Slow solicitor or is this normal?

mortgage_noob

I'm quite happy not to micromanage if stuff was getting done or we were getting any sort of communication Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case, but you seem to want to excuse total inaction and lack of communication on our solicitors side?

I asked about the draft contract because we've had no comms so no idea where we are in the process, and knowing that she's had it for 2 weeks and not communicated at all  it seems to  me that my concerns were justified. 

The vendors solicitor has not heard anything from her either

Thrugelmir

mortgage_noob said:

I'm quite happy not to micromanage if stuff was getting done or we were getting any sort of communication Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case, but you seem to want to excuse total inaction and lack of communication on our solicitors side. 

Just offering a different perspective. After having spent many years in client facing environments. Always made me laugh under my breath when people told me how to do my job. Over time you grow a thick skin to the abuse. 

TBG01

If you're not happy with the Solicitor go elsewhere. You're at the stage of the process where it'll cause little disruption. 

Maybe look for a Solicitor that only takes one client on at a time because you won't get the regular updates you want from a Solicitor that handles many clients. There simply isn't enough time to drop everything to give pointless updates that just lead to more "chasing" because the client doesn't understand the process. 

mortgage_noob

Thrugelmir said:

mortgage_noob said:

I'm quite happy not to micromanage if stuff was getting done or we were getting any sort of communication Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case, but you seem to want to excuse total inaction and lack of communication on our solicitors side. 

Just offering a different perspective. After having spent many years in client facing environments. Always made me laugh under my breath when people told me how to do my job. Over time you grow a thick skin to the abuse. 

I don't think a gentle prod to ask if she needs anything else from us/or the vendors solicitor to progress things constitutes abuse, but ok.  

Tiglet2

Perhaps look at it from a different angle.

Your solicitor received the draft contracts on or close to 1st June (were they emailed or posted?).  The pack consists of quite a lot of documents.  These documents need to be reviewed fully in their entirety before your solicitor can decide what enquiries they need to raise with the sellers' solicitor.  Reviewing documents during a normal working day, where there are lots of interruptions from other clients and EAs, lenders, other solicitors, means that the "review" can take a week or so.  Then a letter has to be drafted raising all the enquiries (the solicitor may delay raising the enquiries until the searches have been returned), the Transfer is also drafted, to send back to the sellers' solicitor. 

From 1st June to today is 10 working days.  To achieve the above in 10 working days is good going.  At the moment, with so many people wanting to complete by the end of June, I don't think you can expect it to go much faster.  It's not just solicitors that are slow at the moment, the whole of the property industry is struggling to cope.

Having said all the above, I do think your solicitor could have updated you by now.  I guess that clients have become so demanding over the last few years and clearly solicitors do not have the time (as is demonstrated on here regularly) to provide updates every time someone asks for one.  It has become another task that takes too much out of the working day (especially if you multiply your request by 100 other clients asking the same) to be actually productive in progressing the transaction.

RachP87

TBG01 said:

RachP87 said:

My offer was affected on the in house in March and I still don't have a date. I understand they are busy, but my job is busy - Even more so since COVID and I've had to work all through, including weekends as overtime due to the amount of work. 

And? Are you implying Solicitors haven't worked throughout the pandemic and aren't doing extra hours?

No not at all, not sure how u took that away but maybe you didn’t read the next part. My point was I still manage to respond at least something in 5 weeks being busy, and I don’t personally see how being busy means no contact for this amount of time

onylon

mortgage_noob said:

Thrugelmir said:

mortgage_noob said:

I'm quite happy not to micromanage if stuff was getting done or we were getting any sort of communication Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case, but you seem to want to excuse total inaction and lack of communication on our solicitors side. 

Just offering a different perspective. After having spent many years in client facing environments. Always made me laugh under my breath when people told me how to do my job. Over time you grow a thick skin to the abuse. 

I don't think a gentle prod to ask if she needs anything else from us/or the vendors solicitor to progress things constitutes abuse, but ok.  

Conveyors on this board are quite prickly and like to say that they aren't paid enough to communicate with clients. Personally I think that it's a basic courtesy and there is nothing more effective than an aggressive communication schedule when you need to buy time. People are far more understanding of delays when they know that they haven't been forgotten.

You should definitely have seen some progress by now but as has been pointed out the property market is busy and your file will be low priority as you aren't close to exchange yet. Personally I can't sit back and watch things go to pot so I would be calling my solicitors and requesting weekly email updates. Also keep in touch with your EA and vendor to give yourself the best view of the process. My solicitor was very slow but things started moving much faster when I started chasing up missing documents for her and removing her blockers. I wouldn't even have known what documents were outstanding if I hadn't been in touch with my buyer. We also uncovered some communication problems between our solicitors (missing emails).

TBG01

RachP87 said:

TBG01 said:

RachP87 said:

My offer was affected on the in house in March and I still don't have a date. I understand they are busy, but my job is busy - Even more so since COVID and I've had to work all through, including weekends as overtime due to the amount of work. 

And? Are you implying Solicitors haven't worked throughout the pandemic and aren't doing extra hours?

No not at all, not sure how u took that away but maybe you didn’t read the next part. My point was I still manage to respond at least something in 5 weeks being busy, and I don’t personally see how being busy means no contact for this amount of time

5 weeks?

I didn't hear from my solicitor for 3 weeks after instructing them to proceed

By your own admission you heard something after three weeks with them apologising and giving an update regarding search timescales. What update do you want next? 'We told you we'd get them next month (which btw we have no control over) so here's an update to say the same'? 

Knowing she's had it 2 weeks and not communicated at all it seems to me that my concerns were justified. 

Again not 5 weeks, but anyway you know what's included in a contract pack yeah? You know how long it can take to review documents, request missing documents and draft enquiries yeah? 

The vendors solicitor has not heard anything from her either

They don't need to. The memo from the estate agent confirms who's instructed and there's no need to acknowledge receipt of the contract pack. 

teachfast

Conveyancers and conveyancing solicitors will do their jobs just fine. There's no need to send them reminders every six months.

mortgage_noob

TBG01 said:

RachP87 said:

TBG01 said:

RachP87 said:

My offer was affected on the in house in March and I still don't have a date. I understand they are busy, but my job is busy - Even more so since COVID and I've had to work all through, including weekends as overtime due to the amount of work. 

And? Are you implying Solicitors haven't worked throughout the pandemic and aren't doing extra hours?

No not at all, not sure how u took that away but maybe you didn’t read the next part. My point was I still manage to respond at least something in 5 weeks being busy, and I don’t personally see how being busy means no contact for this amount of time

5 weeks?

I didn't hear from my solicitor for 3 weeks after instructing them to proceed

By your own admission you heard something after three weeks with them apologising and giving an update regarding search timescales. What update do you want next? 'We told you we'd get them next month (which btw we have no control over) so here's an update to say the same'? 

Knowing she's had it 2 weeks and not communicated at all it seems to me that my concerns were justified. 

Again not 5 weeks, but anyway you know what's included in a contract pack yeah? You know how long it can take to review documents, request missing documents and draft enquiries yeah? 

The vendors solicitor has not heard anything from her either

They don't need to. The memo from the estate agent confirms who's instructed and there's no need to acknowledge receipt of the contract pack. 

you seem to be mixing up two different posters here