Enquiries stage taking over 8 weeks?

Moonflower1978

Buying a shared ownership house from housing association. 
Not a new build or resale,  it is a rent to buy property being sold as a shared ownership for first time.
Vacant possession
No chain
We are currently in private rental.

Timeline:

Viewed property 28/11/21
Memorandum of sale 8/12/21
Instructed solicitor  12/12/21
Homebuyers survey 29/12_21
Mortgage offer received 31/12/21
Draft contract pack from HA received 20/1/22 ( after me chasing it up)
Searches back 8/2/22 nothing of concern

Solicitor is still waiting for satisfactory replies to enquiries and this has been the case since 23rd February,  feel we are stuck and not progressing at all.
She originally said we would be looking to exchange of February,  but this never materialised. I understand property buying does have delays along the way ( I have bought property before) but I feel so frustrated. 
Our solicitor back in February said she would send the report and contracts in post asap to sign and then would arrange for deposit etc to be transferred ready to exchange. We really felt things were starting to happen,  I even gave her a provisional date of 25th March to exchange by to tie in  with our rental date to avoid a huge payment overlap. She said she would put this date on file to work towards this date. 25th March came and went. Still no report or contract packs sent. Kept chasing and after 3 emails ignored over a space of 2 weeks, she eventually replied and said the pack  would be sent the following week. We waited all week, it never arrived. So the week after I rang and she said it would be sent out the next day. Still didn't arrive. Waited a week. Chased again, she said must be delayed in post amd emailed me the pack. The original pack eventually arrived in post, took a week and a half first class. 
We signed it all asap and sent it back by special delivery Monday.
Yesterday I asked what we are still waiting on to exchange and she just replied she still awaits replies to enquiries and will give a completion date once she gets replies. This is the same response as in February. I appreciate the sellers solicitors are slow to respond but just feel completely stuck at the minute. I've asked her to try and communicate that we want to exchange asap but nothing seems to be happening. Mortgage expires in June. Am I expecting too much or is my solicitor not being efficient?

diystarter7

Ask your solicitor to contact them again and/or contact the seller's one yourself and the HA.  You may find that both sides are a bit lazy and for example, the HA's solicitor may be waiting for something from your solicitor. Alternatively a quick chat with the HA dept you may find someone helpful and as you are on the phone they deal with whatever is required.

Sadly, it may be a case of "WFH, covid taking longer than usual" rubbish.

Emphasise your plight about the June date re mortgage and possibly have a word with them as well and see if they have options to extend by a few weeks if your circumstances have not changed/etc.

From what you have said I think you have ended up with a crap outfit and as it is easter, many of these people will be on a sunny holiday.

Tiglet2

I'm sure the seller's solicitors are aware that they still need to reply to enquiries and I'm sure your solicitor is aware that you'd like to exchange ASAP, but your solicitor is acting in your best interests.  Although you want to exchange very soon, I'm sure you'd prefer that your solicitor didn't exchange without those outstanding replies - for example, the replies might be pretty important or the replies might not be very important.  It would make sense to ask your solicitor what the outstanding enquiries are and how important they are for your purchase of a good and marketable title.

None of the above suggests that your solicitor is being inefficient.  If anything, the seller, their solicitor and the housing association (who are usually the party for slow responses) need to do their bit to progress the transaction, as there can be no exchange until your solicitor is satisfied with the responses.