Advice on dealing with conveyancer please?

stuckftb

Hi all, this is my first post, and I'm a first time buyer

I've not been happy with the level (or quality) of communication or customer care I've been having from my conveyancer. Since I instructed her at the end of January, I've chased her for updates only about once a fortnight - hardly harassing her! But I don't get any updates from her unless I chase her for them. When I do ask questions I don't find her answers helpful; emails from her pretty much consistently leave me feeling more frustrated and indeed angry.  This is in contrast with emails and calls I've had from the estate agent and my mortgage broker, who I've always found to be friendly, efficient and helpful.

I wrote my conveyancer a big old email last night (so she'd have got it first thing this morning) listing the reasons I'm dissatisfied, and a number of things I'd like her to do going forward. It wasn't a friendly email (I would say it was Strongly Worded) but I don't feel I was personally abusive or any suchlike; I stuck to the details of why I'm not happy with the amount or quality of communication from her, which I think I'm within my rights to raise concerns about. I said that if I wasn't happy with her response, I would escalate this through the company complaint procedure.

Anyway, she's sent a reply basically saying she doesn't accept any of the criticisms or concerns I raised. To be fair to her, despite this she has now done or agreed to do a couple of things I asked of her in the email, which is helpful. But others (such as send me weekly email updates without me having to chase her, even if the update is just to say that she's still waiting on some information and has sent the other party a reminder), she has told me straight up that she's not prepared to do and that this isn't a reasonable request.

Most worryingly, she has also threatened to stop representing me as a result of me raising these concerns. Is she in her rights to do this? She works for a fairly large firm; if she did refuse to keep working with me, would I be passed to a different solicitor within the firm (I'm more than happy for this to happen!)? Or would the whole company refuse to work with me?

Sorry this is quite a rant! I guess I'm looking for a bit of sympathy as I guess a lot of people here can relate to frustrations about their solicitor! But mainly I wondered if anyone can advise me on what to do next in this situation - should I back right off in the interest of just getting the transaction finished and not causing further delays by arguing with my solicitor? Or should I persist in saying this isn't acceptable customer care?

davidmcn

stuckftb said:

Most worryingly, she has also threatened to stop representing me as a result of me raising these concerns. Is she in her rights to do this? She works for a fairly large firm; if she did refuse to keep working with me, would I be passed to a different solicitor within the firm (I'm more than happy for this to happen!)? Or would the whole company refuse to work with me?

Yes, of course they don't need to carry on working for you (or can pass you to a different member of staff). Their only professional obligations are not to leave you significantly disadvantaged (e.g. dumping you on the morning of the completion day) and not to charge you for work they haven't actually done.

You haven't given us much to go on, but are you sure there's nothing unreasonable about what you've asked of them or your tone? Maybe run it past somebody else if you don't want to copy it here.

AdrianC

If you don't like the way they work, then moving to another conveyancer would seem to be the only solution - so them "threatening" to stop representing you would seem to be a mutually acceptable way forward. A large firm is not going to change the way they work for the benefit of one customer with unreasonable expectations.

No, it's not reasonable to expect constant communication. Most of the communications would be "nothing's changed". When they calculated the fees schedule, they simply did not include the time for that.

Did you pick the conveyancer based largely on price? This is precisely the trade-off with going for the large conveyancers over a small, probably more expensive, local solicitor.

stuckftb

@AdrianC , thanks for your reply. Would you really say that the expectation of an email once a week is unreasonable? I wouldn't call this "constant." Reading forums and speaking to other people, I regularly hear of folk chasing their solicitor multiple times a week (or at least weekly) which I certainly haven't been doing. I've largely left her to do her thing until now, with as I say just a few nudges, and this is the first time I've asked for weekly communication, from either her or her assistant (I don't mind which).

I certainly take your point that the suggestion of stopping representing me could be a means to mutually agreeable solution rather than a "threat." However I did feel that her tone was threatening rather than constructive - it didn't for example say 'I can pass you on to a different member of the team if you would prefer,' which I would see as constructive and mutually agreeable! It read more as though I would just be left in the lurch.

I did take into account price, of course, but it wasn't only based on that. I looked into the details of their quotes and their online reviews, which were generally good. I've since seen some reviews of this particular member of staff which I hadn't seen before. They are generally very good, and it's confusing to read accounts of her customer service (including one client saying that they called multiple times a week and she was fine with that) that don't match with my experience. But a couple of people have made comments similar to the ones I've raised. I guess you'd expect online reviews to have both extremes of perspective.

AdrianC

I wouldn't trust online reviews as far as I could kick them... But, then, I wouldn't use a national pile-'em-high conveyancer in the first place.

Yes, weekly updates whether there's anything to update or not is unreasonable. Because, most of the time, there will be nothing TO update.

Let's look at the buying process.
Your offer's accepted.
You commission the conveyancing.
Your conveyancer orders the searches.
The mortgage lender commissions a valuation.
The vendor's solicitor or conveyancer sends the draft contract out to yours.
Your conveyancer then sends out any queries arising from the results of those when they come in.
Your conveyancer then gets the results of those queries back.
Once everything is together, THEN they come back to you and make sure you're happy with everything that's come to light in the process.
If you've commissioned a survey, and want the conveyancer's input on any renegotiation required, then that's for you to commission.

