Is conveyancing extra slow at the moment?

Hdot26

Hi All

We accepted an offer on our flat at the beginning of November 2020, there was a small chain, which ended with us. 

The buyer’s solicitor has been very slow throughout, it has now been 5 months and my EA chased them (for the 100th time today) to which they responded that they would look at the file next week. 

This is not the first time that they have said they will get to it soon or when they get time. They have absolutely everything they need (searches, management packs etc.) to review and report to the buyer. 

This has obviously raised red flags for us and we are really annoyed that it is now 5 months and still no exchange / completion dates. 

Is this typical of the current pandemic property climate? 

Should we put the flat back on the market to try to put pressure on our buyer to chase her solicitor? Or just pull out completely and remarket and hope to find another buyer? 

Want to sell ASAP but not confident that we should continue waiting around for the buyer’s solicitor to move things along  

chloeH95

Yep they are on a go slow! We have no chain and the house we’re buying is empty however the only time we get an email from our solicitor is when we chase! Absolutely driving me mad! It’s 14 weeks into what should have been a 10 week transaction 

teachfast

Standard practice. 

Jaybee_16

Depends on your conveyancer. Mine was painfully slow. Had my offer on property accepted mid-November and completed 2 weeks ago.

Thrugelmir

Not the buyer's solicitor you should be concerned with but the buyer's themselves. There'll be the ones controlling matters. What's the buyers status? 

amandacat

I recently sold, both sets of solicitors were on the ball, as the seller I answered all enquiries immediately and the solicitors used email communication a lot to avoid delays. Offer to completion took 8 weeks. 

Current buying and this is the time I want things to move quickly because I’m staying with family.  8 weeks since offer accepted, searches aren’t back yet (not solicitors fault though) , all enquiries still haven’t been answered by the sellers solicitor and I feel like exchange is still a long way off. Both solicitors seem to be relying on postal communication instead of emails. My solicitor seems more on the ball than the sellers solicitor but I have to email fortnightly for an update/for them to chase things otherwise things don’t get done. 

So it really does depend on how efficient the solicitors are. 

Robroy79

It's both very slow and also the same as normal.

Hdot26

The buyer is apparently frustrated that it’s taking so long too, but my EA hasn’t been able to contact her this week. 

This, alongside the constant ‘next week’ delays from the conveyancer, has made us concerned that there is a problem. 

This evening, the EA advised us to remarket with the sale in progress. 

firsttimesellerldn

It does seem to be very slow but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying to address it. My solicitor was being really slow and not responding to me. I complained and they have allocated me to a new one who actually responds which feels miraculous. 

Can your estate agent get in touch with the buyer and find out why there is such a delay and if the buyer is doing what they can to speed things up? 

I’m fed up and I only accepted my offer at end of December (after another one fell through). 

teachfast

firsttimesellerldn said:

My solicitor was being really slow and not responding to me.

Fairly standard. I believe learning to fob off clients is a standard module in their training. 

Tiglet2

If they responded to every client each time they emailed/telephoned, they wouldn't get any actual work done.  Phone calls/emails are pretty much non-stop each day.  How does that work for you?  

Just to add, 5 months to sell a leasehold property is in line with national guidelines, even more so during this time (in any case the buyer's solicitor would only have started work once they received the draft contract pack, which I assume was a couple of weeks after you accepted the offer.