Solicitors Enquiries

jazzyja

Hi, I'd just like someone to give me abit of understanding as this is all a foreign language to me and I've looked it up and still none the wiser really. 
Its only been 5 weeks since I instructed to be fair, everything is moving smoothly. 
What I'm confused about is enquires that have been raised, I don't want to pester my solicitor. All she said is that she'd "awaiting replies to enquires raised on the title document, some are standard that the solicitor can answer and some may need vendor's to assist" I'm not quite sure what this means? Is this the deeds to the house? Also this was asked 3 weeks ago and nothing back. Everything else has been quite quick. Is this normal?! I understand people might be on leave as its the holidays etc and I'm probably flapping for nothing! I'd just like some clarity. Also....sorry again if its a daft question....at the end of the email solicitor said "transfer deed has been prepared for seller to sign and has been sent to the sellers solicitor"....does this mean when they sign that we have exchanged? 
Property is vacant, vendor has moved out. I am in rented. Thankyou 

TBG01

Enquiries can be where things grind to a halt, and contrary to popular belief on here, it's not because the Solicitors are useless. You can be waiting on responses from potentially several parties, which sometimes don't give satisfactory responses.

The transfer is sent over to the other side to review and make any amendments if necessary. It doesn't mean you're near completion. 

Tiglet2

Yes you're flapping!

The seller's solicitor has to send lots of documents relating to the property to your solicitor.  This is called the draft contract pack.

Your solicitor looks at all the documents in the draft contract pack and starts to ask initial enquiries about anything revealed in the pack that he wants clarification on. 

Your solicitor will draft a Transfer document (TR1), which he sends to the seller's solicitor for them to review and approve and obtain the seller's signature (i.e. transfer deed has been prepared for seller to sign and has been sent to the sellers solicitor). 
The TR1 may be sent to you for signature, but it is not always necessary for the buyer to sign it, unless there are restrictions and covenants that you have to agree to.  If you receive this document for your signature, it won't be until your solicitor reports to you much later in the process. This does not mean you have exchanged!  It is held on file in preparation for exchange.  This document will be sent to the Land Registry after completion to register you as the new owner.

Some of these enquiries can be answered by the seller's solicitor, for example they can confirm they have checked the sellers' identity.  Others will need to answered by the seller themselves.  For example, if the title (or deeds) shows a different name to the name of the seller, i.e. the title says Sarah Brown and the seller calls themselves Sarah Black, the solicitor won't know why, so will ask Sarah to provide evidence of the name change, i.e. a Marriage Certificate).

Your solicitor will ask you to sign various documents, all of which are held on file in readiness.  They will not go ahead and exchange without your authorisation to do so.

However, you are still in the early stages.  The enquiries take up most of the time because it's where your solicitor needs to gather all the information and evidence regarding the property, then review everything to make sure you are buying a good title, so it is likely to be quiet from now until they are ready to report to you.

The average timescale is 10-12 weeks from your solicitor's receipt of the draft contract pack (freehold), or 12-16 weeks (leasehold).

Justonemorecupoftea

Solicitors will also normally wait until they get all of their enquiries back before reporting to you. So it doesn't mean no progress is being made, there could just be one outstanding query.

Falafels

There is nothing to be worried about here.

There may be all sorts of queries raised by solicitors; as yours says, some are standard and can be answered by the solicitor because the information will already be available. Others may need clarification by the vendor. For example, a property I sold had a public sewer running through the back garden, and the purchaser's solicitor asked if it had ever been inspected by the water authority, if it had ever overflowed or if it had ever been built over. All the sorts of things that need to be clarified before exchange.

Your solicitors will not exchange contracts without your authorisation - and that means that contracts are exchanged with the vendor's solicitors; it's a two-way process. Up until that point, nothing is set in stone and either side can pull out. When I sold, my solicitors sent me the contract to sign very early on in the process, so that it would be ready for exchange when the time came - which was nearly three months later. What you need to take from this is that it's not when you sign the contract, it's when contracts are exchanged that the sale/purchase is legally binding. And that really won't happen without your knowledge!