How was her tone in her reply to you? Well, it was probably set by the fact it was replying to what you freely admitted was a "strongly worded", unfriendly communication...

You're a month and a half into the process. In lockdown, during an unprecedented pandemic. Even without that, it's still early days. When did the searches go off? When did the draft contract come in? Has the valuation happened yet, and have you got the formal mortgage offer?

stuckftb

@davidmcn , thanks. You say "or can pass you to a different member of staff" - I'd be happy for her to do so, but she didn't make it clear whether that's what would happen or if I would just be 'dumped' altogether. Do you have any experience or idea of which would be the more likely, or more reasonable of those two options?

I think you're totally right that it's hard for me to judge what's reasonable or not. In terms of what I asked of them, I judged this as best I could from talking to people I know who've bought houses in recent years, from reading online forums and comparing the level of communication I have with the estate agent (which I wouldn't expect as I'm not directly paying them!) with my solicitor. Based on these things, I don't think that what I asked was excessive. As for tone, that's harder still to judge, and I think it's a good shout to run both my email and hers past someone else (I won't post them here! ) As I say, my email was critical, but I didn't feel it was personally offensive or abusive. I felt that her tone in response was argumentative and quite unconstructive, and that, even if she didn't feel my criticisms were valid (well, which she obviously doesn't), she could say something like "I am disappointed to read your comments, which I do not agree with," and leave it at that rather than detail point by point why she thinks what I've said is not valid. (I think that's how I would try to de-escalate matters if a client brought concerns to me about my work - but easier said than done I suppose!) In my email to her, I did include some caveats about how I fully appreciate certain matters being out of her hands, and how in XXX situation I would obviously not hold her responsible. I didn't feel that in her response, she acknowledged those attempts of mine to see her perspective, and I didn't feel she showed any attempt to see mine! But anyway, this is only my perception of the exchange(s) we've had... I am here to hear other people's perspectives on what might be happening, and it seems from both answers I've read so far, you guys think I could be being excessive, so that is certainly useful to know.

stuckftb

@AdrianC Draft contracts came in mid-February, I don't know exactly when. My mortgage offer was approved early February, and I commissioned a survey. I haven't asked for my conveyancer's advice on the survey or renegotiations as I'm happy to liaise with the estate agent on this (and the EA has been very helpful and offered advice without really being asked). I definitely know that a month and a half is not long compared to many transactions. This one is chain free which gave me hope that it would be completed quickly (I'm not saying I thought it would be completed already though!) I was careful to say in my email that I was not complaining about things taking that bit longer than I'd hoped - as I realise that can't always be helped - but that I did feel her communication could be better and more helpful.

Yes, I have freely 'admitted' that my email to her was strongly worded, as I felt this was justified. I would say that this tone was set at least to an extent by previous messages I've had from her which I found to be dismissive and unhelpful when, in my view, I was at that point asking very little and was doing so in a polite and friendly way! Of course that is only my perspective / interpretation though. I am still a bit confused by you saying that weekly communication is unreasonable, when I've heard and read so many other folks saying that to chase your solicitor at least weekly is normal and maybe necessary... BUT I did come here for advice, and I am taking what you say on board.

stuckftb

I meant, I commissioned a survey at the end of Jan, not only after the mortgage offer came in! There was a delay in getting the survey done and report back, which I mentioned in yesterday's email (as something that was obviously no responsibility of my solicitor's!), to show that I do understand things can take time and I am not assuming that it is all within her control.

Sunsaru

These people have a serious workload and weekly emails to you just aint gonna happen. They will communicate with you when they need to. If you want questions answered, you need to harass, that is what I have learned. I started my process Nov last year and it was only 2 weeks ago I got a contact number for my actual solicitor. Before that, I contacted my MA who has some tie in with them. So yea, wanting weekly updates aint gonna happen. If you're not happy with your particular solicitor, ask for another one or just hold tight.

Tiglet2

To contact each current client each week, when they probably have hundreds of clients (not to mention post completion clients on some outstanding matters), is not reasonable, not practical and not cost effective.  Their fees are to cover them doing the actual work.  If you write a strongly worded letter, their usual response is highly likely to state that they feel the relationship/trust (client/conveyancer) has broken down between you and that they would not be prepared to continue working on your case, if you're already complaining about the service, when you're still in the early stages.

If your strongly worded email criticised the firm rather than your particular solicitor, then another solicitor within the firm may not wish to represent you.  

Your solicitor has had the draft contracts for about a month.  They have most likely reviewed the paperwork and sent out enquiries in that time.  It would be doubtful if most of the replies were back yet, so there probably aren't any updates at the moment.

lookstraightahead

I'm sorry, I do appreciate that you feel a lack of communication and there is a big difference in solicitors (esp when you pay more for a better service) but to ask for a weekly email is outrageous