Lazy Solicitors?

RBF92

Me and the girlfriend are in the process of buying our first home through gleeson, we decided to go through their recommended solicitor. After chasing up an issue with them not starting the process for weeks after reserving we received a bunch of forms we need to fill in (again I had to chase them up to receive these forms).

One of these forms states to check details of all client & property information entered on the form and to amend if wrong, however the form is empty and contains no details at all.

Am I wrong to think the solicitors should have filled the form out for us?

GDB2222

You could give us a hand by saying what the form is about, however it does sound like some sort of error. It's quite reasonable for the solicitor to send you a form with the data they are working on and ask you to check it.

It's possible, of course, that it's the lazy estate agent who hasn't sent them the data. Hence, the form is blank, as the solicitors want you to give them the data.

RBF92

The form is all our details e.g names, current address job titles etc. It also asks for purchase price, deposit amount and where funds come from, broker we are using.

Like you say I'd have thought gleeson would have provided them with details. We already had an issue with them telling us they'd instruct the solicitor to start everything but then 2 weeks later tell us they never said that and we would have to. Then when we phoned up to tell them they told us they had only just received the reservation form 5 mins before and would send us a case pack ASAP which again they didn't until I hassled them.

I will drop the solicitor an email to see if it's an error or not. 

Falafels

You can hardly check out the contents of a form if it's empty! 

Generally speaking, it's unwise to use the solicitors recommended by any estate agents - the latter will be getting a 'referral fee' and the recommendation will be to their advantage rather than yours. In the case of Gleeson being the builder as well, doubly so. The service you've received so far is completely unacceptable.

Unless you're already tied into a contract with them from which escape is impossible, withdraw the instruction and find your own solicitors elsewhere. It's worth spending time over this - checking online reviews and asking for personal recommendations - and will pay dividends in the end.

RBF92

Falafels said:

You can hardly check out the contents of a form if it's empty! 

Generally speaking, it's unwise to use the solicitors recommended by any estate agents - the latter will be getting a 'referral fee' and the recommendation will be to their advantage rather than yours. In the case of Gleeson being the builder as well, doubly so. The service you've received so far is completely unacceptable.

Unless you're already tied into a contract with them from which escape is impossible, withdraw the instruction and find your own solicitors elsewhere. It's worth spending time over this - checking online reviews and asking for personal recommendations - and will pay dividends in the end.

That's exactly what I thought.

I was aware of this but due to them agreeing a fixed fee for there services, also being half the price of what we were quoted elsewhere, and that gleeson cover the costs and we then pay it at completion, we decided to risk it which I now regret.

In the forms we received there is one which states a 14 day cancellation period so its something I'll look into

Falafels

RBF92 said:

Falafels said:

You can hardly check out the contents of a form if it's empty! 

Generally speaking, it's unwise to use the solicitors recommended by any estate agents - the latter will be getting a 'referral fee' and the recommendation will be to their advantage rather than yours. In the case of Gleeson being the builder as well, doubly so. The service you've received so far is completely unacceptable.

Unless you're already tied into a contract with them from which escape is impossible, withdraw the instruction and find your own solicitors elsewhere. It's worth spending time over this - checking online reviews and asking for personal recommendations - and will pay dividends in the end.

That's exactly what I thought.

I was aware of this but due to them agreeing a fixed fee for there services, also being half the price of what we were quoted elsewhere, and that gleeson cover the costs and we then pay it at completion, we decided to risk it which I now regret.

In the forms we received there is one which states a 14 day cancellation period so its something I'll look into

Unfortunately, with solicitors as in many other walks of life, you often get what you pay for. Online conveyancing agents are absolutely notorious for delivering a terrible service - but are cheap compared to local solicitors' firms, and I've seen a couple of threads on here where homeowners of new builds have used the developers' solicitors, only to find problems further down the line.

Hopefully, with the delay in appointing them you'll be within the cancellation period. Good luck!

GDB2222

RBF92 said:

Falafels said:

You can hardly check out the contents of a form if it's empty! 

Generally speaking, it's unwise to use the solicitors recommended by any estate agents - the latter will be getting a 'referral fee' and the recommendation will be to their advantage rather than yours. In the case of Gleeson being the builder as well, doubly so. The service you've received so far is completely unacceptable.

Unless you're already tied into a contract with them from which escape is impossible, withdraw the instruction and find your own solicitors elsewhere. It's worth spending time over this - checking online reviews and asking for personal recommendations - and will pay dividends in the end.

That's exactly what I thought.

I was aware of this but due to them agreeing a fixed fee for there services, also being half the price of what we were quoted elsewhere, and that gleeson cover the costs and we then pay it at completion, we decided to risk it which I now regret.

In the forms we received there is one which states a 14 day cancellation period so its something I'll look into

I didn't realise that Gleesons are builders, or I'd have strongly (really, really strongly) recommended you find another firm of solicitors. 

Cheap solicitors, they may be, but they are completely conflicted. That's absolutely the last thing you want for such a big purchase. 

Justonemorecupoftea

RBF92 said:

The form is all our details e.g names, current address job titles etc. It also asks for purchase price, deposit amount and where funds come from, broker we are using.

Like you say I'd have thought gleeson would have provided them with details. We already had an issue with them telling us they'd instruct the solicitor to start everything but then 2 weeks later tell us they never said that and we would have to. Then when we phoned up to tell them they told us they had only just received the reservation form 5 mins before and would send us a case pack ASAP which again they didn't until I hassled them.

I will drop the solicitor an email to see if it's an error or not. 

Sounds like the standard buyers form, we had to complete one. I'm guessing they have a standard cover letter that goes with it and maybe some of the info is normally filled in? E.g. ours just had our names and address on.

Unfortunately seems like it's a little bit "you get what you pay for" and I'd keep on top of them for everything.

TBG01

RBF92 said:

Like you say I'd have thought gleeson would have provided them with details. 

You thought wrong. 

It's standard practice for clients to complete a questionnaire.

london21

RBF92 said:

Me and the girlfriend are in the process of buying our first home through gleeson, we decided to go through their recommended solicitor. After chasing up an issue with them not starting the process for weeks after reserving we received a bunch of forms we need to fill in (again I had to chase them up to receive these forms).

One of these forms states to check details of all client & property information entered on the form and to amend if wrong, however the form is empty and contains no details at all.

Am I wrong to think the solicitors should have filled the form out for us?

If the solicitors aren't great at the beginning better to change.
I was giving my conveyancing company excuses to keep them then had to change last-minute.
Better to find your own and not use the one recommended by the estate agent because not necessarily the best.
Check online reviews and go from there. 

firebubble

The quickest way to confirm that the contact details etc the solicitor has been given about you are correct is for you to confirm them by providing the details, ie you filling out the form.

It's nothing to do with laziness - your solicitor is being paid for their time, so if you're paying them a fee, they will happily complete all sorts of forms. If you're paying a fixed fee, that will cover an allocated amount of time, so they will be looking to shave off as much time as possible on pointless tasks, ie by getting you to complete forms (rather than them doing it and you checking it) because they will want to save the allocated time for the point in the transaction where it is needed.

If you've gone for the cheapest fixed fee conveyancing farm (ie where there is one solicitor supervising a hundred unqualified admin assistants armed with checklists rather than any legal knowledge), well... you get what you pay for.