How much longer should I be waiting to exchange and complete?

kplt0

I'm looking for some advice on how quickly my solicitors should be producing documents, as I'm struggling to get any answers from them. This is the background: 

• Offer accepted at £155,000
• Mortgage valuation completed and price renegotiated to £152,000
• Mortgage offer received (searches completed around the same time) 
• As of 13th January 2022, mortgage offer has been received and searches are done
• Signed my solicitors form regarding mortgage terms and sent this back - this was received

Emailed my solicitor asking for an update on things and received no response - this was 25th January. Receive no response and instead contacted them by phone, I then got through the secretary who said our solicitor is collating the Report on Title. This was 28th January and I am still waiting to receive this. Called two days ago and was told someone would call me back, since then I have called and sent emails and received no response. Can anyone give advice on how long a Report on Title would usually take as it has now been almost 2 weeks with no communication? Having read different articles online and different solicitor's timescales I've noticed usually the final stages from searches being completed and exchange and completion would usually be between 1-4 weeks. I am getting into Week 6 of this and I am now being pressured by the estate agent as the vendor is pushing for this sale to be completed asap. Any advice on how to push my solicitor and when I could expect to exchange and complete once I do receive this Report on Title? 

gwynlas

These things rarely take less than three months so providing there are no problems count thirteen weeks from offer acceptance.
Are you looking at exchanging and completing on same day?

kplt0

gwynlas said:

These things rarely take less than three months so providing there are no problems count thirteen weeks from offer acceptance.
Are you looking at exchanging and completing on same day?

We have been on this well over 13 weeks now, we put the offer in at the end of August, and was accepted in early September after some back and forth. The valuation then brought back high damp readings and we had to have a damp and timber survey carried out. Once this was back we had to submit this to Nationwide who took some time to review it and, meanwhile our solicitor agreed to carry out the searches and those came back after 8 weeks, received the report, fixtures, and fittings, etc and Nationwide came back to value the property at £153,000, we asked for £3k knocked off the price and the vendor agreed to £152,000 so informed Nationwide of this and mortgage offer was issued. So as we stand now, the searches are done with no issues, mortgage offer in place, now I am waiting for the solicitor to get back to me with the Report on Title which has now been almost two weeks and I am having decreased communication with them. I was wondering how long a Report on Title normally takes to compile and from there realistically how long would it be until completion.

The vendor has been pushing via the estate agent for a no later than mid-February completion which after the 13th Jan mortgage offer our solicitor has said would be possible however we are now just waiting around for the solicitors to get the documentation done and they refuse to look at completion dates until the Report on Title is issued (fair enough I suppose I get that). If we could exchange and complete on the same day that would be excellent but my solicitor just won't get back to me on my inquiries. The property is currently owned by a house builder and was taken as part-exchange from previous owners, so the property has vacant possession. 

Flugelhorn

Vendors can be very good at pushing - I had one do this, only problem was they hadn't done anything about their onward purchase - all a bit one sided - anyway all water under the bridge and 15 years ago

I note that it is a developer - they will be keen to chase as time = money to them, but that is all it is and they will just have to wait - no-one else is going to get there quicker

Don't get too stressed about it, it will take what it takes and you haven't got that much control over it - the EA can do some chasing of they want 

Tiglet2

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

kplt0

Tiglet2 said:

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

I have no qualms with the fact it couldn't have been before January 13th as there were a lot of issues over the current damp levels in the property. That being said, they told me that they could absolutely have the purchase complete by mid-February, as in next Friday, and I am not hearing anything from them. Similarly, it would bother me less if they actually were providing updates but they cannot give an estimated date for it being completed - they have had the draft contract papers since 1 week after the offer so as far as that goes, they have had this since September. 

kplt0

Flugelhorn said:

Vendors can be very good at pushing - I had one do this, only problem was they hadn't done anything about their onward purchase - all a bit one sided - anyway all water under the bridge and 15 years ago

I note that it is a developer - they will be keen to chase as time = money to them, but that is all it is and they will just have to wait - no-one else is going to get there quicker

Don't get too stressed about it, it will take what it takes and you haven't got that much control over it - the EA can do some chasing of they want 

Thanks for the advice, I will try to see if the estate agent's sales progression can get any contact with my solicitor. The lack of communication is what bothers me most! We are first time buyers so have no experience in this and have had very little contact with the solicitor despite pushing for communication on what has been going on. As well as this, the estate agent is pushing us but we can't give any answers to pass on to the vendor because we arent getting them from our solicitor. 

