Conveyancer - Property Lawyer

niloufar69

Hi all
My property solicitor was chosen from the lender’s panel, my broker chose them as he knew a connection person in between the lender and the solicitor firm.

I have given them instructions since 23rd of July and 12th Aug I gave them the searches from my previous solicitor. Only few emails has been sent to me since the start of this file, and I have received no call from this solicitor, they don't respond easily and this solicitor never takes my calls.
If i ask them to call me back, they never call you back.

I have missed the seller’s deadline which was last week and I told them many times that I will be homeless by Friday 8th Oct,
but all i am being told is that its not a easy file as its a leasehold and the file is under review.
I have also complaint but they said it will take 6 weeks to be reviewed.

I don't know what to do anymore, they are not taking me serious and they get angry if I call the office few times and they hand me up or they ask me not to call them and let them get on with the work.
What can i do? If I lose this flat, i will lose financial costs and also the stress that they have put me through will take long time to recover.

GDB2222

Are you actually going to be homeless tomorrow? If so, you'd better organise some new accommodation. The council might help, depending on your circumstances.

You may be due some compensation from your solicitor, on account of poor service. Possibly. But that's unlikely to come to more than a fraction of the fees you have paid them, so it's not going to alter your position dramatically. If you are not satisfied with the outcome from their complaints procedure, there's the Legal Ombudsman.

The trouble is that people chase round for the cheapest possible conveyancer. That can only work for the conveyancer if they follow a strict procedure, only doing work on the file when the previous stage has been completed. So, if they asked someone a question in August, and they are still waiting for a reply, that's where the process has stopped. 

They might be waiting for a reply from the freeholder, and they might have sent out a couple of reminders. Well, they would reckon there's no more that they can do. In that case, you might not get any compensation through their complaints procedure, and the ombudsman might well agree with them.

Waunakee

I suspect that the conveyancing procedure has ground to a halt due to the issues surrounding the lease mentioned in your other thread posted towards the end of September.

As your lender has refused to accept indemnity insurance and requires a deed of variation the delays could well be down to an unresponsive/uncooperative freeholder.Other than chasing I’m not sure what more you could expect them to do.The problem appears to lie elsewhere.

Under what circumstances are you to made homeless tomorrow?
Unfortunately,despite you having told them this date several times,if the legals are incomplete you are not in a position to progress to exchange or completion.

niloufar69

Waunakee said:

I suspect that the conveyancing procedure has ground to a halt due to the issues surrounding the lease mentioned in your other thread posted towards the end of September.

As your lender has refused to accept indemnity insurance and requires a deed of variation the delays could well be down to an unresponsive/uncooperative freeholder.Other than chasing I’m not sure what more you could expect them to do.The problem appears to lie elsewhere.

Under what circumstances are you to made homeless tomorrow?
Unfortunately,despite you having told them this date several times,if the legals are incomplete you are not in a position to progress to exchange or completion.

The freeholder accepted to do deed of variation and the seller accepted by paying for it.
the seller solicitor has done a draft and sent it over to my solicitor a week ago.
but my solicitor are very slow.

They not cheap solicitors they are market average. 

Legal Ombudsmen cannot do anything unless 8 weeks has passed from the initial complaint directly from the firm.  

GDB2222

I've read the other thread now. The property you have decided to buy is defective. It's a legal defect, not a physical one, but it's just as serious. The purchase can't proceed until it's rectified. 

Given that you clearly understand the reason for the delay, I don't understand why you have complained to your solicitor? There's clearly no chance of you being awarded any compensation. Nothing at all substantial, anyway. 

In fact, you should be congratulating your solicitors for having spotted the problem. Otherwise, you might have ended up with an unsaleable property - which the present owners have.

Just look at the muddle the sellers are in. They can't afford the service charges, and they can't sell their property, because the lease is defective. Your solicitors have saved you from getting into the same position, and yet you are blaming them for that! Really, you ought to withdraw your complaint.

And, your sellers are just as unrealistic as you are. They have a defective property. It's their job to rectify the defect. Yet, they are blaming you for not proceeding! It's you that should be giving them a deadline to get the defect rectified, or else you'll go and find another property to buy.

GDB2222

niloufar69 said:

Waunakee said:

I suspect that the conveyancing procedure has ground to a halt due to the issues surrounding the lease mentioned in your other thread posted towards the end of September.

As your lender has refused to accept indemnity insurance and requires a deed of variation the delays could well be down to an unresponsive/uncooperative freeholder.Other than chasing I’m not sure what more you could expect them to do.The problem appears to lie elsewhere.

