Complaint about Conveyancer

pepper04

Good morning,

I have had a tough time with my solicitor. HE has barely communicated with me, rarely responded to any of my emails. It`s taken 5+ months to get him to now respond to an email because i became stern with him. I believe he had all the information he required weeks ago but sat on which has resulted in me having to pay for storage for my furniture. He kept telling me he was waiting on a restriction on a property to be removed for week and i found out for land registry it had been removed 3.5 weeks ago. 

I had to liaise with the managing agent myself only to find out he had already sent the information my solicitor has been saying is outstanding. he only said he is getting the pack ready for exchange once i told him i knew he had everything. This has cost me so much money in time and the emotional stress has been unbearable. 

 

I want to dispute the bill but am concerned he will drag his heals with completing ii do therefore i feel like i have no choice but to pay the bill but i want to make it clear im paying under duress so that i can do a DPA request and log a formal complaint and potentially go to the ombudsman if i need to. 

 

Can anyone advise on what the correct process is to do this as im concerned about this dragging on even more if i mention im not happy when i transfer funds over to the practice?

Tiglet2

Do you genuinely feel that the solicitor has deliberately dragged his feet during the 5.5 months it has taken, or is it that you're annoyed that the transaction took longer than you wanted?  

The entire process can be quick or can be slow, depending on lots of third parties providing paperwork as and when requested.  All these third parties have to prioritise their work loads, which may or may not be as quick as you think it should be.  Paperwork may arrive in the office on a Monday, but the solicitor may not receive it until (a) the admin clerk opens the post and delivers it to the correct department and (b) the solicitor is working from home and collects post once a week.  The appropriate file then has to be married up with the paperwork before the solicitor looks at it.  Bear in mind that solicitors offices receive large bundles of post every day which all needs sorting, delivering and filed before it is on the desk in front of the solicitor.

If you do wish to make them aware that you are not happy with the service, then it might be prudent to do that once you have completed.  If you are just after a reduction in fees, then perhaps raise it with them now.  Whatever you decide, you will need to exhaust their internal complaints procedure before going to the ombudsman.  

pepper04

Hi to be honest this is not about me wanting a fee reduction. All emails i have sent to the solicitor have never received a response. I have always had to call to get the answers to my emails.
Secondly i genuinely thought they were working for my interests until the managing agent sent me a list of everything he had already sent to them so i have this in writing. The solicitor didn't update me about the removal of a restriction and had eluded to waiting for the restriction to be removed even thought this was done on the same day.


There are too many things that are a cause for concern. I will be paying the bill however i still feel like a complain is necessary especially is the files they send me in my DPA request confirm my suspicions. If it turns out that they didn't have the information then that`s fair enough however if he has purposely sat on my paperwork for weeks on end surely that`s not right?

AdrianC

You say that the restriction only came through three and a half weeks ago... So that's the ABSOLUTE maximum time that could have been saved here. It's why they can charge a lower price, which is almost certainly why you chose them.

Is this a big national conveyance factory? If so, every fee-earner is working on a LOT of cases at any given time. We're three weeks from the end of the SDLT holiday. You were clearly not going to complete before then, so your file was put on the back burner in favour of ones that might - prioritisation that would have taken the previous few weeks of their time. Then they focussed on the ones that had been delayed by that earlier than you...

From what you've said, I think the issue here is simply one of failing to manage your expectations. And that's to be expected, because communication costs time costs money.

pepper04

Hiya, No its an actual conveyance practice not the factory ones which is why i expected better service from them. So the restriction is only 1 of the issues but not the full list.

They have repeatedly asked for information they already had which has also resulted in my file sitting for days/weeks untouched. I don`t know if i would have made the stamp duty holiday to be fair, i just think the additional storage costs im incurring now could have been avoided if they had just reviewed my file properly. I think you are right regarding pausing files and concentrating on others. 
I just feel like a lot of information was withheld so that i wouldn't keep chasing to allow them to do other things but as a result i have other costs as a result.

TBG01

i just think the additional storage costs im incurring now could have been avoided if they had just reviewed my file properly

Do you have anything to suggest the other side were ready to complete during this time? 

pepper04

Hiya, Yes the seller has been a bit frustrated and i am concerned i could lose the house as a result. Im hoping now that he said hes sorting a pack for me to review and sign it wont come to that but i think the seller has been incredibly patient. Initially i thought it was the sellers solicitors that were not responding but knowing what i know now im not sure thats the case