Conveyancing delays 1 June at 2:21PM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 6 replies 271 views

nevasg

Hi,

Are delays in conveyancing process regulated by anybody? By saying "delays" I mean delays of over 12 months. Both sides' solicitors blame each other and the third party (this is leasehold property).

Thanks

davidmcn

More info needed. You can complain about your solicitor, if you think they've actually done something wrong. If the other parties aren't playing ball there's not much you can do.

steampowered

Impossible to say without knowing what the reason is for the delay.

The conveyancers won't be able to proceed with conveyancing if they haven't been given the necessary documents by the buyer or the seller, or by a third party.

greatcrested

nevasg said:

Hi,

Are delays in conveyancing process regulated by anybody?

Not speciically no. But solicitors (and licenced conveyancers) are bound by their professional standards generally and clients can make formal complaints.

In the first instance, you follow the firm's published complaints procedure. If that fails to satisfy, you escalate to the relevant professional body eg for soliciors the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

And you can only complain about your own conveyancer, not the other party's.

iampetesmith

Not sure what the delay is, but 12 months a bit long. The only ones really that could take that long are probate sales, so have you been told where exactly the delay is?

If it's your solicitor that's holding it all up, then you can put a formal complaint in. If it's one of the other solicitors, you can't really do a lot except either wait it out or walk away.

We had a big delay at the end of our purchase, we were all ready to exchange except the one at the top of the chain. It was someone's name that needed to be removed from the title, the Land Registry took ages to do it and we were all stuck. After 2 months of stalling, we started looking at other houses and told the estate agent. I said that if it goes on much longer, we'll have to find somewhere else and pull out as I really couldn't see an end to it. A week or two later, the issue was resolved and we all exchanged.

jumperabv3

How often were you in touch with your solicitors? I'm in touch with mine on a weekly basis - I would have never gone into any transaction taking 12+ months except for buying a new development which requires construction that takes over 12 months etc.

GDB2222

It is possible that the freeholder is not playing ball. Perhaps they never will. 

I must say that you have been remarkably patient. I’d have walked away long ago.