Tiglet2

kplt0 said:

Tiglet2 said:

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

I have no qualms with the fact it couldn't have been before January 13th as there were a lot of issues over the current damp levels in the property. That being said, they told me that they could absolutely have the purchase complete by mid-February, as in next Friday, and I am not hearing anything from them. Similarly, it would bother me less if they actually were providing updates but they cannot give an estimated date for it being completed - they have had the draft contract papers since 1 week after the offer so as far as that goes, they have had this since September. 

Solicitors will NOT guarantee completion by a certain time, so although they may have thought mid-February was doable as an initial target, it appears that their work is not yet complete otherwise they would be in touch with you.  Is it possible there are still enquiries outstanding? 

kplt0

Tiglet2 said:

kplt0 said:

Tiglet2 said:

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

I have no qualms with the fact it couldn't have been before January 13th as there were a lot of issues over the current damp levels in the property. That being said, they told me that they could absolutely have the purchase complete by mid-February, as in next Friday, and I am not hearing anything from them. Similarly, it would bother me less if they actually were providing updates but they cannot give an estimated date for it being completed - they have had the draft contract papers since 1 week after the offer so as far as that goes, they have had this since September. 

Solicitors will NOT guarantee completion by a certain time, so although they may have thought mid-February was doable as an initial target, it appears that their work is not yet complete otherwise they would be in touch with you.  Is it possible there are still enquiries outstanding? 

They may NOT be able to guarantee completion by a certain time however after speaking to numerous different people and solicitors, I have since discovered I should have been given a completion date by now. Whilst they may not be able to guarantee it, I am first time buyer, they should not have told me they could guarantee it so you don't need to reply to me with useless comments about how I am somehow at fault for believing what I have been told by a legal professional. 

Clearly, their work is complete as I followed the advice of Flugelhorn and contacted the sales progression team at our estate agent who also confirmed this is the longest they have had to wait from mortgage offer, search completion to receive any word from a solicitor (given it had at this point been 4-5 weeks). Miraculously after I contacted the SP team, the solicitor got back to me within less than 3 minutes saying he had completed the Report on Title days ago and sent it out immediately after he completed it (not true as the postage was stamped with that date), I received it the next day. It has now been sent back signed and received on Friday. Still nothing on a completion date. It's my and the SP team at the estate agent's understanding that they should have included a completion date in the contractual documents that have been signed. However, this has not happened so now I fully believe I have been taken for a bit of a ride by the solicitor. 

Slithery

kplt0 said:

Tiglet2 said:

kplt0 said:

Tiglet2 said:

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

I have no qualms with the fact it couldn't have been before January 13th as there were a lot of issues over the current damp levels in the property. That being said, they told me that they could absolutely have the purchase complete by mid-February, as in next Friday, and I am not hearing anything from them. Similarly, it would bother me less if they actually were providing updates but they cannot give an estimated date for it being completed - they have had the draft contract papers since 1 week after the offer so as far as that goes, they have had this since September. 

Solicitors will NOT guarantee completion by a certain time, so although they may have thought mid-February was doable as an initial target, it appears that their work is not yet complete otherwise they would be in touch with you.  Is it possible there are still enquiries outstanding? 

They may NOT be able to guarantee completion by a certain time however after speaking to numerous different people and solicitors, I have since discovered I should have been given a completion date by now.

Not true in the slightest. Solicitors will only start discussing completion when everyone is ready to exchange, and it doesn't sound like you are anywhere near that seeing as how you've only just seen the title report. What about all of the solicitors enquiries? That's usually the longest part of the process.

@Tiglet2's comment was 100% correct.

Also, what would be the motivation for the solicitor deliberately dragging things out longer than necessary? The quicker you complete the less work they have to do and the sooner they get their money.

GDB2222

Tiglet2 said:

The report on title is done when all (or most) enquiries are satisfactorily answered and your solicitor has all the paperwork on the property.  The report comprises of a lot of documents for you to read, together with official documents for your signature and return.  The report takes some time to do, as the solicitor has to review the file and collate all the paperwork to send to you.  Be patient.  It is in hand but it's not a quick turnaround as it is work intensive and there may be other files that have a greater priority than yours.

No dates can be discussed until the paperwork you have to sign is returned to them.  If you have a deposit to pay, the solicitor will let you know when they need this.

As an aside, you cannot count weeks when the offer is accepted.  As far as the solicitor is concerned, their work didn't start until they received draft contract papers from the seller's solicitor so any complaints about how long it has taken, will only be considered by the date of receipt of draft contract papers.  In any case, with the mortgage offer not being received until 13th January, exchange and completion could not take place before that date.

On a practical basis, is there anything useful that the OP can do to speed things up?  Obviously, responding quickly to any queries is a good thing.