Urgent Advice Please

cathy57

Hello, can someone help please ? We are in the process of buying a flat. The exchange took place on Monday. We are completing on Friday.
I asked my solicitor what would be the remaining balance to be paid and he said he would send me the completion invoice to enable me to make the transfer asap. It’s Thursday morning and I still haven’t received the invoice. I called them numerous times yesterday, but he or his secretary were never available, and haven’t yet replied to my email. I will try again to call them at opening time and if unsuccessful  I think I should go to my bank this morning to organise a chaps payment which hopefully should guarantee the money will be on their account by Friday. I have roughly calculated what should cover the sale, stamp duty and hopefully solicitor’s fees. 

Am I doing the right thing ? Any advice welcome. Thank you.
  

cymruchris

I wouldn't be sending random amounts of money over, I would continue to chase and speak to someone. 

If completion is this Friday - you can still send money by CHAPS up to 3pm on any given day for it to arrive the same business day. So I imagine that as long as you know before 3pm today - you can arrange the exact amount to be there by the end of play.

Jonboy_1984

Not to worry you, but just be aware that your bank may do another check with you after you arrange it, and keep an eye on any communication methods you use with your bank afterwards.

For Barclays earlier this year we arranged one in branch and they then sent a text message along the lines of “is this payment genuine please reply yes or no”. Which would be fine but they sent it from a text short code that our mobile network wouldn’t let us reply too. We sorted it via telephone banking but the frontline team didn’t know anything about these messages and had to do some digging.  
Because we were not expecting it we didn’t see it for several hours and missed that day (luckily it wasn’t time critical for us).

lika_86

cymruchris said:

I wouldn't be sending random amounts of money over, I would continue to chase and speak to someone. 

If completion is this Friday - you can still send money by CHAPS up to 3pm on any given day for it to arrive the same business day. So I imagine that as long as you know before 3pm today - you can arrange the exact amount to be there by the end of play.

Agreed, but if it becomes necessary to send the money having still not got hold of them I would send the balance for completion (purchase price minus deposit already sent). Everything else is less time critical. 

cathy57

Thank you for your advice. I will try getting hold of them until lunchtime. I know it’s not ideal to send random money, but what else can I do if they fail to answer my calls or reply to my emails ? I have very little time as I  am on a very tight schedule with work commitments and this morning is really the only day I can sort the payment out. 

MovingForwards

Go through to reception, explain the situation and ask to be put through to someone who can email you the statement.

UnderOffer

Did you definitely exchange? Did they call asking for permission to exchange, then call you back later to confirm this had happened and reaffirmed the completion date? 

silvercar

I wouldn’t send money without the invoice, if they haven’t managed to send you paperwork this week how can you rely on them to complete the deal on the day. I think you need to hound their office either on phone or in person.

saajan_12

TBH no real harm with sending an (over)estimated amount needed for the actual completion and SDLT so that the solicitor can actually complete the purchase on time. Just make sure the reference clearly states you name / any reference number you have from the solicitor. You should already have their bank details from paying the deposit or initial money for searches on account. 

Then once you get the completion statement, that'll tell you the total owed for conveyancing, SDLT, other fees etc less payments made. 

Otherwise if any issues with making the transfer later, and if completion is delayed, then it'll be a fight with the solicitor as to who's at fault.. not worth it. 

cathy57

UnderOffer said:

Did you definitely exchange? Did they call asking for permission to exchange, then call you back later to confirm this had happened and reaffirmed the completion date? 

Yes, we did definitely exchanged. I got the call and they they then confirmed it in writing.

cathy57

I have just spoken to his secretary who said he is waiting for a statement from the seller and said he will call me in the morning. I am totally confused now, why would he need a statement from the seller ?