Vendor's solicitors still not sent draft contract 6 weeks later

Giggidy

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago. Ever since he has been contacting the vendors' solicitor about draft contracts but has had zero response. The EA has been chasing this as well, and the vendors are aware of this issue with the solicitor now holding everyone up. We have a buyer who also has a mortgage offer since May, so really we need to crack on with searches and so on. I have asked the EA to ask the vendor if they can change solicitors as at this point they have proven to be unreliable and can't have incurred much or any costs as yet. 

I googled the solicitors and they don't have great reviews, in fact many of them are saying communication was seriously lacking. I also noticed that the solicitor dealing with the vendor's conveyancing has a 'Control of Practise' record on the SRA website dated 29th June 2022, which states they can practise as a solicitor but may not 'hold, receive, or have access to client money, or act as a signatory to any client office account, or have the power to authorise electronic transfers from a client or office account'. This may just be a standard thing, but to me not having the power to authorise or handle client money in conveyancing seems odd. Is this something to be concerned about, and pass on to the vendor?

london21

If the seller can change their solocitir,  you might just have to wait or find an alternative property.

Some conveyancing companies are very efficient others can be terrible and slow. 

user1977

Giggidy said:

the solicitor dealing with the vendor's conveyancing has a 'Control of Practise' record on the SRA website dated 29th June 2022, which states they can practise as a solicitor but may not 'hold, receive, or have access to client money, or act as a signatory to any client office account, or have the power to authorise electronic transfers from a client or office account'. This may just be a standard thing, but to me not having the power to authorise or handle client money in conveyancing seems odd. Is this something to be concerned about, and pass on to the vendor?

No, it just means they can't act as a principal - if they're merely an employee of the firm it doesn't matter, because other people are in charge of the client account.

TBG01

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago

So really you've only been waiting for it for two weeks.

housebuyer143

Some solicitors are terrible! On the flip side I have been waiting 3 weeks for the buyers solicitor to review the contract pack so they can order the searches.. literally not even looked at it 🙄

TBG01

housebuyer143 said:

Some solicitors are terrible! On the flip side I have been waiting 3 weeks for the buyers solicitor to review the contract pack so they can order the searches.. literally not even looked at it 🙄

A client has this morning told us not to order any searches and to hold of doing anymore work as they're having issues with their mortgage offer. They don't want that information relayed to the other side. Who's causing the delay there? 

It's easy to blame Solicitors for causing delay without realising/appreciating just how much delays are caused by clients either not providing documents or instructing to slow down on things whilst telling the other party everything is fine. 

Giggidy

TBG01 said:

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago

So really you've only been waiting for it for two weeks.

That's correct, but they had 6 weeks to get this ready. The vendors instructed their solicitor straight away because they are keen to move on as quickly as possible.

It may be the vendors who are delaying things for whatever reason, however their solicitor had not up to this point responded to any of the emails our solicitor has sent in readiness, which in itself is concerning

eddddy

Giggidy said:

TBG01 said:

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago

So really you've only been waiting for it for two weeks.

That's correct, but they had 6 weeks to get this ready. The vendors instructed their solicitor straight away because they are keen to move on as quickly as possible.

It may be the vendors who are delaying things for whatever reason, however their solicitor had not up to this point responded to any of the emails our solicitor has sent in readiness, which in itself is concerning

Are you sure the vendors have instructed their solicitors to proceed?

Are the vendors living in the property? If so, have they found a place to move to? Is there a chain above them? Is the chain complete?

Some people tell their solicitors not to proceed until the chain is complete.

 

Giggidy

eddddy said:

Giggidy said:

TBG01 said:

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago

So really you've only been waiting for it for two weeks.

That's correct, but they had 6 weeks to get this ready. The vendors instructed their solicitor straight away because they are keen to move on as quickly as possible.

It may be the vendors who are delaying things for whatever reason, however their solicitor had not up to this point responded to any of the emails our solicitor has sent in readiness, which in itself is concerning

Are you sure the vendors have instructed their solicitors to proceed?

Are the vendors living in the property? If so, have they found a place to move to? Is there a chain above them? Is the chain complete?

Some people tell their solicitors not to proceed until the chain is complete.

 

The vendors are separating, not on very good terms either. Both are end of chain, and one partner in particular as per the EA has been keen from the outset to get things sorted asap, even asking if we could wrap this up in 4 weeks. Ha! So yes I would be very surprised if they instructed their solicitors not to.

GDB2222

Giggidy said:

eddddy said:

Giggidy said:

TBG01 said:

We just had our mortgage offer through after nearly 6 weeks, and instructed our solicitor to start the legal work about 2 weeks ago

So really you've only been waiting for it for two weeks.

That's correct, but they had 6 weeks to get this ready. The vendors instructed their solicitor straight away because they are keen to move on as quickly as possible.

It may be the vendors who are delaying things for whatever reason, however their solicitor had not up to this point responded to any of the emails our solicitor has sent in readiness, which in itself is concerning

Are you sure the vendors have instructed their solicitors to proceed?

Are the vendors living in the property? If so, have they found a place to move to? Is there a chain above them? Is the chain complete?

Some people tell their solicitors not to proceed until the chain is complete.

 

The vendors are separating, not on very good terms either. Both are end of chain, and one partner in particular as per the EA has been keen from the outset to get things sorted asap, even asking if we could wrap this up in 4 weeks. Ha! So yes I would be very surprised if they instructed their solicitors not to.

You are getting yourself involved in the breakdown of this marriage/partnership, and you ask why this transaction isn't proceeding smoothly. It sounds like one partner is keen to proceed ASAP, so the other may well be deliberately holding things up. 

You may be better looking for another property to buy. Seriously.

eddddy

Giggidy said:

The vendors are separating, not on very good terms either. Both are end of chain, and one partner in particular as per the EA has been keen from the outset to get things sorted asap, even asking if we could wrap this up in 4 weeks. Ha! So yes I would be very surprised if they instructed their solicitors not to.

As above, these types of purchases often don't go well.

So the EA says one partner is keen to get things sorted asap - that sounds a bit worrying. Why aren't both partners keen?

And if this is the top of the chain, where are they both going to live after the sale? With parents, renting? Are you sure that both partners are keen to do that?