How often do you want/expect solicitor updates?

jazzyja

TBG01 said:

jazzyja said:

TBG01 said:

jazzyja said:

AdrianC said:

jazzyja said:

AdrianC said:

If time is your priority, do things (mortgage, survey, legals) in parallel.

If time is looser, and cost in the event of a failed purchase is your priority, do the riskier things first.

I've done it in time priority, that is 100% my priority

Except you haven't, as you've waited weeks after the accepted offer to instruct the solicitor, until the mortgage offer and survey are done.

as right now the house I'm living in is in complete disrepair and I want to hang my landlord by his testicles from the highest peek.

I presume you haven't been so daft as to hand your notice in on your rental yet?

Because why would I instruct when I dont even know if il be accepted for a mortgage?? Plus do solicitors even commence without a mortgage offer letter from the lender?? I have taken all my advice from my broker. Maybe next time il learn from this process. 

And no i haven't handed my notice in yet

Why bid on a property if you don't know if you'd be accepted for a mortgage? 

Oh so you get a mortgage in place for a non existent property BEFORE bidding on it?! Never knew that.

I had a AIP if that's what you mean. Not an actual offer.

An AIP indicates you'd get a mortgage. So you knew you'd get one, yet you didn't instruct your solicitor for weeks and now you're upset that they haven't dropped everything during quote possibly the busiest time on conveyancing to say 'Yes searches have been applied for'. 

Not a definite though is it. And not exactly upset.....just want some clarity as this is my first time. I wasn't expecting anyone to drop anything lol. Now we're digressing. But thanks for your input 

Skiddaw1

When we were going through the process (the year before Covid) our lovely sales progression lady at the EA liased with all parties and updated us regularly (fortnightly initially and then weekly as we drew nearer to exchange). That worked really well (our solicitor was lovely too and had an excellent relationship with the local EA). It helped immensely to know where we were at with things. I realise it's different in the current hectic market but I'd be prepared to bet she's still providing a similar service to her current clients.

arrows123

jazzyja said:

TBG01 said:

jazzyja said:

TBG01 said:

jazzyja said:

AdrianC said:

jazzyja said:

AdrianC said:

If time is your priority, do things (mortgage, survey, legals) in parallel.

If time is looser, and cost in the event of a failed purchase is your priority, do the riskier things first.

I've done it in time priority, that is 100% my priority

Except you haven't, as you've waited weeks after the accepted offer to instruct the solicitor, until the mortgage offer and survey are done.

as right now the house I'm living in is in complete disrepair and I want to hang my landlord by his testicles from the highest peek.

I presume you haven't been so daft as to hand your notice in on your rental yet?

Because why would I instruct when I dont even know if il be accepted for a mortgage?? Plus do solicitors even commence without a mortgage offer letter from the lender?? I have taken all my advice from my broker. Maybe next time il learn from this process. 

And no i haven't handed my notice in yet

Why bid on a property if you don't know if you'd be accepted for a mortgage? 

Oh so you get a mortgage in place for a non existent property BEFORE bidding on it?! Never knew that.

I had a AIP if that's what you mean. Not an actual offer.

An AIP indicates you'd get a mortgage. So you knew you'd get one, yet you didn't instruct your solicitor for weeks and now you're upset that they haven't dropped everything during quote possibly the busiest time on conveyancing to say 'Yes searches have been applied for'. 

Not a definite though is it. And not exactly upset.....just want some clarity as this is my first time. I wasn't expecting anyone to drop anything lol. Now we're digressing. But thanks for your input 

I know exactly how you feel. I’m not a ftb but my only other house purchase was over ten years ago (sold it in Jan). I think my timescale isn’t far behind yours. I’ve instructed everything at once in the last 2 weeks. My mortgage advisor doesn’t seem worried about the mortgage offer and I guess I’ve got to put trust in to people somewhere along the line! 

When I sold the house in jan the solicitors were awful, again no updates, not answering the phone no reply to emails etc. Honestly it’s not rocket science to set up a system or even set the right expectation in regards to updates, it would stop a lot of the chasing etc and bad feeling.

My solicitors this time have an online portal which I was thrilled to find out, only at the first step at the moment so can’t say whether it’s a plus yet. I’m very much of the opinion to leave them to do their job so long as I can trust they are progressing. The last solicitors kept giving me timescales about when they would send documents over but then didn’t meet them it just makes you think what are they up to. The thing that annoyed me about that was I wasn’t even pushing them for timescales it was their own timescales they were failing to meet which was actually just sending me an email! 

badger09

@jazzyja

Can you please clarify something? You say you haven't yet paid your solicitor anything. That's unusual as they usually want the money for various searches up front. 

Have you received and returned the solicitors Terms of Business document, provided photo ID etc?

jazzyja

badger09 said:

@jazzyja

Can you please clarify something? You say you haven't yet paid your solicitor anything. That's unusual as they usually want the money for various searches up front. 

Have you received and returned the solicitors Terms of Business document, provided photo ID etc?

