Solicitor has gone AWOL

[Deleted User]

I am in the process of buying. I instructed my solicitor in early February. It seemed to go pretty much smoothly to start with. However the last proper communication I had with them is now nearly a month ago. I have emailed and called but they never get back to me. The seller's solicitor has also failed to make contact with them. The issue started when a few problems popped up with the search results. They require more investigation but it just seems have have got stuck.

I am considering changing to another solicitor, in terms of what stage we are at, the solicitor has raised the searches and I have the results of most of these. They may have done other things which I am not aware of. But they have not raised enquiries. I am just not sure what else I can do. Has anyone ever changed at this stage? They may well be waiting for something, but then why not just tell me, I have requested a update but no response.

babyblade41

If it's a bricks and mortar solicitor is their someone more senior/complaints procedure you can go through ?

What does the EA say about it ,as a good agent will keep the communications up & down those involved together 

[Deleted User]

babyblade41 said:

If it's a bricks and mortar solicitor is their someone more senior/complaints procedure you can go through ?

What does the EA say about it ,as a good agent will keep the communications up & down those involved together 

They are a bigger company.

The agent advised they cannot get hold of them and could I try.

babyblade41

So you are using a large conveyancing company , the EA won't contact your buyer direct or has tried with no response ? 

I

[Deleted User]

babyblade41 said:

So you are using a large conveyancing company , the EA won't contact your buyer direct or has tried with no response ? 

I

I am the buyer. The EA has attempted to contact my solicitor and without any success.

babyblade41

Not sure what to do then apart from instruct another solicitor, one you can go to their office if need be 

[Deleted User]

I am going to the office of the current one next week and if this fails I will tell them (or more likely their reception because I doubt they will see me) that I will be going elsewhere and to send me the bill for their half done job. Then of course maybe they will say to pay the whole cost.

Tiglet2

If you instructed in early February and it's now the third week of march, then about 7 weeks in?

It seems like they have opened the file, sorted out initial paperwork and payment for searches.  They've ordered the searches, of which most are back.  A lot of the larger conveyancing firms will wait for all of the searches to be returned before raising enquiries as they prefer to raise them as a whole, rather than piece meal.

If there are a few problems with the searches, it may be that there are going to be additional enquiries raised.

It does seem like they should have updated you if the last communication was nearly a month ago, but it doesn't sound like they have sat doing nothing.  The bigger conveyancing firms won't usually update you if there is nothing significant to update you with, as this delays their work.  I imagine they are still waiting for paperwork before the enquiry stage.  The enquiry stage does take time, sometimes various third parties need to be contacted for responses so patience is needed at this point.
 

babyblade41

Partially agree with @Tiglet2, but they should have explained what has happened especially if there is a problem .

Non communication is at best very rude and worst incompetence , hopefully it is something in the middle.

I get updates once a week for a catch up and when something has happened , it's the least I expect 

[Deleted User]

Tiglet2 said:

If you instructed in early February and it's now the third week of march, then about 7 weeks in?

It seems like they have opened the file, sorted out initial paperwork and payment for searches.  They've ordered the searches, of which most are back.  A lot of the larger conveyancing firms will wait for all of the searches to be returned before raising enquiries as they prefer to raise them as a whole, rather than piece meal.

If there are a few problems with the searches, it may be that there are going to be additional enquiries raised.

It does seem like they should have updated you if the last communication was nearly a month ago, but it doesn't sound like they have sat doing nothing.  The bigger conveyancing firms won't usually update you if there is nothing significant to update you with, as this delays their work.  I imagine they are still waiting for paperwork before the enquiry stage.  The enquiry stage does take time, sometimes various third parties need to be contacted for responses so patience is needed at this point.
 

I hope this is the case, and that they have just not updated me but things are actually happening. I have no wish to rush them I am just started to be chased myself so I need an update to give the seller. I have plenty of patience but please let me know what is actually happening! The EA is telling me its not normal but I have told them about the search issues and they had to look into it more which is why there is a delay. Hopefully I will get an update next week.

Tiglet2

[Deleted User] said:

Tiglet2 said:

If you instructed in early February and it's now the third week of march, then about 7 weeks in?

It seems like they have opened the file, sorted out initial paperwork and payment for searches.  They've ordered the searches, of which most are back.  A lot of the larger conveyancing firms will wait for all of the searches to be returned before raising enquiries as they prefer to raise them as a whole, rather than piece meal.

If there are a few problems with the searches, it may be that there are going to be additional enquiries raised.

It does seem like they should have updated you if the last communication was nearly a month ago, but it doesn't sound like they have sat doing nothing.  The bigger conveyancing firms won't usually update you if there is nothing significant to update you with, as this delays their work.  I imagine they are still waiting for paperwork before the enquiry stage.  The enquiry stage does take time, sometimes various third parties need to be contacted for responses so patience is needed at this point.
 

I hope this is the case, and that they have just not updated me but things are actually happening. I have no wish to rush them I am just started to be chased myself so I need an update to give the seller. I have plenty of patience but please let me know what is actually happening! The EA is telling me its not normal but I have told them about the search issues and they had to look into it more which is why there is a delay. Hopefully I will get an update next week.

Absolutely agree that they should have updated you.  However, the big online conveyancing firms usually take on far too much work and offer fixed fees, so there is very little capacity for providing clients with updates on a regular basis.

Solicitors do the work according to priority.  This does not mean there are delays, but once they have sent an email/letter asking for something, they move on to the next file.  They will chase from time to time, but time is costly, so they work on files that need work on it, rather than continually chase a third party to provide a response quickly.

The EA tends to do the chasing, but they are not copied into correspondence and the legal work being done, so what's normal and what is not normal, is not really for them to say because no two transactions are alike.