Sellers solicitors are so slow!

knightstyle

We have been asking for weeks/months for information from them, a local well respected company and still waiting for some answers.
For example the sellers, their clients, completed and gave the questionnaire to them in September, our solicitor has asked five times about it and finally they arrived by post yesterday!
We/our solicitor proposed a completion date of 28th Jan before Christmas and they still have not replied to two messages about it.
The complete lack of information means we cannot pass it on to our buyers.

youth_leader

So sorry knightstyle, I understand your frustration.  My solicitor wrote to me after five weeks to say he'd had zero contact from my vendor's solicitor.  I contacted the estate agent to chase it,  it took two weeks for the vendor to find out that her solicitor had tested positive, and her file hadn't been opened.  She has been assigned a new solicitor now, but we have lost seven weeks due to their lack of communication.  Good luck.

SpendsLikeAnAubergine

We're in the same boat. Powerless against these solicitor behaviour.

My solicitor sat on 20+ buyer's enquiries for two weeks. When they finally told me I responded to them on the same day then heard nothing from them! I thought I was paying more for a high street firm to avoid this!

Thrugelmir

knightstyle said:

The complete lack of information means we cannot pass it on to our buyers.

The Estate Agents involved should be communicating and enabling everyone to kept informed. 

Thrugelmir

youth_leader said:

So sorry knightstyle, I understand your frustration.  My solicitor wrote to me after five weeks to say he'd had zero contact from my vendor's solicitor.  I contacted the estate agent to chase it,  it took two weeks for the vendor to find out that her solicitor had tested positive, and her file hadn't been opened.  She has been assigned a new solicitor now, but we have lost seven weeks due to their lack of communication.  Good luck.

Any number of issues can cause delays. You'll never know what's happening elsewhere in the chain. People are more often or not two faced. Easy to blame a faceless solicitor when put on the spot. 

teachfast

Thrugelmir said:

youth_leader said:

So sorry knightstyle, I understand your frustration.  My solicitor wrote to me after five weeks to say he'd had zero contact from my vendor's solicitor.  I contacted the estate agent to chase it,  it took two weeks for the vendor to find out that her solicitor had tested positive, and her file hadn't been opened.  She has been assigned a new solicitor now, but we have lost seven weeks due to their lack of communication.  Good luck.

Any number of issues can cause delays. You'll never know what's happening elsewhere in the chain. People are more often or not two faced. Easy to blame a faceless solicitor when put on the spot. 

Also easy these days to leave reviews for solicitors online and reduce the risk of them displaying a cavalier attitude towards their clients. Thankfully. 

JessJ23425

We were in the same boat for a month or so, just impossible to even get through to our solicitor let alone make any progress.

With that said it's probably not your sellers fault so try to go easy on them, they're probably chasing and wanting to speed things up as much as you are but in our experience it was just a case of waiting for our solicitor to have time to review information, pestering and contacting them made little difference to when they got round to doing things.

Seashell517

JessJ23425 said:

With that said it's probably not your sellers fault so try to go easy on them, they're probably chasing and wanting to speed things up as much as you are but in our experience it was just a case of waiting for our solicitor to have time to review information, pestering and contacting them made little difference to when they got round to doing things.

Actually, pestering them probably slowed them down... Imagine if everyone they're working for keeps ringing them up and emailing them to pester them? How much time are they then spending on that instead of actually getting on with their work?

Tiglet2

teachfast said:

Thrugelmir said:

youth_leader said:

So sorry knightstyle, I understand your frustration.  My solicitor wrote to me after five weeks to say he'd had zero contact from my vendor's solicitor.  I contacted the estate agent to chase it,  it took two weeks for the vendor to find out that her solicitor had tested positive, and her file hadn't been opened.  She has been assigned a new solicitor now, but we have lost seven weeks due to their lack of communication.  Good luck.

Any number of issues can cause delays. You'll never know what's happening elsewhere in the chain. People are more often or not two faced. Easy to blame a faceless solicitor when put on the spot. 

Also easy these days to leave reviews for solicitors online and reduce the risk of them displaying a cavalier attitude towards their clients. Thankfully. 

Unfortunately, it is usually the people with a gripe who leave reviews, rather than the majority who were happy (though maybe not ecstatic!) with the service they received.

Tiglet2

Regarding pestering the solicitor:  I do think solicitors/conveyancers should make it clear at the outset, and especially during this pandemic and stamp duty holiday, that it would be appreciated if clients refrain from getting in contact by either telephone or email unless it is extremely important/urgent.  Too many clients expect every little query to be answered within 24 hours.  We get clients emailing every day asking silly questions that the estate agent or vendor can answer far more quickly. When we get papers in from clients or there is an "event", we put a notification on their online tracker, but it seems clients feel it necessary to also check themselves "to make doubly sure".

youth_leader

My vendor's estate agent told me they had been instructed by HO to telephone solicitor's every fortnight now, rather than every week, they are just so snowed under.  My vendor asked me to contact her, via a mutual friend,  last Sunday.   I was nervous about ringing her but she said she was concerned due to the delays from her solicitor.  She answered my one question, and we agreed a mutually convenient completion date.  I emailed my solicitor to let him know.