Hi, yes I've sent all business terms etc and signed to instruct. Provided all ID checks which she was satisfied with. But no shes not asked me for any money, and this is why I'm confused about what I'm actually waiting for....if that makes sense? 

julicorn

To answer the question in the heading, rather than comment on this specific situation: I'd personally rather conveyancers get on with their job than regularly update (when there's nothing important that needs communicating). If the numbers quoted on the first page in this thread are accurate (i.e. conveyancers have 120-odd cases at once), then even if they just update everyone once a week, and an update takes around 5 minutes (looking back into the file + sending an email / calling), then that's 10 hours a week that could have been spent doing something more useful. 

badger09

jazzyja said:

badger09 said:

@jazzyja

Can you please clarify something? You say you haven't yet paid your solicitor anything. That's unusual as they usually want the money for various searches up front. 

Have you received and returned the solicitors Terms of Business document, provided photo ID etc?

Hi, yes I've sent all business terms etc and signed to instruct. Provided all ID checks which she was satisfied with. But no shes not asked me for any money, and this is why I'm confused about what I'm actually waiting for....if that makes sense? 

Yes it does.

This should give you some idea of how long searches are taking in your area.

https://www.searchflow.co.uk/news-and-events/personal-searches-turnaround-times/


I would give it at least a week after the expected search return date, then contact your solicitor and ask for a meaningful update on your position. Or ask the EA to check where everyone is up to - that's part of their job. 

There's no point asking for or expecting updates each time your solicitor has done something or asked for information - that's a waste of their time. In the early stages weeks can pass before there's anything meaningful to tell you. That should come in the form of a formal report (see point 8 of Tiglet2's post) but that could still be several weeks away yet. 

jazzyja

badger09 said:

jazzyja said:

badger09 said:

@jazzyja

Can you please clarify something? You say you haven't yet paid your solicitor anything. That's unusual as they usually want the money for various searches up front. 

Have you received and returned the solicitors Terms of Business document, provided photo ID etc?

Hi, yes I've sent all business terms etc and signed to instruct. Provided all ID checks which she was satisfied with. But no shes not asked me for any money, and this is why I'm confused about what I'm actually waiting for....if that makes sense? 

Yes it does.

This should give you some idea of how long searches are taking in your area.

https://www.searchflow.co.uk/news-and-events/personal-searches-turnaround-times/


I would give it at least a week after the expected search return date, then contact your solicitor and ask for a meaningful update on your position. Or ask the EA to check where everyone is up to - that's part of their job. 

There's no point asking for or expecting updates each time your solicitor has done something or asked for information - that's a waste of their time. In the early stages weeks can pass before there's anything meaningful to tell you. That should come in the form of a formal report (see point 8 of Tiglet2's post) but that could still be several weeks away yet. 

That's useful to know thankyou. My council taking 12 working days according to that. I just assumed I would of had to pay her, but she must work differently. I've looked through the terms and it doesn't actually state when I pay. Just the quote breakdown. Also all her fees are rounded into one (£600) and then the searches cost little amounts for example LA search is £82. 

Sorry aswell....probably another daft question, but environmental and flood searches....are they part of that 12 working day bracket or are they searches on their own? Or is it just something that happens as and when? 

Octothorpe

I'm surprised at everyone saying just leave the solicitor 'to do their job'. Only check in once a month etc.

If something then is missed, you could be weeks behind unnecessarily. 

Example, our buyers hadn't raised enquiries 2 months in and our vendor's hadn't started searches 2 months in!! Had left them and their solicitor to it. Apparently so had they, and were none the wiser! Our solicitor didn't tell us, as that's not for them to worry about.

I think it's really helpful to know when searches are requested,  when they've been received,  when enquiries have been raised and returned etc. It means your EA can badger your vendor or buyer to make sure their solicitors are doing their jobs in answering enquiries etc etc. It also gives you some control back and you have a better idea of how far away you are from completing. 

Our solicitors have been fantastic!! Update us at each stage. Without prompting! So minimal requests for info required. However our buyers and vendor's solicitors need someone on them constantly or they'd never open their clients files!

jazzyja

Octothorpe said:

I'm surprised at everyone saying just leave the solicitor 'to do their job'. Only check in once a month etc.

If something then is missed, you could be weeks behind unnecessarily. 

Example, our buyers hadn't raised enquiries 2 months in and our vendor's hadn't started searches 2 months in!! Had left them and their solicitor to it. Apparently so had they, and were none the wiser! Our solicitor didn't tell us, as that's not for them to worry about.

I think it's really helpful to know when searches are requested,  when they've been received,  when enquiries have been raised and returned etc. It means your EA can badger your vendor or buyer to make sure their solicitors are doing their jobs in answering enquiries etc etc. It also gives you some control back and you have a better idea of how far away you are from completing. 

Our solicitors have been fantastic!! Update us at each stage. Without prompting! So minimal requests for info required. However our buyers and vendor's solicitors need someone on them constantly or they'd never open their clients files!

Yes I agree.....its quite normalised on this forum to simply allow solicitors to give a below average service. Its alot of money. To simply ask for an update is almost frowned upon lol. I dont even know why I posted the question to be honest. I just knew what response alot would give judging by the other threads