Supposed to complete tomorrow but solicitors messing about

RNM_92

So as I’ve explained before, my fiancé and I have had a stressful and drawn out experience with buying our first house, which has now taken 6 months and still no completion yet. His mother sadly passed away last year and he’s using his inheritance to buy our house, with his brother buying him out of the flat they inherited. The house we’re buying is chain free, and yet this whole thing has dragged out for this long, mainly because his brother isn’t used to being an adult having lived at home all his life and never lifting a finger, only getting his first full time job over the age of 30. He only instructed his solicitor a month after all the searches and enquiries were completed on our house! Also his solicitors, despite being a well respected and long standing local firm, have been stalling the process through not communicating (not bothering to tell anyone if there’s a problem or if they need them to do something), not being proactive, being overly paranoid and fussy about things and just messing about. Our solicitor has been great by contrast and had no problems at all with sellers solicitors.

I thought we’d finally got somewhere when we agreed on a completion date of tomorrow for the flat (our sellers want to complete later in the month so that will be happening separately) and an exchange of contracts on Monday this week, however Monday came and we heard nothing, and apparently the brother’s solicitor won’t do it until his lender (Nationwide) confirms they are happy to release funds for Friday. It’s now Thursday and they still haven’t done anything. My fiancé asked his brother if he’d heard anything from Nationwide and apparently he has, they’ve told him they’re releasing the funds. So what on earth is going on with his solicitor with this? It’s now the day before, contracts still not exchanged, and they haven’t bothered to communicate with our solicitor, who has no idea what’s happening. They’re also asking questions about the flat that our solicitor says aren’t necessary and should have been asked ages ago. Oh and his solicitor isn’t even working today apparently despite the completion being tomorrow, with nobody else really seeming to be dealing with it (none of them seem to work full time as the previous solicitor working on his case didn’t work Wednesdays)! So I’ve no idea what’s happening, contracts still not exchanged and no idea whether completion will happen tomorrow or when it will. I’m actually starting to get really angry at this point after all the faffing about they’ve been doing and after 6 months with still no exchange. I’ve had enough and I’m this close to ringing the brother’s solicitor and having it out with them. What on earth do we do? How on earth can a supposedly well established and respected law firm (who my fiancé’s father swears by) be this useless?

UnderOffer

Are you sure the brother is telling you the truth? If he’s always been helped with life decisions he may not be answering his own solicitors questions and when you chase he just puts the blame on those same solicitors? 

RNM_92

UnderOffer said:

Are you sure the brother is telling you the truth? If he’s always been helped with life decisions he may not be answering his own solicitors questions and when you chase he just puts the blame on those same solicitors? 

No idea tbh. His solicitors will tell people if he’s not done something (but only if they get asked first) so I would’ve thought they’d have said when our solicitor asked them what’s going on. The brother does seem to be getting better at doing stuff as he has done what my fiancé’s asked so far. I wouldn’t put it past him to still not do stuff and not say anything though. So really no idea what’s going on at the moment. The very least I’d expect though is for his solicitor to at least tell our solicitor what is happening, especially this close to the completion date.

propertyrental

Far better to stick to one thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6430771/how-long-for-mortgage-lender-to-agree-to-release-funds#latest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6415272/do-we-have-enough-time-to-complete#latest

Tiglet2

OP, you are laying a lot of the blame on the solicitor.  Sounds to me like the brother hasn't been forthcoming with replies to enquiries and that has caused delay after delay.  Both solicitors need to be ready with all their work completed before they can exchange and set the completion date.   It sounds like a completion date was agreed between the parties (who agreed it?), but if the work isn't yet complete, then the date is not possible and will change.  Exchanging contracts sets the date in stone.  You haven't exchanged so the completion date isn't yet agreed.  

eddddy

It all sounds very frustrating.

But it also sounds like you are assuming that things 'the brother' tells you are correct - even though 'the brother' sounds like a very unreliable person.

Obviously, I don't know 'the brother', but some people might say things like "Nationwide said they’re releasing the funds" just to get you of their back.

Similarly, it's a very common tactic for a buyer to say "it's not my fault, it's my solicitor's fault" - because you can't check that with their solicitor.

Perhaps the best option is to keep checking with 'the brother' and gently pushing 'the brother' forward. You can judge whether to do it in a friendly, good humoured way - or a more robust way. But if you're too robust, you might lose goodwill and make matters worse.

RNM_92 said:

No idea tbh. His solicitors will tell people if he’s not done something (but only if they get asked first) so I would’ve thought they’d have said when our solicitor asked them what’s going on. 

Not really. Most Solicitors wouldn't divulge negative things about their client. They won't want to upset the people who pay their wages.

housebuyer143

RNM_92 said:

So as I’ve explained before, my fiancé and I have had a stressful and drawn out experience with buying our first house, which has now taken 6 months and still no completion yet. His mother sadly passed away last year and he’s using his inheritance to buy our house, with his brother buying him out of the flat they inherited. The house we’re buying is chain free, and yet this whole thing has dragged out for this long, mainly because his brother isn’t used to being an adult having lived at home all his life and never lifting a finger, only getting his first full time job over the age of 30. He only instructed his solicitor a month after all the searches and enquiries were completed on our house! Also his solicitors, despite being a well respected and long standing local firm, have been stalling the process through not communicating (not bothering to tell anyone if there’s a problem or if they need them to do something), not being proactive, being overly paranoid and fussy about things and just messing about. Our solicitor has been great by contrast and had no problems at all with sellers solicitors.

