Complaining about length of time

Talky12

Hello all
So let me set the scene on the 10th may this year I agreed a price to sell my house, the estate agent was a national one who promised to sell my house within 6 weeks. After the fourth week the sale was agreed.
Step in the solicitors who were recommended by the estate agents ( both parties used estate agents recommendations, after the initial flurry of paperwork everything calmed down and I sat back and waited for the completion date, 18 weeks later I’m no further forward.
I’ve contacted my solicitors and the estate agents and no one can give me a straight answer as to when I can expect completion, my latest reply from the estate agents is that the girl who was originally dealing with the sale has now left the company and none of the emails have been getting sent over to the solicitors, I’ve kept all my communications and have never sent an email to anyone other than the person I currently email. To say I’m frustrated is an understatement.
Who if anyone can I complain to? I’ve repeatedly complained to both the estate agents and solicitors to no avail.

Sorry for the rant, any help will be much appreciated

eddddy

Talky12 wrote: »

I’ve contacted my solicitors and the estate agents and no one can give me a straight answer as to when I can expect completion,

The question you need to ask your solicitors is:
Are you ready to exchange contracts? If you're not ready, what is still outstanding?

When you know what is outstanding, you will know who to chase.


Is the estate agent paid on completion? If so, it's surprising that the estate agent hasn't got a better handle on what's going on.

Or was the estate agent paid a fixed fee in advance? If so, they may not care too much about how the sale is going.

Talky12 wrote: »

my latest reply from the estate agents is that the girl who was originally dealing with the sale has now left the company and none of the emails have been getting sent over to the solicitors, I’ve kept all my communications and have never sent an email to anyone other than the person I currently email.

I don't really understand what you're saying here.

But if you have information, questions etc for your solicitor, you should be sending it directly to your solicitor, not sending it via the estate agent. And your solicitor should be replying directly to you.

The estate agent has no real need to be contacting your solicitor.

Talky12

eddddy wrote: »

The question you need to ask your solicitors is:
Are you ready to exchange contracts? If you're not ready, what is still outstanding?

When you know what is outstanding, you will know who to chase. (e.g. the seller, your mortgage lender etc)


Is the estate agent paid on completion? If so, it's surprising that the estate agent hasn't got a better handle on what's going on.

Or was the estate agent paid a fixed fee in advance? If so, they may not care too much about how the sale is going.




I don't really understand what you're saying here.

But if you have information, questions etc for your solicitor, you should be sending it directly to your solicitor, not sending it via the estate agent. And your solicitor should be replying directly to you.

The estate agent has no real need to be contacting your solicitor.

Hi
Thanks for your reply
The estate agent is on a fixed fee paid after completion.
The lady I’ve been always emailing at the estate agents (I’ll call her jo)is saying that the person originally dealing with the sale (I’ll call her Mandy)has left the company now, I’ve only ever emailed jo so who this Mandy is, is anyone’s guess.
All enquiries from the buyers solicitors have been replied to by myself and sent back the buyers solicitors and all redemption figures have been received by my solicitors.
Hope all that makes sense ��

Tiglet2

Talky12 wrote: »

Hello all
So let me set the scene on the 10th may this year I agreed a price to sell my house, the estate agent was a national one who promised to sell my house within 6 weeks. After the fourth week the sale was agreed.
Step in the solicitors who were recommended by the estate agents ( both parties used estate agents recommendations, after the initial flurry of paperwork everything calmed down and I sat back and waited for the completion date, 18 weeks later I’m no further forward.
I’ve contacted my solicitors and the estate agents and no one can give me a straight answer as to when I can expect completion, my latest reply from the estate agents is that the girl who was originally dealing with the sale has now left the company and none of the emails have been getting sent over to the solicitors, I’ve kept all my communications and have never sent an email to anyone other than the person I currently email. To say I’m frustrated is an understatement.
Who if anyone can I complain to? I’ve repeatedly complained to both the estate agents and solicitors to no avail.

Sorry for the rant, any help will be much appreciated

I am reading the above as though you actually "accepted an offer for your property" on or around the 7th June. Four weeks after marketing, is that correct? So you instructed solicitors either that day or a few days later. Your solicitor would then send you forms to fill in. When did you return those forms to your solicitor? On receipt of those forms, your solicitor would draft the contract pack to send to the buyer's solicitor. When did this pack get sent out? Your buyer's solicitor cannot start any work until they receive the contract pack, so for argument's sake, could have been 20th June or thereabouts...….?

The buyer's solicitor then reviews the pack and either approves it or asks for amendments. They also start to raise enquiries. You say you've answered the enquiries and provided the replies to your solicitor..... or who? The buyer's solicitor or the Estate Agent? When did you send the replies? Is the buyer's solicitor happy with the replies, or are they likely to raise more enquiries?

The EA losing a member of staff is irrelevant. EAs don't do the legal work and can only make phone calls up and down the chain to check progress and be able to ascertain where hold ups are.

