Seller solicitor taking too long to respond

Tiglet2

Having read the whole thread, I think the only thing which is evident is that OP's solicitor is not managing OPs expectations, nor advised OP that he/she are not a client of the vendor's solicitor and should not contact them.

A standard freehold purchase takes on average 8-10 weeks from receipt/issuing of contract papers to exchange, leasehold is more like 10-12 weeks. The more people in the chain, the longer it's likely to take as there are so many different parties on which it is dependent. Each party in the chain is likely to have a different estate agent, solicitor, mortgage lender, mortgage broker, etc.

At the moment, many solicitors' firms still have staff furloughed, so those that are working are doing the work of two or three people. The stamp duty holiday means most firms are really busy. In addition, many of the mainstream lenders are ridiculously short staffed, so any call to a lender is likely to take at least an hour on hold, getting a written response to a query can take over a week in some cases. Plus it's taking ages to get mortgage offers issued. Search providers have a massive backlog and local authority searches are very slow to come back. And December is the busiest month of the year by far, as effectively it's only three weeks as most firms are closed between Christmas and new year, and everyone wants to complete before Christmas.

Can OP say how long it has been since his solicitor received the (half) contract pack?

dipesh010

Tiglet2 said:

Having read the whole thread, I think the only thing which is evident is that OP's solicitor is not managing OPs expectations. 

A standard freehold purchase takes on average 8-10 weeks from receipt/issuing of contract papers to exchange, leasehold is more like 10-12 weeks. The more people in the chain, the longer it's likely to take as there are so many different parties on which it is dependent. Each party in the chain is likely to have a different estate agent, solicitor, mortgage lender, mortgage broker, etc.

At the moment, many solicitors' firms still have staff furloughed, so those that are working are doing the work of two or three people. The stamp duty holiday means most firms are really busy. In addition, many of the mainstream lenders are ridiculously short staffed, so any call to a lender is likely to take at least an hour on hold, getting a written response to a query can take over a week in some cases. Plus it's taking ages to get mortgage offers issued. Search providers have a massive backlog and local authority searches are very slow to come back. And December is the busiest month of the year by far, as effectively it's only three weeks as most firms are closed between Christmas and new year, and everyone wants to complete before Christmas.

Can OP say how long it has been since his solicitor received the (half) contract pack?

My search result should be in and looks all okay. There is no chain, house is empty for months and i am willing to move ASAP. My mortgage lender is also quick at replying. It's the seller solicitor who is taking too long. Kenneth Elliott & Rowe, Romford law firm director first sent half of the paperwork and after constant chase he finally sent all paperwork. Now his taking 2 and a half weeks to reply 15mins worth email (apparently he sent the enquiries email to his colleague - not sure why he took the case if he cannot manage at first instance). 

My lawyer have all the docs, its seller solicitor who need to stick his finger out and do some work. Can I not complain to legalombudsman? as seller solicitor is stopping me from buying this house due to his poor service  

Who is in charge of letting me know who to pay my ground rent? is it EA or my solicitor? who will provide boiler paperwork etc.. is it my solicitor or EA?

Tiglet2

"My search result should be in and looks all okay. There is no chain, house is empty for months and i am willing to move ASAP. My mortgage lender is also quick at replying. It's the seller solicitor who is taking too long. Kenneth Elliott & Rowe, Romford law firm director first sent half of the paperwork and after constant chase he finally sent all paperwork. Now his taking 2 and a half weeks to reply 15mins worth email (apparently he sent the enquiries email to his colleague - not sure why he took the case if he cannot manage at first instance)."

A leasehold sale takes around 10-12 weeks from receipt of draft paperwork - even though there is no chain, house is empty and your willingness to move, it doesn't reduce the time it takes to complete the due diligence required to transfer the legal title from the seller to yourself.  The vendor's solicitor will have assistants who will also be working on the transaction.   2.5 weeks is nothing - their client is not their only client and you are not your solicitor's only client.  The more you badger them, the more time they spend discussing matters with you rather than doing the actual work.  15 minutes to reply to enquiries?  You are joking, right?

"My lawyer have all the docs, its seller solicitor who need to stick his finger out and do some work. Can I not complain to legalombudsman? as seller solicitor is stopping me from buying this house due to his poor service"
 No, the seller's solicitor has no contract with you.   

"Who is in charge of letting me know who to pay my ground rent? is it EA or my solicitor? who will provide boiler paperwork etc.. is it my solicitor or EA?."
The solicitor.  All the information they have gathered about your purchase will be sent to you in a Report.

I repeat my earlier question:  When exactly did your solicitor receive the draft contract pack from the vendor's solicitor?

Slithery

dipesh010 said:
Who is in charge of letting me know who to pay my ground rent? is it EA or my solicitor? who will provide boiler paperwork etc.. is it my solicitor or EA?

I have already answered this for you.