I thought we’d finally got somewhere when we agreed on a completion date of tomorrow for the flat (our sellers want to complete later in the month so that will be happening separately) and an exchange of contracts on Monday this week, however Monday came and we heard nothing, and apparently the brother’s solicitor won’t do it until his lender (Nationwide) confirms they are happy to release funds for Friday. It’s now Thursday and they still haven’t done anything. My fiancé asked his brother if he’d heard anything from Nationwide and apparently he has, they’ve told him they’re releasing the funds. So what on earth is going on with his solicitor with this? It’s now the day before, contracts still not exchanged, and they haven’t bothered to communicate with our solicitor, who has no idea what’s happening. They’re also asking questions about the flat that our solicitor says aren’t necessary and should have been asked ages ago. Oh and his solicitor isn’t even working today apparently despite the completion being tomorrow, with nobody else really seeming to be dealing with it (none of them seem to work full time as the previous solicitor working on his case didn’t work Wednesdays)! So I’ve no idea what’s happening, contracts still not exchanged and no idea whether completion will happen tomorrow or when it will. I’m actually starting to get really angry at this point after all the faffing about they’ve been doing and after 6 months with still no exchange. I’ve had enough and I’m this close to ringing the brother’s solicitor and having it out with them. What on earth do we do? How on earth can a supposedly well established and respected law firm (who my fiancé’s father swears by) be this useless?

Same thing happened on my sale. We wanted to exchange an advance and the solicitor will not do that until they had the monies from the lender in their account. We ended up exchanging and completing the same day... Chances are if they're aiming for completion today and the money is on its way, completion will happen today.

RNM_92

So it did happen thank god, but dragging it out until the proposed completion day did not do my stress levels any good! Also the contracts still didn’t get exchanged on the house which is really frustrating. Apparently the sellers didn’t respond to their solicitor when they asked about exchanging. They said they would try and exchange again on Monday, but it’s now Monday afternoon and we’ve still heard nothing. I hope to god this doesn’t also get dragged out for ages, because I can’t take much more of this. I really hope there’s not a problem and that’s why the sellers haven’t responded, after all they responded fairly quickly when asked about a completion date. We really want to get this house secured because we can’t make any plans or book anything until exchange happens and our new landlord is already pushing us to give notice on the flat. Is it normal for exchange to be this much of a hassle?

Tiglet2

RNM_92 said:

So it did happen thank god, but dragging it out until the proposed completion day did not do my stress levels any good! Also the contracts still didn’t get exchanged on the house which is really frustrating. Apparently the sellers didn’t respond to their solicitor when they asked about exchanging. They said they would try and exchange again on Monday, but it’s now Monday afternoon and we’ve still heard nothing. I hope to god this doesn’t also get dragged out for ages, because I can’t take much more of this. I really hope there’s not a problem and that’s why the sellers haven’t responded, after all they responded fairly quickly when asked about a completion date. We really want to get this house secured because we can’t make any plans or book anything until exchange happens and our new landlord is already pushing us to give notice on the flat. Is it normal for exchange to be this much of a hassle?

I'm sorry I don't understand what happened.  I thought you meant you had completed, but further on reading, I'm not so sure, apologies.

The solicitors need to have either written or verbal agreement from all parties (i.e. you and the brother/seller) that you/sellers give authority to exchange, on the day of exchange.  Without that authority, the solicitor cannot go ahead and exchange, so it is important that the sellers and the buyers are contactable and responsive on the day.

RNM_92

Tiglet2 said:

RNM_92 said:

So it did happen thank god, but dragging it out until the proposed completion day did not do my stress levels any good! Also the contracts still didn’t get exchanged on the house which is really frustrating. Apparently the sellers didn’t respond to their solicitor when they asked about exchanging. They said they would try and exchange again on Monday, but it’s now Monday afternoon and we’ve still heard nothing. I hope to god this doesn’t also get dragged out for ages, because I can’t take much more of this. I really hope there’s not a problem and that’s why the sellers haven’t responded, after all they responded fairly quickly when asked about a completion date. We really want to get this house secured because we can’t make any plans or book anything until exchange happens and our new landlord is already pushing us to give notice on the flat. Is it normal for exchange to be this much of a hassle?

I'm sorry I don't understand what happened.  I thought you meant you had completed, but further on reading, I'm not so sure, apologies.

The solicitors need to have either written or verbal agreement from all parties (i.e. you and the brother/seller) that you/sellers give authority to exchange, on the day of exchange.  Without that authority, the solicitor cannot go ahead and exchange, so it is important that the sellers and the buyers are contactable and responsive on the day.

Apologies, our sellers wanted a later completion date to enable enough time to move out, whereas my fiancé was just selling his half of their late mothers flat to his brother (which makes up most of our deposit), so he could complete on that immediately/separately regardless of what was happening with the house we’re buying. Therefore it was just the flat that completed on Friday and we’re still waiting to exchange on the house.

That’s what’s worrying me, surely they were told we were going to be exchanging so they should have been contactable. It’s now Monday afternoon and we’ve still heard nothing. I just tried phoning our solicitor but she’s currently busy with a client, so no idea what’s happening. I assume the fact I’ve heard nothing means the sellers still haven’t responded to their solicitor.

EssexHebridean

It's rare that a client is ever told that exchange is "definitely" going to happen - even right up to the final call to confirm instructions pre exchange generally it is left as "We're hoping that we will be able to exchange this morning/afternoon/later today - can you confirm you are happy with everything and still want to go ahead".

As a slight aside - a good way of chasing solicitors on the other side is often to use the estate agents for this - they have a vested interest in helping to move things forward and ultimately whoever is selling the property they are marketing is paying them a lot more than either side's solicitors are getting, as a rule!