Conveyancer forgot to submit searches & is advising I get insurance instead

RPC_2

Hoping to get some confirmation that I am not being overly suspicious by not taking my conveyancer's advice today.
I knew I was going to have a 1 month gap between completing on my house sale and purchase as my buyers mortgage offer expires end December and due to an early repayment charge on their finance the developer I am purchasing from doesn't want to complete until January. The developer has offered me the option of moving in on a license to occupy during December after exchange which I am happy to do.
So the plan was that I exchange on sale and purchase in November, and complete on my sale on 1st December, only my conveyancer told me today (after I have been chasing for an update for almost 2 weeks) that searches have not been requested on my purchase nor any enquiries raised. This is the 4th case handler who has been dealing with the purchase as it has been passed around people for months, each one blaming their predecessor for lack of progress. Searches were taking about 9 days for that locality in October so hopefully this hasn't changed much.
My buyer will not budge on 1st December and it is highly likely he will pull out if there are further issues due to delays. I'm not sure on his current living situation but he is FTB and has been quite upset right the way through.
The conveyancer today told me that not having searches isnt a problem as they can arrange no search indemnity cover which will be cheaper than searches and will be accepted by my lender. I declined as she gave me no advice on the risks of this and common sense tells me that if insurance is better than searches everyone would do this as standard practice? 
So I am getting the searches and will likely have to move somewhere else, likely a travelodge or something for a week or so after  sale completes until I can exchange on purchase and hopefully move in under a right to occupy. 
Would welcome any thoughts on this as I think I'm right not to take this policy with no knowledge of the risks etc but I am no expert.
 I am also annoyed that I am having to spend on temp accommodation as I cant just go and stay with family or friends during covid. I've got kids at school so its not fair to spread the risk even if we are allowed to stay with people, especially as some of my family are high risk. I'm not one to go around demanding compensation but without a doubt I will accrue costs because of this and I'm not exactly rolling in cash. But I think conveyancer feels they have given me a reasonable option to exchange before 1st December so its my own fault if I insist on searches and the delay. 

pinkteapot

Service from your conveyancer sounds appalling. As you mention a ‘case handler’ I assume it’s an online conveyancing shop rather than a local solicitor (where you’d have one named solicitor plus their secretary to help dealing with you). 

I wouldn’t accept insurance either, and I’d be making a formal complaint to the conveyancing company and asking them to pay for my additional costs from the temporary accommodation. 

And name and shame the conveyancing company so we can all avoid them. 

davidmcn

RPC_2 said:

The conveyancer today told me that not having searches isnt a problem as they can arrange no search indemnity cover which will be cheaper than searches and will be accepted by my lender. I declined as she gave me no advice on the risks of this and common sense tells me that if insurance is better than searches everyone would do this as standard practice?

I have no idea why it isn't standard practice, given the ridiculous delays in getting searches and the fact that they hardly ever result in significant surprises (which is why it's cheaper to get the insurance than the search). While your solicitor ought to be able to give you advice about it, this really isn't a bad option.

Salemicus

I would absolutely be looking for compensation from the conveyancer. "Oh, we forgot to do any enquiries or searches." Oh, so you forgot to do basically your entire job? What an absolute joke.

Please do name and shame these charlatans.

RPC_2

Thank you all. They are a solicitors firm who offer online conveyancing. I usually use a local firm but had heard that some traditional firms were no longer offering as good a service during covid and weren't really geared up for remote working. Live and learn! Its Gorvins Solicitors, they had good reviews online so maybe I got unlucky? I'm going to lodge a complaint with them once I've got everything else sorted like storage for my furniture. 

WorkHealth

Looking at their Trustpilot reviews on the first page about 90% look fake - they are all written in the same style and 85% 5 star rating looks suscipious as well. They all mention the names of person who did the work.
I wouldn't be happy with what they are suggesting and would have little confidence in them as it sounds like they haven't done searches or raised any queries. I would complete your sale and if you need to move into rental. 

AdrianC

Whether you're going to complain or not doesn't move your purchase forward, though.

You have a hard deadline from your buyer.
Can you get searches done in time?
What searches are they?
How relevant do you feel the results of them are, for deciding whether to go ahead with the purchase or not?

RPC_2

AdrianC said:

Whether you're going to complain or not doesn't move your purchase forward, though.

You have a hard deadline from your buyer.
Can you get searches done in time?
What searches are they?
How relevant do you feel the results of them are, for deciding whether to go ahead with the purchase or not?

Its the usual searches plus mining. The house building is over 100 years but renovated from shop to a home so classed as new build. I've lived in the area before so I am aware of some houses not far away having problems with subsidence due to the mines. Also the development includes building up the access road at the back of the houses which I understand is being adopted by the council. It is a freehold so there shouldn't be as many enquiries to raise.
I think I would be more confident using insurance instead of searches if it wasn't classed as a new build. Also I am confident in reading policy schedules for home or car insurance but I would have no idea on whether any policy was adequate before I bought it for this purpose.

davidmcn

Coal Authority search is turned around within about 24 hours, so you can still get that easily enough.

As for the search insurance terms, while your solicitor should be giving you advice on these, they're all pretty much bog standard and will cover you for significant issues which would have been revealed in a search (which as I said above, is almost never). And if you're buying something which has recently had a planning application for conversion to residential, the planning process is likely to have flushed out the sort of problems which would be in a search anyway.

Chandler85

Gorvins are an online conveyancer, they were useless back in 2007 when my brother used them.  Didn't check outstanding rental charges (was on a shared ownership) etc.

There office is near where I live, it's a massive tower block, so they are a pretty big firm but it will be full of case managers and workers and very few solicitors.

AdrianC

RPC_2 said:
The house building is over 100 years but renovated from shop to a home so classed as new build.
...

I think I would be more confident using insurance instead of searches if it wasn't classed as a new build.

Classed by whom?

A building that has been there for a century is clearly not newly-built, whether the use has been changed or not.
It's an old building that has been refurbished and repurposed.