How often do you want/expect solicitor updates?

[Deleted User]

We have an incredible conveyancer and they are extremely prompt anyway.

However, what I have been doing is probably around every 10 days doing an email where I ask for clarity on a small number of items that I believe are next and / or ask for a rough expected timeframe on each item. 

Just 2/3 items as :
-please confirm if any more enquiries are expected from the purchasers or if these are now resolved

- I’m aware the rest of the chain have confirmed our proposed completion date, has this now been confirmed by the end of chain?

I’ve found if I group our questions and make them clear, easy to read and quick to answer then I get a very clear quick answer to these and it seems to move things along v quickly and prevent any bottlenecks or miscommunication.

Thrugelmir

Skiddaw1 said:

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). 

This is the key to a smooth transaction. What is happening elsewhere in the chain is often the biggest cause of delay. Ones own solicitor isn't going to know. In reality the total amount of time spent on anyone case is very little. Unless everything comes together then the transaction won't complete anyway. Intermediate updates don't provide any certainty that wheels aren't going to fall off. 

pluto261

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!

^ Yup, all of this.

The trouble with the "just leave them alone and wait for them to contact you" approach is that while some conveyancers will be quietly getting on with the work and doing everything as soon as they can, others will spend weeks not doing any work on a case because they're waiting for a response to a question that they actually forgot to ask. It sounds ridiculous but I've seen so many variations on that scenario, where a buyer finally caves after 4 or 5 weeks and asks for an update, and it's only then that they find out their conveyancer has done absolutely nothing for those 4-5 weeks.

So you can put your absolute faith in your conveyancer and politely wait for them to initiate all contact. But if they have 120 cases on the go, you're never going to be their priority and there's always a chance that something in your case is going to slip through the cracks and they won't notice. Especially if you got unlucky and your conveyancer is a bit crap at their job.

There's a vast gulf between how invested you are in the property sale and how invested your conveyancer is. For you it's connected to shelter, security and the roof over your head, which is right there at the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Not to mention it's hundreds of thousands of pounds of your own money at stake and the biggest purchase of your life. For them it's just one file at their job that's in a big stack with a hundred other files. So if they're not being proactive, you may need to give them an occasional prod.

mjane93

We’re in the process of buying a chain free house and the whole conveyancing process has been a nightmare. 

Anyway we are at the point where ID checks are completed, mortgage deed, title deeds, contract ect have been signed and returned searches are completed and we have about 5 enquires raised to which our sellers responded to and sent to our solicitors on the 28th of June. Since then we haven’t heard anything other than they have the replies to queries and will review them shortly. 

We are all keen to complete by mid August (initially mid July but our solicitors took forever review the contract pack and raising enquires despite them saying we were on track for mid July completion) 
I know they are busy and overworked but is it wrong for me to chase again on Friday? We need to be out of our rental by mid August so ideally we’d like to know where we stand or need to make some very quick living arrangements.  

teachfast

They will do the last thing they were sat on for, and little else. Someone told me that halfway through my move and it proved to be true. 

It's got a LOT worse since my previous moves. 

Irishpearce26

This shows that solicitors/conveyancers need to invest in decent IT systems that allow clients to track their file and see updates, what communication has taken place etc.

Surely it would be a worthwhile investment to stop a barrage of calls and emails daily. I had two phone calls with my solicitor and probably sent 3 emails regarding an update on something. I was able to tack everything on their system which gave me alerts, all paperwork done online so no delays in receiving things to sign.

mjane93

Irishpearce26 said:

This shows that solicitors/conveyancers need to invest in decent IT systems that allow clients to track their file and see updates, what communication has taken place etc.

Surely it would be a worthwhile investment to stop a barrage of calls and emails daily. I had two phone calls with my solicitor and probably sent 3 emails regarding an update on something. I was able to tack everything on their system which gave me alerts, all paperwork done online so no delays in receiving things to sign.

We have a client portal type of thing but it’s not used or updated. One of the reasons we went with this solicitor was because they claimed to have excellent communication and would schedule calls after each milestone….12 weeks in and still haven’t had one of these said update  calls. 

Louise.H

When something important happens, this move I have not heard any updates from them off their own bat. Recently I got told "oh yes we are planning on exchanging next week" I am not psychic. 

Irishpearce26

mjane93 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

This shows that solicitors/conveyancers need to invest in decent IT systems that allow clients to track their file and see updates, what communication has taken place etc.

Surely it would be a worthwhile investment to stop a barrage of calls and emails daily. I had two phone calls with my solicitor and probably sent 3 emails regarding an update on something. I was able to tack everything on their system which gave me alerts, all paperwork done online so no delays in receiving things to sign.

We have a client portal type of thing but it’s not used or updated. One of the reasons we went with this solicitor was because they claimed to have excellent communication and would schedule calls after each milestone….12 weeks in and still haven’t had one of these said update  calls. 

The conveyancing firm i used it was updated instantly, I can track when I emailed or called, when they got in touch with the lender, EA or other solicitor. It also had a milestone indicator to show where we are in the process. 

FTB_Dan

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 

We were instructed to do the same. Affordability was tight, so we didn't want to instruct the searches etc until we actually had a mortgage offer in place. 

We knew who our solicitors were, paid the initial fee but no work was done (until we said so). 

Not sure why some are finding this so difficult to understand.