You say you have complained repeatedly to the EA and the solicitor, but really you need to find out what they are waiting for and what the next step is.

For context and to assist, can you advise:

Is there a related transaction (i.e. an onward purchase)?
How many properties in the chain?
If there is a chain, is it complete or are people still looking for a property to buy?
Is the property leasehold or freehold?
Are any of the other properties in the chain leasehold?
Is it shared ownership?
Is there a Help to Buy Equity Loan to be repaid?
Is there a management company/landlord/freeholder?
Has the property had extensions and alterations?
Do you have any solar panels?
Are you connected to mains drainage?
Is there a mortgage to redeem?
Are there any other charges listed on your title?
Does the owner's name on the title match your name?
Are there any additional owners on the title apart from you?

The answers to the above will assist in knowing whether 18 weeks is reasonable or not. Though of course, from receipt of draft contracts on or around 20th June, it is actually 12 weeks and that is the date by which solicitors will go by. The process will take as long as the slowest person in the chain, so while you may be on the ball with responses, not everyone else is.

MysteryMan00

You know that means the solicitor gives the EA a cut, don't you? It doesn't mean that the EA thinks they are awesome



How bad a solicitor does one need to be that you can only win work by doing dirty deals with the EA?


Ponder that and see if you can square it with how this work has gone...

Talky12

Tiglet2 wrote: »

I am reading the above as though you actually "accepted an offer for your property" on or around the 7th June. Four weeks after marketing, is that correct? So you instructed solicitors either that day or a few days later. Your solicitor would then send you forms to fill in. When did you return those forms to your solicitor? On receipt of those forms, your solicitor would draft the contract pack to send to the buyer's solicitor. When did this pack get sent out? Your buyer's solicitor cannot start any work until they receive the contract pack, so for argument's sake, could have been 20th June or thereabouts...….?

The buyer's solicitor then reviews the pack and either approves it or asks for amendments. They also start to raise enquiries. You say you've answered the enquiries and provided the replies to your solicitor..... or who? The buyer's solicitor or the Estate Agent? When did you send the replies? Is the buyer's solicitor happy with the replies, or are they likely to raise more enquiries?

The EA losing a member of staff is irrelevant. EAs don't do the legal work and can only make phone calls up and down the chain to check progress and be able to ascertain where hold ups are.

You say you have complained repeatedly to the EA and the solicitor, but really you need to find out what they are waiting for and what the next step is.

For context and to assist, can you advise:

Is there a related transaction (i.e. an onward purchase)? No forward chain for either party or onward purchase
How many properties in the chain?
If there is a chain, is it complete or are people still looking for a property to buy?
Is the property leasehold or freehold? Freehold
Are any of the other properties in the chain leasehold? No
Is it shared ownership? No
Is there a Help to Buy Equity Loan to be repaid? Cash buyer
Is there a management company/landlord/freeholder? No
Has the property had extensions and alterations? No
Do you have any solar panels? No
Are you connected to mains drainage? Yes
Is there a mortgage to redeem? Yes
Are there any other charges listed on your title? No
Does the owner's name on the title match your name? Yes
Are there any additional owners on the title apart from you? No

The answers to the above will assist in knowing whether 18 weeks is reasonable or not. Though of course, from receipt of draft contracts on or around 20th June, it is actually 12 weeks and that is the date by which solicitors will go by. The process will take as long as the slowest person in the chain, so while you may be on the ball with responses, not everyone else is.

Hi Tiglet
Answers to questions above

Thrugelmir

Tiglet2 wrote: »

Your buyer's solicitor cannot start any work until they receive the contract pack, so for argument's sake, could have been 20th June or thereabouts...….?

When did the buyer receive their mortgage offer? 20th of June may well be optimistic.

Thrugelmir

Talky12 wrote: »

the estate agent was a national one who promised to sell my house within 6 weeks.

Did you expect the entire process to take 6 weeks?

Talky12

Thrugelmir wrote: »

When did the buyer receive their mortgage offer? 20th of June may well be optimistic.

Buyer is cash

Fire_Fox

Talky12 wrote: »

Hello all
So let me set the scene on the 10th may this year I agreed a price to sell my house, the estate agent was a national one who promised to sell my house within 6 weeks. After the fourth week the sale was agreed.
....
To say I’m frustrated is an understatement.
Who if anyone can I complain to? I’ve repeatedly complained to both the estate agents and solicitors to no avail.

Sorry for the rant, any help will be much appreciated

What does this mean? What does the contract say?

"[STRIKE]sale agreed[/STRIKE]" = under offer

"[STRIKE]sold subject to contract[/STRIKE]" = under offer

Talky12

Fire_Fox wrote: »

What does this mean? What does the contract say?

"[STRIKE]sale agreed[/STRIKE]" = under offer

"[STRIKE]sold subject to contract[/STRIKE]" = under offer

The 6 weeks refers to going on market to sale agreed