Solicitors slow to respond

herewego123

Afternoon all

Forgive the nature of this post bit I feel I need to rant a bit 

House found
Offer Accepted 
Mortgage in principle - Done
Mortgage Full application - Completed and approved
Solicitors - Instructed 
Solicitors - All Welcome info completed 
Solicitors - Sent out draft contract pack (waiting to send this back)
Solicitors - Completed Armalytix and provided Source of funds proof on Monday

Since then its all gone quite quiet - I am not the most patient of people, but when I email to check whether the stuff I'm returning is correct I'm literally getting radio silence!

Would you say I'm panicking for no reason and to "Chill" and let them do their job or should I be pushing them more?

no exchange or completion date set up yet as I think they may be waiting on search results to come back but I am just annoyingly impatient and consider transparent communication in its highest regard!

Thanks

taylor86

Is this Monday just gone? If so then definitely be patient! 

Our estate agent suggests even the most straightforward sales or purchases are taking around 12 weeks at the moment. 

Tiglet2

herewego123 said:

Afternoon all

Forgive the nature of this post bit I feel I need to rant a bit 

House found
Offer Accepted 
Mortgage in principle - Done
Mortgage Full application - Completed and approved
Solicitors - Instructed 
Solicitors - All Welcome info completed 
Solicitors - Sent out draft contract pack (waiting to send this back)
Solicitors - Completed Armalytix and provided Source of funds proof on Monday

Since then its all gone quite quiet - I am not the most patient of people, but when I email to check whether the stuff I'm returning is correct I'm literally getting radio silence!

Would you say I'm panicking for no reason and to "Chill" and let them do their job or should I be pushing them more?

no exchange or completion date set up yet as I think they may be waiting on search results to come back but I am just annoyingly impatient and consider transparent communication in its highest regard!

Thanks

What was the date you instructed your solicitor?
What was the date the seller's solicitor sent the draft contract to your solicitor? 
Not sure what you mean by (waiting to send this back)?

Once all the preliminary bits have been done - draft contract received, mortgage offer received, ID checked, monies on account etc, the buyer's solicitor can START the LEGAL part of the work.

It is perfectly normal for it to go very quiet from the start of the legal work, because your solicitor has to review all the documents provided by the seller's solicitor in the draft contract pack, make a list of legal enquiries, request any further documents they need etc and approve the contract itself before they can revert to the seller's solicitor.  They will also initiate the searches and need to wait for them all to be back, as further enquiries may be raised on the information contained within.  The local search can take several weeks.

The seller's solicitor will receive all these enquiries and will need to provide responses to them.  This may mean contacting the seller for responses to enquiries that the solicitor won't be able to answer.  It could mean writing to the seller's lender, or the Council or Land Registry or a management company for answers to any enquiries which can only be answered by these third parties.

During this time, there won't be much progress or update for you, because until the seller's solicitor writes back to the buyer's solicitor with the responses to the queries (and often they wait for all of the responses rather than drip feed them), the buyer's solicitor won't know whether the responses are satisfactory and you can move to the next step, or whether they need more information/documents to be provided.

The documents you've sent back will be checked at some point, but not usually the minute they land on someone's desk.  If there is anything wrong with them, they will let you know.  

If searches are still outstanding or enquiries are still outstanding, they cannot talk to you about exchange/completion dates.  Only when everything is back and enquiries answered will they discuss dates with you.

Conveyancing is very busy.  Solicitors don't tend to update or keep you in the loop until there is something to update you with.  The EA tends to do the chasing, though you cannot rely on them to tell the truth, since they are not a party to the work the solicitor does.

I do think you need to chill.  From your post, it sounds as though you are not very far along the process, only the preliminary stuff has been completed.  

Jonboy_1984

From older threads it isnt uncommon for a solicitor (and their support team) to have 60 or more transactions on the go at any one time.

They will work on a file, send out for information and file it. When the information comes back it will go into an in-tray and normally be dealt with in order received.

For our last sale and purchase we heard almost nothing for the first 6 weeks or so after the first glut of forms.

Our solicitor also advised the very quickest a freehold transaction would typically go through in was around 12 weeks and a leasehold 16 weeks plus before any party involved throws any delays, slow responses, holiday, sickness etc into the ring.

herewego123

ok thanks guys - one more quick one - do the solicitors check creditworthiness at their source of funds check via armalytix or is that something which is done by the lender at full mortgage application ?

thanks 

user1977

herewego123 said:

ok thanks guys - one more quick one - do the solicitors check creditworthiness at their source of funds check via armalytix or is that something which is done by the lender at full mortgage application ?

thanks 

Checking source of funds (not really your "creditworthiness") is something the solicitors do independently of the lender (and would be doing even if you were buying without a mortgage). 

herewego123

thanks user1977 - so would this mean looking to see where my money has come from over the last few months then in terms of my salary and my deposit (which is a gift) 

regarsd 

Jonboy_1984

There is no easy answer as to what they will look for or how far back they will go. If there were it would act as a blueprint for money launderers and defeat the point behind the checks.

They will likely want to see evidence of the funds being in your account for 6-12 months and details of any large irregular payments in that period as a starting point but may go back further if they decide it’s relevant.

oligopoly

Sounds pretty normal to me! I find the estate agents are the best avenue. They will pick up the phone and elbow both sets of solicitors for updates. I'm in the process of buying at the moment and right at the end. No sale and no chain, so start to finish should take about 2 months in total, so 3 months+ with a chain seems perfectly fine.

theartfullodger

Did you select your solicitors on the basis of low price or estate agent recommendations please?

herewego123

Hi guys 

No chain here. 
Hoping mines as swift as yours. Fixtures and fittings list and gas certificate sent to me today.

I went with who my broker recommended 

Regards