Solicitor Delaying Purchace- Costing me ££££

Skuk

Hi all,

I’m looking for some help!

I’ve been having significant issues with the solicitors I instructed for my flat purchase. They take weeks and sometimes months to action anything. I have only managed to get through to them on the phone once. 

They were going back and forth with enquires for weeks and when they were answered a couple weeks ago they stopped doing anything even though they knew I am porting my mortgage with a ERC deadline* of today (Tuesday 4th). They’ve just said this morning that they need to request funds from my mortgage lender which can take 7 days (why didn’t they do that last week!) and sending me forms to complete then post that could’ve been done months ago. The seller is now planning to put the flat back on the market.

I believe they should refund me the ERC as the level of service since I instructed them in November 2020 for a straight forward purchase with no chain has been utterly poor. I also said if they can’t complete on time then I will instruct a different firm but they did not indicate or say they couldn’t. 

I made a complaint months ago with no response- any idea on what I can do next? This is a lot of money to unexpectedly lose.

*ERC: Early Repayment Charge of £2,600 due to repaying past mortgage early but is refunded if you move your mortgage to another property within a certain time frame. 

princeofpounds

Literally no response to a formal written complaint made through their in-house process?
Then you turn to the legal ombudsman. 
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/public/for-public-visitors/using-a-solicitor/complain-about-a-solicitor

You can of course make another complaint threatening this if you have no done so already. It may make them take it more seriously.

You may also wish to wait until the transaction is complete or lost before actually starting the ombudsman case, so you know the full scale of your losses and complaint. Plus you wouldn't want them to stop acting for you mid-transaction. 

Good luck

Skuk

princeofpounds said:

Literally no response to a formal written complaint made through their in-house process?
Then you turn to the legal ombudsman. 
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/public/for-public-visitors/using-a-solicitor/complain-about-a-solicitor

You can of course make another complaint threatening this if you have no done so already. It may make them take it more seriously.

You may also wish to wait until the transaction is complete or lost before actually starting the ombudsman case, so you know the full scale of your losses and complaint. Plus you wouldn't want them to stop acting for you mid-transaction. 

Good luck

Thank you, this is helpful. 

No response at all regarding my emailed complaint in March and they don’t accept calls.

TBagpuss

Are they actually solicitors? 
Were you given details of their complaints process when you first instructed them? Did you follow that process when you made your original complaint?  Obviously they should have responded and have referred the complaint on the the appropriate person even if you didn't follow their process,. but it is worth checking and sending a further, formal complaint, following their process and explicitly setting out when you made the original complaint and that they have not responded.

Be clear as to what you want them to do to address your complaint (e.g. ensure the transaction is completed asap/ reimburse your loss / reduce the ir fee to take account fo the poor service 

Then, as PrionceofPounds says, you can complain to the legal ombudsman, given the same details and setting our explicitly how ad in what way you feel that their service fell short of what was expected. 

Skuk

TBagpuss said:

Are they actually solicitors? 
Were you given details of their complaints process when you first instructed them? Did you follow that process when you made your original complaint?  Obviously they should have responded and have referred the complaint on the the appropriate person even if you didn't follow their process,. but it is worth checking and sending a further, formal complaint, following their process and explicitly setting out when you made the original complaint and that they have not responded.

Be clear as to what you want them to do to address your complaint (e.g. ensure the transaction is completed asap/ reimburse your loss / reduce the ir fee to take account fo the poor service 

Then, as PrionceofPounds says, you can complain to the legal ombudsman, given the same details and setting our explicitly how ad in what way you feel that their service fell short of what was expected. 

Yes the firm is Slater & Gordon. When I first instructed them the only thing I was sent was an online questionnaire but looking through old emails there is no information around their complaints procedure. 

The switchboard for the firm said complaints are to be emailed to the customer care team which I did- I received an automated email response and nothing further. 

Thank you for that, I will include those points in a further complaint. 

TBagpuss

https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media/5752465/slater-and-gordon-complaints-procedure2019.pdf shows their full procedure - I'd refer to t in your complain especially if they have missed the timescales they set out there.