Under what circumstances are you to made homeless tomorrow?
Unfortunately,despite you having told them this date several times,if the legals are incomplete you are not in a position to progress to exchange or completion.

The freeholder accepted to do deed of variation and the seller accepted by paying for it.
the seller solicitor has done a draft and sent it over to my solicitor a week ago.
but my solicitor are very slow.

They not cheap solicitors they are market average. 

Legal Ombudsmen cannot do anything unless 8 weeks has passed from the initial complaint directly from the firm.  

Has the draft been approved by the freeholder yet?

One week is not at all slow.

Market average prices for conveyancing are extraordinarily cheap for such a complex process. If you want people to deal with documents immediately, you'll have to be prepared to pay several times market average.  Nobody wants to do this, but they just complain about how long things take.

user1977

niloufar69 said:

Waunakee said:

I suspect that the conveyancing procedure has ground to a halt due to the issues surrounding the lease mentioned in your other thread posted towards the end of September.

As your lender has refused to accept indemnity insurance and requires a deed of variation the delays could well be down to an unresponsive/uncooperative freeholder.Other than chasing I’m not sure what more you could expect them to do.The problem appears to lie elsewhere.

Under what circumstances are you to made homeless tomorrow?
Unfortunately,despite you having told them this date several times,if the legals are incomplete you are not in a position to progress to exchange or completion.

The freeholder accepted to do deed of variation and the seller accepted by paying for it.
the seller solicitor has done a draft and sent it over to my solicitor a week ago.
but my solicitor are very slow. 

Having the draft for a week doesn't really indicate any undue slowness.

niloufar69

GDB2222 said:

I've read the other thread now. The property you have decided to buy is defective. It's a legal defect, not a physical one, but it's just as serious. The purchase can't proceed until it's rectified. 

Given that you clearly understand the reason for the delay, I don't understand why you have complained to your solicitor? There's clearly no chance of you being awarded any compensation. Nothing at all substantial, anyway. 

In fact, you should be congratulating your solicitors for having spotted the problem. Otherwise, you might have ended up with an unsaleable property - which the present owners have.

Just look at the muddle the sellers are in. They can't afford the service charges, and they can't sell their property, because the lease is defective. Your solicitors have saved you from getting into the same position, and yet you are blaming them for that! Really, you ought to withdraw your complaint.

And, your sellers are just as unrealistic as you are. They have a defective property. It's their job to rectify the defect. Yet, they are blaming you for not proceeding! It's you that should be giving them a deadline to get the defect rectified, or else you'll go and find another property to buy.

You are right and I would have been as grateful if the solicitors would have explained this to me and gave me more information and actually take phone calls or call back when needed.

sorry how do you know they cannot afford to pay service charges? 

GDB2222

niloufar69 said:

GDB2222 said:

I've read the other thread now. The property you have decided to buy is defective. It's a legal defect, not a physical one, but it's just as serious. The purchase can't proceed until it's rectified. 

Given that you clearly understand the reason for the delay, I don't understand why you have complained to your solicitor? There's clearly no chance of you being awarded any compensation. Nothing at all substantial, anyway. 

In fact, you should be congratulating your solicitors for having spotted the problem. Otherwise, you might have ended up with an unsaleable property - which the present owners have.

Just look at the muddle the sellers are in. They can't afford the service charges, and they can't sell their property, because the lease is defective. Your solicitors have saved you from getting into the same position, and yet you are blaming them for that! Really, you ought to withdraw your complaint.

And, your sellers are just as unrealistic as you are. They have a defective property. It's their job to rectify the defect. Yet, they are blaming you for not proceeding! It's you that should be giving them a deadline to get the defect rectified, or else you'll go and find another property to buy.

You are right and I would have been as grateful if the solicitors would have explained this to me and gave me more information and actually take phone calls or call back when needed.

sorry how do you know they cannot afford to pay service charges? 

You said so on your other thread. 


The solicitors ought to return phone calls, of course, but the standard fees are so low these days ....

Waunakee

A week in the world of conveyancing is nothing!

Solicitors have many clients all at different stages of the conveyancing process hence priority will always be given to those with imminent exchange and completion dates.

In addition with the end of the SDLT holiday last week I can imagine many offices are still wrapping up files for those last minute completions.

csgohan4

OP have you given notice on your rental, is that why you are homeless??

Always good practice not to give notice until you have a completion date AND exchanged. There will be cross over inevitably. I had about 2-3 weeks or so