Solicitor Document Turnover

Kad_Williams

Nobody is going to have a regular turnaround time. Timescales are going to depend largely on the volume of work the solicitor has from time to time - there are going to be peaks and troughs, and differing priorities from their various files. Obviously they'll look at your file immediately if they've got nothing better to do.

It's the flipside of the moneysaving demand of having lower conveyancing fees - you achieve that by turning it into a production line. If you'd like your solicitor to be drumming their fingers ready to spring into action when you demand, you'll be paying substantially more for the privilege. And it won't necessarily speed up the transaction in general, given how much of it depends on the speed of the other parties involved.

I have always been quite clear in my mind that I'm happy to pay over the odds for a lawyer that had more time to prioritize my case, make the process more transparent and whose caseload allowed for them to pick up on basic issues sooner rather than later. It's been difficult finding out who those people would be on or off of this forum!



Like I said earlier I'm happy to pay for my private solicitor to this sort of work... even if that was 4 or 5 grand. It's no biggie to me. It just seemed a bit like overkill for a purchase of this kind.

ThemeOne

It's a very good point about agreeing a timescale right at the start, not just for solicitors but for anyone providing a service.

It is, however, something that's very easy to forget in all the activity of making the initial arrangements.

SmashedAvacado

For me this is particularly helpful advice.

you're most welcome. Good solicitors will wish to manage and often exceed their client's expectations, so they ought to be telling you how long they are planning to take in any event. Ideally they then deliver ahead of time giving you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

dingling68

I feel your pain, as so far my vendors' solicitors "reasons" for the delay sending out the new lease have been:

* it's with the compliance department [2 months, and when it was sent out my solicitor returned it as it didn't have a lot of the prescribed clauses in and no lease plan updated to be land registry compliant ]

* we are waiting for parts for our copier so can't send copies of the amended lease out [2 weeks]

* oh we have had the amendments from your solicitor and now the lease needs retyping [last Thursday, and still not finished today apparently - are they using a manual typewriter and carbon paper???]

Who knows what they will come up with next!

Kad_Williams

The update from my solicitor is that :


'the main part of the deed [of surrender] has not been provided, only the prescribed clauses and signature page. Please provide full copy'

This is what they have sent to the vendor's solicitor regarding what had been sent to them which was supposed to be a Deed of Surrender and lease. I've looked at what they've the document and to my solicitor's point, it only has four pages to it. That doesn't sound right to me either.

ethank

I never wait for a solicitor to contact me. I call everyday to see what documents they are awaiting and if I can obtain them I do. I always call back to check that they have the said documents - you need to project manage everything these days.

hazyjo

Kad_Williams wrote: »

I have always been quite clear in my mind that I'm happy to pay over the odds for a lawyer that had more time to prioritize my case, make the process more transparent and whose caseload allowed for them to pick up on basic issues sooner rather than later. It's been difficult finding out who those people would be on or off of this forum!

Like I said earlier I'm happy to pay for my private solicitor to this sort of work... even if that was 4 or 5 grand. It's no biggie to me. It just seemed a bit like overkill for a purchase of this kind.

Fine if it's a short chain of two. Surely a bit pointless if 3+ as nobody else will be working to that timescale and it's still likely to take 12 ish weeks.

Kad_Williams

ethank wrote: »

I never wait for a solicitor to contact me. I call everyday to see what documents they are awaiting and if I can obtain them I do. I always call back to check that they have the said documents - you need to project manage everything these days.

This quote demonstrates part of the dilemma posed by a lack of transparency in an inherently opaque process (i.e. conveyancing). There are such sprawling schools of thought as to how a client should interact with their solicitors to acheive effciency and what their expectations should be of their work. I've heard the above behaviour be called 'hassling' but I've also had it be called 'necessary'. One implies competence and defends solicitors the other suggests incompetence and downplays their capability.

Thrugelmir

Kad_Williams wrote: »

This quote demonstrates part of the dilemma posed by a lack of transparency in an inherently opaque process (i.e. conveyancing). There are such sprawling schools of thought as to how a client should interact with their solicitors to acheive effciency and what their expectations should be of their work. I've heard the above behaviour be called 'hassling' but I've also had it be called 'necessary'. One implies competence and defends solicitors the other suggests incompetence and downplays their capability.

Put yourself in the solicitors shoes. How would you react when performing your job on a daily basis with constant unnecessary interuptions.

Kad_Williams

hazyjo wrote: »

Fine if it's a short chain of two. Surely a bit pointless if 3+ as nobody else will be working to that timescale and it's still likely to take 12 ish weeks.

Not pointless to those who'd have the means to pay for it (if it were available!). I'd always prefer the fastest in the process to be as fast as possible. Plus the psychological implications of having a solicitor who does not communicate and is defensive of a slow process they haven't the time or will to explain, weigh heavy on clients who impulsively worry about what is or is not happening. To be that would money well spent - to be able to have that extra wiggle room where solutions can be reached. And And in my case where, had I been in a chain I would have been at the bottom of it, there are definitely a couple of straight questions I would have appreciate straight answers to, during this process, that would have gotten me to this stage of the purchase at least a month sooner. The link between me and my vendor would have been the thing holding everyone else in the chain up.



Thankfully this was not the case.