How to change conveyancing solicitor?

tryingmybest99

I've made a huge error in choosing a conveyancer. I chose a firm that had a reasonable quote and I saw a few good reviews online. I have had no response to queries and I was getting worried so I checked Trust pilot and in recent weeks/ months there are strings of one-star reviews! I think I need to change now before things proceed further. I put an offer in at the beginning of June, got a mortgage offer, the memorandum of sale has been done but we are still waiting for the contract pack. So it is early days in the process. I have paid them £250 but I don't know if I'll get that back (and I am willing to walk away from it if I can get a firm that replies to me). But how do I even go about swapping solicitors? 

Thrugelmir

Ring them and thell them you no longer require their services. Find another first though. 

tryingmybest99

They are not answering their phones. I have tried 5-10 times a day for the past few days. 

tryingmybest99

OK, thanks

badger09

Check your contract, set out in their 'Terms of Business'. What was that £250 for? We paid a similar amount up front, which were told was for Searches. If yours is the same & the Searches have been requested, then obviously that money is gone.

We also had a failed purchase, not our fault, and much further down the process than yours is. We paid £650 for work already done on the 'aborted purchase'. We knew we would be charged as our conveyancer (local solicitor) had done a lot of work when the vendors pulled out.

dimbo61

We have just been through a Pandemic Which meant many offices shut for months.
Local councils, Land registry, banks, etc

Every single firm of solicitors have faced major delays 
People now expect McDonald's speed of service with every meal.
Your buying a property and the solicitors MUST do due diligence.
Thing's are taking a lot longer and you ringing 10 times a day won't make it happen any quicker

teachfast

You may as well stay with them. They're pretty much all this bad. 

There are lots of apologists for the poor service. My advice is to ignore these and continue to expect professionalism and good communication. Good luck finding it in this 'profession'.

Tiglet2

tryingmybest99 said:

I've made a huge error in choosing a conveyancer. I chose a firm that had a reasonable quote and I saw a few good reviews online. I have had no response to queries and I was getting worried so I checked Trust pilot and in recent weeks/ months there are strings of one-star reviews! I think I need to change now before things proceed further. I put an offer in at the beginning of June, got a mortgage offer, the memorandum of sale has been done but we are still waiting for the contract pack. So it is early days in the process. I have paid them £250 but I don't know if I'll get that back (and I am willing to walk away from it if I can get a firm that replies to me). But how do I even go about swapping solicitors? 

Are you are buying, rather than selling?   Your solicitor cannot start the legal work until the seller's solicitor sends over the contract pack.  If they are still waiting for it, there won't be any progress made.  So, not your solicitor being slow.  Get the EA to chase the seller to find out why the contract pack hasn't been done yet.  It may be that the seller still hasn't returned their paperwork.

The £250 would usually be the payment made for searches.  You might be lucky and find that searches have not yet been ordered, because they don't have the draft contract pack.

ele_91

Probably worth remembering people generally only leave reviews when they feel very strongly about something, hence why there are lots of 1 stars. But the problem is that you need the draft contract pack. Have you chased this with the estate agent? Are you in a chain and is that chain complete?

NameUnavailable

Up to the end of June most solicitors were really busy with transactions trying to meet the stamp duty holiday deadline (the holiday is still going just for a much lower value).

Local Authority searches can take a long time to come back - depends on the LA.

The lack of news is probably due to the fact that they don't have any news for you as yet. It's bad that you can't reach anyone on the phone though - might be worth checking online to see if they have any alternative phone numbers. Are you saying that they aren't responding to emails either?

Tokmon

dimbo61 said:

We have just been through a Pandemic Which meant many offices shut for months.
Local councils, Land registry, banks, etc

Every single firm of solicitors have faced major delays 
People now expect McDonald's speed of service with every meal.
Your buying a property and the solicitors MUST do due diligence.
Thing's are taking a lot longer and you ringing 10 times a day won't make it happen any quicker

None of that is any excuse for them to ignore their clients and not give any updates when contacted!.

The solicitor i use for conveyancing replies to most emails within an hour during office hours or someone will reply on their behalf if they are out of the office.