Getting anxious

mickyfred

Put an offer in on house back in April. Instructed Solicitors literally the day after offer was accepted. Solicitors since then have been an absolute joke. Paid upfront for the searches and then every time I tried to phone Solicitors to get an update, all I got was "still awaiting results" after another 4 weeks of not hearing a dicky bird asked for an update to find that the searches had been back 2 week's and they had just sat on them and done nothing to progress. Vendors solicitor was wanting to get ready for exchange at this point and my solicitor had not even started on any of the legal work. Changed solicitors to a new one who I expressed that we needed this done as soon as possible as we had enrolled our children at the school near to the new house starting in September. The new solicitor has started on the case and said that its a mess as the previous solicitor has done everything out of order. We need to be in the new house for our own situation by Mid August and the seller needs to move by then Also due to being heavily pregnant and scheduled to go in for medical treatment. If it goes past August this could all fall apart. Here's where it gets compkex. For us to complete and move August I had to give notice to our landlord in July so we have to be out of here by August. I confirmed with the new Solicitor whether he thought we would complete by then which he said initially was definitely not a problem. He's now saying its likely not going to be our requested date but definitely before the end of the month. If we'd have waited till we exchange we wouldn't have been able move out till September due to the 1 month notice on rental property so to go ahead would mean having to pay for rent and Mortgage on two properties, but delaying exchange to avoid that would Stuff everything up for both parties and likely result in the sale falling through. So we've handed notice in and are due out of here in 3 weeks. I have a contingency in place for putting stuff in storage and temporarily moving into my Mum's if delayed but trying to get a straight answer out of my solicitor whether we will be able to exchange and complete before then is  a nightmare. I just want to know so I can organise where my belongings are going (storage or straight to new house) and whether we're needing to move into my Mum's which needs a bit of organising as its me, my wife and our 2 children. Theres no chains either side, all searches have been completed, Mortgage offer ready, it's a recent newish build (4 years old) all that is left is for my solicitor and the sellers solicitor to do whatever they have to do. I cannot understand why I can't be given at the least a rough timescale. I understand there's a process but surely they should have a provisional date in mind at this point. I'm getting anxious as times ticking, I need to get packed up and arrange removals and possible storage but I can't start organising all this til I know exactly what I've got to organise if that makes sense. 

user1977

Is there a question somewhere in there, or are you just venting? Paragraphs would help...

pinkteapot

Relevant part: 

"So we've handed notice in [on their rental] and are due out of here in 3 weeks. I have a contingency in place for putting stuff in storage and temporarily moving into my Mum's if delayed but trying to get a straight answer out of my solicitor whether we will be able to exchange and complete before then is  a nightmare.... Theres no chains either side, all searches have been completed, Mortgage offer ready, it's a recent newish build (4 years old) all that is left is for my solicitor and the sellers solicitor to do whatever they have to do. I cannot understand why I can't be given at the least a rough timescale."

mickyfred

Mostly venting and apologies for lack of paragraphs im stressed out  What I'm basically asking is at this point in the sale/process shouldn't my Solicitor be able to give me some rough timescale or date for exchange. It's coming up to 4 months since offer was put in and accepted. Everything documents wise is where it needs to be, it's just two Solicitors doing whatever legal work is required to complete the sale. I'm a FTB so unfamiliar with the whole process and how long it should take.

tooldle

Are there enquiries ongoing? 

cheeky-peach

Have you got the EAs involved? They may be able to find out what is outstanding and what the hold up is?

london21

mickyfred said:

Put an offer in on house back in April. Instructed Solicitors literally the day after offer was accepted. Solicitors since then have been an absolute joke. Paid upfront for the searches and then every time I tried to phone Solicitors to get an update, all I got was "still awaiting results" after another 4 weeks of not hearing a dicky bird asked for an update to find that the searches had been back 2 week's and they had just sat on them and done nothing to progress. Vendors solicitor was wanting to get ready for exchange at this point and my solicitor had not even started on any of the legal work. Changed solicitors to a new one who I expressed that we needed this done as soon as possible as we had enrolled our children at the school near to the new house starting in September. The new solicitor has started on the case and said that its a mess as the previous solicitor has done everything out of order. We need to be in the new house for our own situation by Mid August and the seller needs to move by then Also due to being heavily pregnant and scheduled to go in for medical treatment. If it goes past August this could all fall apart. Here's where it gets compkex. For us to complete and move August I had to give notice to our landlord in July so we have to be out of here by August. I confirmed with the new Solicitor whether he thought we would complete by then which he said initially was definitely not a problem. He's now saying its likely not going to be our requested date but definitely before the end of the month. If we'd have waited till we exchange we wouldn't have been able move out till September due to the 1 month notice on rental property so to go ahead would mean having to pay for rent and Mortgage on two properties, but delaying exchange to avoid that would Stuff everything up for both parties and likely result in the sale falling through. So we've handed notice in and are due out of here in 3 weeks. I have a contingency in place for putting stuff in storage and temporarily moving into my Mum's if delayed but trying to get a straight answer out of my solicitor whether we will be able to exchange and complete before then is  a nightmare. I just want to know so I can organise where my belongings are going (storage or straight to new house) and whether we're needing to move into my Mum's which needs a bit of organising as its me, my wife and our 2 children. Theres no chains either side, all searches have been completed, Mortgage offer ready, it's a recent newish build (4 years old) all that is left is for my solicitor and the sellers solicitor to do whatever they have to do. I cannot understand why I can't be given at the least a rough timescale. I understand there's a process but surely they should have a provisional date in mind at this point. I'm getting anxious as times ticking, I need to get packed up and arrange removals and possible storage but I can't start organising all this til I know exactly what I've got to organise if that makes sense. 

You will need to communicate with your solicior.

give the new solicitor some time as the first solicitor wasted valuable time.

You might have to just start moving to your mom's tempoarily if left with 1-2 weeks to your rental ends.

mickyfred

tooldle said:

Are there enquiries ongoing? 

This is the eternal question as every conversation with the Solicitor revolves around these "enquiries" my Solicitor hasn't even started raising them yet. I asked long that takes and how many he is intending to raise? I never get a straight answer though it's all cryptic answers like "the enquiries raised are in relation to the info I've got in the searches, documents etc" and as for timescale all I get is "that all depends on how long it takes to get replies" he never directly answers the question and as such I end the conversation none the wiser than I was at the start on the phonecall.

elsien

When did you instruct the new solicitor? 
Otherwise;

"Please can you tell me what specific enquiries have been raised and which you are still waiting for a reply to?  Are there any further enquiries which you will need to raise. When do you expect to be doing this?"

He obviously can't tell you how long replies will take, but it's not unreasonable to be asking when he thinks he will be submitting them.

In practice though you probably need to start organising for a stay at mum's to be on the safe side. 

mickyfred

cheeky-peach said:

Have you got the EAs involved? They may be able to find out what is outstanding and what the hold up is?

It's a shared ownership sale so the EA is the local council who don't really act like an estate agents. Once the initial marketing and offer procesigaa been completed,  They just send over the paperwork they're required to send and tell you to speak with your solicitor from then on. They won't get involved in the legal side of stuff.

grumiofoundation

mickyfred said:

tooldle said:

Are there enquiries ongoing? 

This is the eternal question as every conversation with the Solicitor revolves around these "enquiries" my Solicitor hasn't even started raising them yet. I asked long that takes and how many he is intending to raise? I never get a straight answer though it's all cryptic answers like "the enquiries raised are in relation to the info I've got in the searches, documents etc" and as for timescale all I get is "that all depends on how long it takes to get replies" he never directly answers the question and as such I end the conversation none the wiser than I was at the start on the phonecall.

But they can't tell you how long they will take because they don't know how long they will take. Especially considering it sounds like they gave you an expected timescale before and this has turned out to be incorrect.

 As above you can (and probably should) find out what the specific enquires are and ask what is outstanding for each one.