Tiglet2

OP, your vendor's solicitors have many very good reviews online

dipesh010

Tiglet2 said:

"My search result should be in and looks all okay. There is no chain, house is empty for months and i am willing to move ASAP. My mortgage lender is also quick at replying. It's the seller solicitor who is taking too long. Kenneth Elliott & Rowe, Romford law firm director first sent half of the paperwork and after constant chase he finally sent all paperwork. Now his taking 2 and a half weeks to reply 15mins worth email (apparently he sent the enquiries email to his colleague - not sure why he took the case if he cannot manage at first instance)."

A leasehold sale takes around 10-12 weeks from receipt of draft paperwork - even though there is no chain, house is empty and your willingness to move, it doesn't reduce the time it takes to complete the due diligence required to transfer the legal title from the seller to yourself.  The vendor's solicitor will have assistants who will also be working on the transaction.   2.5 weeks is nothing - their client is not their only client and you are not your solicitor's only client.  The more you badger them, the more time they spend discussing matters with you rather than doing the actual work.  15 minutes to reply to enquiries?  You are joking, right?

"My lawyer have all the docs, its seller solicitor who need to stick his finger out and do some work. Can I not complain to legalombudsman? as seller solicitor is stopping me from buying this house due to his poor service"
 No, the seller's solicitor has no contract with you.   

"Who is in charge of letting me know who to pay my ground rent? is it EA or my solicitor? who will provide boiler paperwork etc.. is it my solicitor or EA?."
The solicitor.  All the information they have gathered about your purchase will be sent to you in a Report.

I repeat my earlier question:  When exactly did your solicitor receive the draft contract pack from the vendor's solicitor?

19/10/2020 is when we received half of the paper (seller solicitor sent only half of the paperwork - surly his not good at his job)
10/11/2020 is when we got full paperwork and its been 2.5 weeks that the seller solicitor did not reply to the enquiries yet
why emphasis on 10-12 weeks, is it guarantee that work will be completed by then, I guess no so why cant lawyers just get on with the paperwork once they have it rather than keep waiting and action when they feel like it
If you dont badger them then your file wont get any attention, a lot of these lawyers are really bad at their job and seat on your file unless someone chase them. Don't forget they dont care if your sale goes through or not, at the end of the day they will charge you the money. Its not like they are working for free 

Sure they have good reviews but according to me they are really bad at their job. A good solicitor will action their email in a week most 2 weeks 

Tiglet2

dipesh010 said:

Tiglet2 said:

"My search result should be in and looks all okay. There is no chain, house is empty for months and i am willing to move ASAP. My mortgage lender is also quick at replying. It's the seller solicitor who is taking too long. Kenneth Elliott & Rowe, Romford law firm director first sent half of the paperwork and after constant chase he finally sent all paperwork. Now his taking 2 and a half weeks to reply 15mins worth email (apparently he sent the enquiries email to his colleague - not sure why he took the case if he cannot manage at first instance)."

A leasehold sale takes around 10-12 weeks from receipt of draft paperwork - even though there is no chain, house is empty and your willingness to move, it doesn't reduce the time it takes to complete the due diligence required to transfer the legal title from the seller to yourself.  The vendor's solicitor will have assistants who will also be working on the transaction.   2.5 weeks is nothing - their client is not their only client and you are not your solicitor's only client.  The more you badger them, the more time they spend discussing matters with you rather than doing the actual work.  15 minutes to reply to enquiries?  You are joking, right?

"My lawyer have all the docs, its seller solicitor who need to stick his finger out and do some work. Can I not complain to legalombudsman? as seller solicitor is stopping me from buying this house due to his poor service"
 No, the seller's solicitor has no contract with you.   

"Who is in charge of letting me know who to pay my ground rent? is it EA or my solicitor? who will provide boiler paperwork etc.. is it my solicitor or EA?."
The solicitor.  All the information they have gathered about your purchase will be sent to you in a Report.

I repeat my earlier question:  When exactly did your solicitor receive the draft contract pack from the vendor's solicitor?

19/10/2020 is when we received half of the paper (seller solicitor sent only half of the paperwork - surly his not good at his job)
10/11/2020 is when we got full paperwork and its been 2.5 weeks that the seller solicitor did not reply to the enquiries yet
why emphasis on 10-12 weeks, is it guarantee that work will be completed by then, I guess no so why cant lawyers just get on with the paperwork once they have it rather than keep waiting and action when they feel like it
If you dont badger them then your file wont get any attention, a lot of these lawyers are really bad at their job and seat on your file unless someone chase them. Don't forget they dont care if your sale goes through or not, at the end of the day they will charge you the money. Its not like they are working for free 

Sure they have good reviews but according to me they are really bad at their job. A good solicitor will action their email in a week most 2 weeks 

10-12 weeks is an "average", not guaranteed.  

What are you on about?  Solicitors don't get paid until completion, so it is not in their interests for a sale/purchase to fall through.  On a fixed fee deal where a transaction fails to reach completion, they will have done a great amount of work for free.  

You're trying to micro-manage this purchase.  How much do you actually know about conveyancing?  You're coming across like a big baby throwing his toys out of the pram.