in good enough time.

I’m not saying that behaviour of my solicitor is egregious, I’m saying more information and communication would've been helpful to me - particularly when I was expressly clear about what I wanted that communication to be. They weren’t providing that nor were they creating the kind of tone in the client/solicitor relationship where obtaining detailed information seemed OK. Also I’m not saying they lied or anything, just that a open ended answer to a specific question isn’t telling the truth as I see it...unless evasiveness is part of that formula. There was more than one time during the process where knowing just how badly the sellers solicitors were performing and how far away we realistically were from exchange would have allowed me to make some situation-saving decisions!

Sellers Solicitors are bad no doubt...but my solicitors wouldn’t talk to anyone who could help make the situation better (including Estate Agent). That’s a losing combo for me.

Changing solicitors isn’t something I’m worried about doing as far as cost. That’s clear.

The stuff about time delay is useful. I figured as much so I’ll investigate my options with the potential new candidates on Monday. I’ll see what they think.

As I see it a complaint is a complaint. I’m not assuming it will end in my success, but if I don’t ask I don’t get. I’ve already asked my solicitors firm about changing and to me over 6 months, poor communication, dropping balls, lack of urgency and slow turnaround of documents is reason enough to give for moving on. They don’t have to uphold the reasons I gave for leaving as an official complaint - though they appear to be doing so. I’m just wary that paying off fees as a means getting the file transferred could be seen as a legal remedy to my ‘complaint’.

Anyway I think I’ve learned something here. Thanks.

Tiglet2

Changing your solicitor may or may not help in getting the fuller information out of them that you seem to want.

You should probably be aware that solicitors do not usually share every piece of information with their clients throughout the process, since that can be disruptive when clients try to micro-manage their solicitor, who ought know how to do his job without the constant harrassment from clients. They tend to want to do their work then present their findings to you in a lengthy report towards the end of the process. By the time the report gets to you, most of the enquiries are satisfactorily answered and the explanatory notes help you to understand the terms and conditions of what you are buying.

However, can I assume your new solicitor will be dealing with the same solicitor acting for the seller? Firstly, the seller's solicitor will have to wait for a new sales memorandum and then send a new draft contract pack to your new solicitor. Yes, they may well send some of the same documents, but bear in mind if the management pack and title documents are dated from about six months ago, your new solicitor will probably want new ones ordered. Ditto your searches and a new mortgage offer addressed to new solicitor. Effectively starting from the beginning again. So your new solicitor raises their own new set of enquiries and the sellers solicitor is just as slow in responding to your new solicitor. How is that going to be quicker?

How long has it been since you instructed your current solicitor? From your other thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6043926/must-all-enquiries-be-answered, it appears you are buying a leasehold property with a management company, a query over purchasing the freehold and a possible structural issue. These matters alone are not straight forward and is not indicative of a quick transaction, no matter whether there is a lender or a chain involved.

Thrugelmir

How proactive has the Estate Agent been during the process? As it they that should be talking to all parties concerned. Solicitors can only be reactive.

Buyer_K

The Estate Agent has been very helpful - regularly checking in on the process and asking me where I think things are being held up, particularly since around the beginning of summer which was when I was approaching the first deadline (i.e. the original mortgage expiry date in July). It was tricky holding the vendor and his solicitor to account until I could tell him what was missing and importantly how much was missing. After that things started to move and the situation I was purchasing in was became more transparent.



It was been apparent, with his (EA's) help, that there were conflicting narratives about what was holding things up. For me that's a communication issue that could only be solved by me being able to help him bring the vendor up to actual speed and/or encourage him to be more responsive/proactive.

Buyer_K

Tiglet2 wrote: »

Changing your solicitor may or may not help in getting the fuller information out of them that you seem to want.


I accept this. It was really once the sellers solicitors started actually pulling themselves together that my solicitors didn't seem so great and the difficulty they had illuminating me on the progress of the case came in to focus. I just think I need better.




You should probably be aware that solicitors do not usually share every piece of information with their clients throughout the process, since that can be disruptive when clients try to micro-manage their solicitor, who ought know how to do his job without the constant harrassment from clients. They tend to want to do their work then present their findings to you in a lengthy report towards the end of the process. By the time the report gets to you, most of the enquiries are satisfactorily answered and the explanatory notes help you to understand the terms and conditions of what you are buying.



However, can I assume your new solicitor will be dealing with the same solicitor acting for the seller? Firstly, the seller's solicitor will have to wait for a new sales memorandum and then send a new draft contract pack to your new solicitor. Yes, they may well send some of the same documents, but bear in mind if the management pack and title documents are dated from about six months ago, your new solicitor will probably want new ones ordered. Ditto your searches and a new mortgage offer addressed to new solicitor. Effectively starting from the beginning again. So your new solicitor raises their own new set of enquiries and the sellers solicitor is just as slow in responding to your new solicitor. How is that going to be quicker?

How long has it been since you instructed your current solicitor?



I instructed them around 1st March.



From your other thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6043926/must-all-enquiries-be-answered, it appears you are buying a leasehold property with a management company


It's an individual rather than a management company. The individual is related to the vendor. All stuff I learned once I was able to get into the weeds of what was going on and push past any notion that the sellers solicitors weren't being incompetent. Much easier to get responses once I an estate agent were actually able to hold the vendors to account for the progress.



, a query over purchasing the freehold and a possible structural issue. These matters alone are not straight forward and is not indicative of a quick transaction, no matter whether there is a lender or a chain involved.

I don't particularly need the transaction as a whole to be quick and that isn't a criticism of my solicitors.


Referring to that other thread - I do want to be empowered to know which risks I'm legally allowed to take. Working with the sellers solicitor is obviously not going to be easy so I need all the help I can get. And if I can't get help I need a straight question answered with a straight answer so I can help myself!

Thrugelmir

Buyer_K wrote: »

Working with the sellers solicitor is obviously not going to be easy so I need all the help I can get.

They work for/with their client not you. There's no reason for them to engage with you at all.

Buyer_K

Thrugelmir wrote: »

They work for/with their client not you. There's no reason for them to engage with you at all.

I didn't say I was expecting them to engage with me.