What could go wrong next ?

barrytiptree

Finally my son has got through to exchanging contracts on both properties today (sell flat / buy house).

Does anyone know what the solicitor has now got left to do through to completion 10 days later ?

I'm trying to get an idea of what can go wrong as we do not trust the solicitor and my son feels as though he has done the conveyancing himself as up to now his solicitor sends him lists of questions saying "I can look to answer these but it may be quicker if you do" I'm presuming it's just a case of the monies coming through on the morning of completion.

Experience so far has shown that the solicitor appears to be useless, so I am trying to find out, if anything, what could go wrong next ? Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

davidmcn

Do you really want a list of everything which might go wrong? Because that's going to be a long list, and I'm not sure how it will help your son.

pinkteapot

It is INCREDIBLY RARE for anything to go wrong after exchange. The majority of solicitors will never have experienced a failed completion in their careers. Get your son to confirm that he has definitely exchanged contracts, and he’s all set.

Prior to completion your son will need to pay the solicitor’s bill, which will include their fees, stamp duty, any balance he’s paying for the house that’s not covered by the mortgage or exchange deposit, and often the estate agent fee for selling too. If the solicitor hasn’t sent a completion statement yet then ask for it ASAP.

G_M

barrytiptree wrote: »

Does anyone know what the solicitor has now got left to do through to completion 10 days later ?

See the advice in your earlier thread:


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76551585#Comment_76551585

Davesnave

Do we rule the rogue asteroid in or out here?

Then there's terrorism, death of the owner, fire....

Seriously, very few purchases go badly wrong after exchange. The most common complaints seem to be vendors who take too long to vacate on the removal day, fail to remove all their belongings or take things they said they were leaving on the F&F form.

It's also very usual to find poor standards of cleaning and for the incoming owner to feel deflated when they see a rather grubby, empty house....or in our case the remains of things the vendor didn't want piled several feet high in the garden and still smoking.

A proportion of the things your solicitor asked about were possibly questions from you son's purchasers, so it's conceivable that for some of them your son would be best placed to answer.

flashg67

My solicitor passed on some questions - many were legally based around the lease etc, and some related to repairs etc before I bought the property - needless to say, I answered what I could and said 'don't know' to the rest. In my experience, it is often quicker to ask the vendor as they may actually have the info. In my case I had a pack from when I bought 5 years ago, so some of the info they wanted was accessible.
It does appear to be a common thing though. It is still a worrying time - my sale ison its 4th attempt so fingers crossed!

babyblade41

Firstly has exchanged actually taken place as the answers are totally different .

If yes , exchange has gone ahead, then not much can go wrong as the contract is legally binding

If no, the list is endless as to what can go wrong, possibly ending in it all falling down

Mutton_Geoff

What could go wrong? As others say, very rare, except in this post ..


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6077076/help-solicitor-stopped-completion

AdrianC

If the solicitor is so useless, why did your son hire him, and then keep on using him?

(Am I the only one intrigued by what questions the sol got the son to answer?)

SmashedAvacado

The main thing that can go wrong from a practical perspective is that there is some damage caused to the property between exchange and completion. What follows is an argument about whether such damage was actually caused after exchange.

The risk of non completion due to lack of funds is very small as most solicitors will not let a buyer exchange contracts without clearly knowing that they have the funds to complete. of course, it can always be the case that a mortgage offer is revoked, someone loses their job etc.

That's typically why a shorter period between exchange and completion is better

barrytiptree

Yes, I wonder why also. But as he got so far with the purchase/sale he was afraid to pull out and lose everything so he just put up with all the problems.