Premier Property Lawyers - can any one offer any advice pls?

Irishpearce26

MrsBrush said:

Thank you all for your help so far.

Just to clarify, the house we are buying is 100% definitely freehold, so I have probably used the wrong technical terminology!  I haven't bought or sold for 20 years, so I have no idea what the process is, and I have to rely on my agent and solicitor. I chose to use people who I knew could hand hold a bit. The mortgage is being ported, and we had a mortgage offer through very quickly (within 2 weeks) and we were told it would be slower than usual. Similar with my solicitors - he has been very on the ball and although we knew it might take a bit longer, their view was that it would only add a couple of weeks at the worst assuming everyone is doing what they are supposed to.  

Obviously we were aware of the stamp duty stuff, but that was never my motivation for moving - I need to move closer to my elderly parents as soon as possible as they are both in need of my help. We were then burgled in Nov 2019, when we were in the early stages of the listing process, and then the lockdown in March meant that last year was totally out of the question. That situation has been stressful enough, not least because it is currently a 3 hour round trip just to pop in and help my parents with the basics - not easy when we both work full time.

I am hugely frustrated by the entire process - I don't mind the wait particularly, but I do hate it when companies are not transparent in what they do and fail to communicate when it would save so much trouble if they did a tiny bit better. 

What I do know is that the vendor is an older person, and they have not bought or sold a property in 40 years. I suspect that this is a large part of the problem, but I also suspect that neither PB or PPL are helping to guide him through in any way, shape or form either. I know that is not what they do, but because of the very slick marketing and low pricing it probably isn't clear what you don't get when you use this route. This is a huge problem, where people don't know what they don't know (I certainly didn't), especially where there is a chain involved. I had no idea that a factory style conveyancing system was even possible, let alone that people are systematically routed that way when it is clearly not in their interests. Tech savvy people and those who are 'in the know' yes, I agree it makes sense. But for everyone else, particularly where there is a chain, it is probably the wrong answer. And in this case, why were PB so insistent that we give them a preferred completion date, which I had to do before I could event submit the offer -  when they have no intention of helping their vendors get there? 

So, from what I can see - PPL did not make contact with the vendor at all until early July, and when they did, only sent the basic forms to him. Meanwhile, I had the AML form through from PB within 3-4 days of the offer being accepted - was turned round in a day because I already had agreement in principle and a firm offer on my house - so it was only when my solicitor advised in early July that he was well advanced with the sale and couldn't make a start on the purchase that we realised we had an issue. Seems as though the sellers forms needed to make up the contract were sent back to PPL by the vendor in mid July. It is possible that something is / was missing - but who knows? As PPL don't seem to be communicating with him either, we could still be in this position at Christmas! On the up-side, the vendor is using a separate solicitor for his purchase, and the agent has been in contact with mine to verify the offer an do whatever else it is they do (PB have not participated in this at all apparently), so i suspect that his purchasing solicitor can help to move things along. They are very much separate, as he has said his new place needs a fair bit of work, he has already found a rental to move into and half arranged for his stuff to go into storage - which obviously wont be confirmed until we have dates. Our searches have been requested, and are due back this week, but we cant proceed without the information coming to my solicitor from PPL.

So, in many ways, yes, will wait until everything is done, but my frustration is more about the awful lack of any clarity about any of the delays - which are not being shared with the professionals in other parts of the chain either. I don't care if they don't tell me - that is why I have employed the best agent and solicitor I could find! If is was because of a chain needing to be completed or the vendor not having information, that is one thing. But companies sitting on things for weeks, not chasing if things are missing and not giving any reasons for delays (or actually doing anything at all) is quite another.

From the sounds of it, it sounds like your sellers are holding the process up as they chose a conveyancer who are mainly a digital service. PPL can only move as fast as when the seller gets the information and documents to them.

MrsBrush

We got an update yesterday, which proves to me that PB/PPL lied. 

Apparently, the software used by PPL is incompatible with iPad software for some functions - which meant my vendor had to wait weeks for PPL to grace him with a phone call to finalise some of the details, which finally took place last week. The protocol pack has now been finished, signed and returned to PPL yesterday. The vendor had all the information available weeks ago and they wouldn't let him just post it to them without the accompanying phone call - as someone said "the computer says no"! Explains a lot about the reason for the delay - but not why we were lied to about the pack being sent to my solicitors. To me, that is just bad business practice.

Integrity is hugely important to me, and I am disgusted that they felt it necessary to blatantly lie. The could have easily advised that there was a technical problem which was holding things up, so the vendor still needed to finalise his papers. As I said before, if it going to take a while, we will wait. But I do not like being treated so shoddily by an organisation I have so little control over working with. 





 

Tiglet2

MrsBrush said:

I do not like being treated so shoddily by an organisation I have so little control over working with. 





 

There is little you can do about an organisation that you are not a client of.  If your vendor is unhappy with the service so far, it is really in their interests to complain as it is they who are the client. 

You say that the vendors are elderly and so I would suggest that instructing Purple Bricks and having to use their 'connected' conveyancing services, which are mainly internet based, was probably not the most sensible thing to do.  They would have been better off instructing a local Estate Agent and then choosing a local Solicitor that they could pop into from time to time.  But, I assume they were attracted by the low fees without considering whether an internet based firm really met their needs. 

Irishpearce26

MrsBrush said:

We got an update yesterday, which proves to me that PB/PPL lied. 

Apparently, the software used by PPL is incompatible with iPad software for some functions - which meant my vendor had to wait weeks for PPL to grace him with a phone call to finalise some of the details, which finally took place last week. The protocol pack has now been finished, signed and returned to PPL yesterday. The vendor had all the information available weeks ago and they wouldn't let him just post it to them without the accompanying phone call - as someone said "the computer says no"! Explains a lot about the reason for the delay - but not why we were lied to about the pack being sent to my solicitors. To me, that is just bad business practice.

Integrity is hugely important to me, and I am disgusted that they felt it necessary to blatantly lie. The could have easily advised that there was a technical problem which was holding things up, so the vendor still needed to finalise his papers. As I said before, if it going to take a while, we will wait. But I do not like being treated so shoddily by an organisation I have so little control over working with. 





 

I used their software on my ipad 4 years ago and it was fine, its no different to using a web browser on a computer. I've never had to wait for a phone call before posting anything to them. Not 4 years ago and not 5 months ago when I last used them.

I still think your vendor has dropped the ball here because they are so long out of the process from when they last sold/bought.

ele_91

I used their software on my iPad no problems and also did not have a phone conversation with my conveyancer until we were close to completion. Your vendor sounds like they are being economical with the truth. Either  ways you can’t influence their choice of solicitor. Who is providing these updates? It is my experience that solicitors always blame the other party for delays.