Covid19: Buying House + Solicitor and Estate Agents furloughed?!

emilylwalton

Hi all. I cannot be the only one in this situation but we put an offer in around 7th feb and are still in the buying process. We have been waiting 9 weeks now for the sellers solicitors  to respond to questions we have. After being advised by our solicitor to contact the estate agents to help chase I found out all the team at said estate agents had been furloughed and I was passed to an owner company and liased with someone there. Turns out someone at the sellers solicitor handling her file of the house we are buying had been furloughed too so she'd never seen these questions. Anyway this was 4 weeks ago and she returned the answers and our solicitor  has not had them since! Last tuesday they finally managed to speak to someone at the sellers solicitor who is now picking up the file and promised he send over the answers last tuesday and didnt and now ever since our solicitor cannot make contact with them! ALSO, now my contact with the  owner company of the estate agent has been furloughed and I have been given numerous emails to other agents who can help but I've been told they have only 4 people running 4 branches so response to emails is taking forever! 

Is anyone else in a situation likes this? Our mortgage offer runs out in august and we gave to get to exchange to extend our morgage offer because of covid. We are one step away from exchange! It's so infuriating as out solicitor cannot do anything we've  been told so I'm relying on estate agents to make contact but they are running on little staff!

Comms69

Your vendor has appointed a solicitor, they are now not working. Your vendor is choosing not to appoint new solicitors.

That's the end of it really. Yes it's frustrating, but as you havent exchanged, no-one owes anyone anything (except you owe money to your solicitor)

AdrianC

If the firm of solicitors has furloughed that one fee-earner, then you'd expect their case work to have been handed over to somebody else within the practice. But I'd presume your solicitor has tried to contact the partners of the practice, rather than just relying on one individual...?

emilylwalton

They have appointed a new solicitor that's the issue. Yes my solicitor has contacted the partners, one of the partners has picked up the file.

Comms69

emilylwalton said:

They have appointed a new solicitor that's the issue. Yes my solicitor has contacted the partners, one of the partners has picked up the file.

Right, so now you have to wait. 

emilylwalton

Another 9 weeks, I don't think so!

Comms69

emilylwalton said:

Another 9 weeks, I don't think so!

What?

Sorry i dont think you understand - you either wait, or find another property. 

You literally have no contract with anyone you have a complaint against.

Unicorn_cottage

My house sale took 7 months to complete & that was outside of these strange times.

emilylwalton

Really? I'm not bothered about waiting we just have a mortgage offer expiring in august to contend with and need to get to exchange to extend this

AdrianC

emilylwalton said:

They have appointed a new solicitor that's the issue. Yes my solicitor has contacted the partners, one of the partners has picked up the file.

So the furlough is irrelevant. The fee-earner your vendor was dealing with may have resigned or fallen under a proverbial no.47. The case is being handled.

emilylwalton said:

Really? I'm not bothered about waiting we just have a mortgage offer expiring in august to contend with and need to get to exchange to extend this

At the moment, exchange and completion are mostly simultaneous.

emilylwalton

Yes I was told exchange and completion may be simultaneous. Do you work in the sector?