Solicitors didn't check buyer had instructed

steampowered

It is your responsibility to know what is going on. It sounds like you left it 3 months before asking for an update so I don't think you can complain about the lack of progress.

It's also your EA's job to make sure the sale is being progressed. Unless you were using one of the online agents who don't do this?

It certainly isn't your solicitor's responsibility. You aren't paying them to be chasing everybody. As others have said it may well be that your buyer hasn't instructed their solicitor properly - that could be because they don't know what they are doing, or it could be because they are trying to delay.

Drawingaline

Where did your buyer think they would be living once they had completed?! Very odd

fishfingerbutties

Did she pull out of the purchase and it didn't get communicated anywhere along the line? I agree it does sound all a bit odd!

Chel50

Drawingaline said:

Where did your buyer think they would be living once they had completed?! Very odd

I guess she's not living at the property that is being sold. 

Chel50

fishfingerbutties said:

Did she pull out of the purchase and it didn't get communicated anywhere along the line? I agree it does sound all a bit odd!

Well, she says she still very much wants to buy, but says delays caused on her sale due to COVID. Still doesn't seem to understand that she needed to instruct her solicitor at the time the sale was agreed. I've asked for email confirmation from her solicitors that she has paid them money on account and completed her ID checks etc. Also asked if she might consider paying to have a fast track service considering that we are now in this situation. I guess that I will just have to give it a couple of days for a response. After that then if no luck, I'll have to re-market. 

WiseOwl00

I've just had a similar situation and I can really sympathise with your frustration!
We're FTB and had an offer accepted to buy a house. The estate agents advised us to apply for our mortgage + instruct our solicitors straight away, which we did. Our solicitor wouldn't start any conveyancing work until they received the contract pack from the buyer's solicitor. Every two/three weeks I'd ring the estate agents to ask when the seller was going to instruct his solicitors and send across the contract pack so that we could start. Every time I'd get a different answer - they don't know how to fill out the forms, they've just instructed, they're having trouble with the house they're buying, etc. After 11 weeks they finally admitted they didn't have a house to buy, which is why they never instructed their solicitors, and pulled out of the sale. Luckily our solicitor didn't start any work so we didn't occur any fees, but the lack of communication has caused us so much stress and has delayed our house buying process by 3 months. We've just had an offer accepted on a new house, but I made a point of double checking that they were ready to proceed with conveyancing straight away. 

In your case, I don't know if it was necessarily your solicitor's responsibility to check that the buyer had instructed. I guess they just draw up the draft contract after your instruction, send it to buyer's solicitor as per the memo of sale, and then wait for them to come back with any queries. If it had been the other way round, e.g in my situation where I was the buyer waiting on the seller, then the solicitor probably shouldn't have started work. I feel like it's the estate agents who should have checked that the buyer had actually instructed their solicitor. Although I had to chase up our estate agent every 2/3 weeks to ask them to try move the sale along. Essentially the estate agents have just facilitated a verbal agreement to buy a house, but not actually checked that the sale process had started. It really is frustrating - hopefully it will get sorted for you soon! 

Falafels

With my recent sale, it was the estate agent's after sales consultant who handled all the chasing, being able to contact solicitors all the way up and down the chain - but she was a bundle of energy who worked for a high street estate agent! I doubt you'd get that kind of service from an online one.

Whatever, it's not the responsibility of your solicitors to check that your buyer has instructed. Indeed, your solicitors are forbidden to have any direct contact with your buyer in the first place.

If your estate agents are dragging their feet, feel free to chase them. If anyone's in a position to check this information and support/chivvy the buyer, it's them!

amandacat

Something similar happened to me a few years ago, sale agreed on my house and I went ahead with my solicitors and mortgage. EA told me they’d appointed a solicitor and every time I spoke to her she said things were moving and they were waiting for their mortgage offer. My solicitor later told me they hadn’t had any responses back and the EA then told me they’d not even done their full mortgage app yet and apparently as their solicitor was no move no fee they weren’t starting any legal work until they got their mortgage offer. Turned out they weren’t serious buyers, I had to pay about £700 in fees as I hadn’t used a no move no fee solicitor.