Solicitors Legal Completion

JamesC3

Hi, 

Apologies if posted in the incorrect place. 

We have reserved a house via the HTB Scheme. When speaking to the estate agent I asked how long is it approximately you are seeing for houses to get to exchanging contracts/us gettng the keys. They replied within 5-6 weeks.

Great I thought, as we would like to buy our first house before the 30th June,to avoid any Stamp Duty being paid.

I went with the Estate Agents recommendation of Countrywide Solicitors. They have put me forward to a Solicitors. I have just received documents from the solictors saying they are working towards a timescale of an offer being accepted to exchange of contracts of between 14-17 weeks.

Is 14-17 weeks the standard time at present?

We are living in rented accommodation, our Contract with the landlord runs out early July, or we have to sign for another 6 months. We are purchasing a newly buit house, so no chain etc.

I have phoned them and left a message and e-mailed them (the solicitors) but no repsonse as yet. 

Bit dissapointed if that is the case. Rant over.

James

MovingForwards

The EA wasn't truthful, the solicitors know how long it's taking to turn cases around.

You don't have to sign another tenancy and can go onto a rolling contract.

JamesC3

Landlord doesn’t do rolling contracts.  6 month minimum.
Thanks anyway 

[Deleted User]

Not the landlords choice

JamesC3

Deleted_User said:

Not the landlords choice

Thanks. Any knowledge on a solicitors taking 4 months to complete a simple HTB transaction?

I’m assuming if there was a chain involved they could say it would take 8-12 months and I complete?? 

Thrugelmir

Try a couple of other solicitors. Not least to compare fee quotes. On the face of it transactions are simple. Time soon disappears though. Solicitors likewise can be extremely busy. There'll have plenty of other clients on their books. 

JamesC3

Thrugelmir said:

Try a couple of other solicitors. Not least to compare fee quotes. On the face of it transactions are simple. Time soon disappears though. Solicitors likewise can be extremely busy. There'll have plenty of other clients on their books. 

Thank you. I’ll look into others. 

[Deleted User]

First mistake is using countrywide conveyancing.  I used to be a broker for countrywide and i refused to jse them even when i earned money from doing it.  Terrible company!

The paperwork will be standard though.  That's roughly how long an average transaction will take.  
They should have sent you to a (slightly) less terrible New Build team (cardiff still?) and they will be aware of timescales.

Last h2b deal i did completed last week 5 weeks after offer.   

JamesC3

Deleted_User said:

First mistake is using countrywide conveyancing.  I used to be a broker for countrywide and i refused to jse them even when i earned money from doing it.  Terrible company!

The paperwork will be standard though.  That's roughly how long an average transaction will take.  
They should have sent you to a (slightly) less terrible New Build team (cardiff still?) and they will be aware of timescales.

Last h2b deal i did completed last week 5 weeks after offer.   

Yeah, that’s the one, a team in Cardiff.

Do you think it’s possible to change conveyancing team/solicitor  (sorry I don’t know the technical terms) and get a completion date by the end of June to save on the stamp duty?

I’ve already paid an upfront fee of £400 to Countrywide. Was led by the estate agent to use them as they were their preferred legal team and it would speed up the process 

[Deleted User]

You can instruct a new solicitor and transfer searches but if you are with the cardiff team then you are probably not going to benefit by moving.  They might be slower by a few weeks but it will take time to get a new file set up with q new solicitor

Just hound the estate agent if its not moving would be my advice.  Its their own company and they have escalation methods should it go wrong