My buyer now has two solicitors. How much more of a delay is likely?

Ballard

I have agreed a sale and purchase and being as my buyer is B2L and my sellers are moving in with relatives for now I expected it to be quite quick. Alas that has not proved to be the case. I've been ready almost two months but my buyer has caused delay after delay. It now transpires that his solicitor is not on the approved panel of his lender so she has had to send the pack of work to another firm.

Neither my solicitor nor estate agent are sure how much of a delay this is likely to cause and I was wondering whether anyone on here would be able to shed any light. I do realise, of course, that each case is different so I'm certainly not expecting a definitive answer from anyone.

As annoying as this is I'm keeping calm about it. On the plus side my bills will be cheaper here as I'm moving from a maisonette to a house. I also have savings earning interest and no mortgage to pay out. There are people in a far worse position than me so it's pointless grumbling, however frustrating this is.

tacpot12

The delay when using one solicitor is bad, and I would expect the delay when using two would be more than twice as bad. It's just a fact of life that when information has to be passed between more parties, more mistakes and delays happen.

I seem to remember so research being done that determined that once the number of parties in a transaction reached 6 the amount of cross-talk and misinformation that occurred would preclude the transaction from ever happening! So you are lucky that you are still (just) beneath this limit. Just keep chivvying the solicitors along and it will get done eventually.  

davidmcn

I wouldn't think it all that bad - in practice one solicitor is likely to take the lead and the other will chip in with their contribution, it won't literally be doubling the time involved. The lenders' solicitor doesn't have as many tasks as the purchasers' solicitor, it's largely reviewing the title/searches/enquiries and satisfying themselves there's nothing suss about the transaction from the lenders' point of view.

Ballard

My expectation is that the new solicitor will have the same questions but all of those will already have been answered and they'll have the documentation. They may have additional questions, of course, but I'm hoping that it will mostly be them checking that they're happy with the answers that have already been supplied.

Thrugelmir

If your vendors are moving in with relatives. Then your vendor does not need a solicitor to be on their lenders panel. This is only the case where they are purchasing a new property. Might explain the delays. Appears your vendor has changed their mind and applied for a mortgage. 

Ballard

Thrugelmir said:

If your vendors are moving in with relatives. Then your vendor does not need a solicitor to be on their lenders panel. This is only the case where they are purchasing a new property. Might explain the delays. Appears your vendor has changed their mind and applied for a mortgage. 

Perhaps I haven't phrased it particularly well but it is my buyer who now has two solicitors as his original solicitor cannot act for the lender.

badger09

So glad you are able to remain calm Ballard. As your vendors are moving in with relatives (as are ours) hopefully they won't be breathing down your neck as ferociously as one with a purchase above them.

Keep calm & drink red wine. That's my motto  

ritz55

It can depend on the lender being used. 2 years ago I had to go with a specialist lender which was a very small lender. They would only deal with one solicitor and I ended up with 2 solicitors, the lenders solicitor which was the most slowest in the world. Eventually managed to talk to lender who put presure on there solicitor. Eventually exchanged contracts and purchased the house. 

Thrugelmir

Probably hasn't caused much of a delay. As the original solicitor is unlikely to have progressed matters far. 

hazyjo

I had this. I had to use two. Didn't add much, days at most.

Ballard

Thanks for the replies which have largely set my mind at rest. I have since heard from someone else at my estate agent who said that his guess would be within 10 days.