Seeking Advice: Seller's Solicitor Unresponsive to Requests, and Handover Date Approaching

akela1984

Hi everyone, I'm seeking some advice from you. We're currently in the process of purchasing a house in Scotland. We had agreed on the price, and both solicitors initiated the process. We set the key handover date for the 9th of January. Everything was progressing smoothly until recently. Initially, they were urging our solicitor to speed up the process, expressing a desire to finalize the missives by the first of November. However, over the last two weeks, they seemed to have disappeared, and our solicitor has received no responses to the emails sent.

With only one proper working week left in the year, we are eager to sign the missives as soon as possible for several reasons. Firstly, we want assurance that we are indeed acquiring the house. Secondly, we want to avoid any last-minute withdrawal by the sellers without consequences. Lastly, we need to finalize the moving date. 

Now, my questions are:

1. If they withdraw less than a month before the agreed date without finalized missives, what are the consequences? Can I request them to cover our solicitor fees?

2. If there is still no response by the end of this week, should I reach out to their agent for an update? It's possible that they are not aware of the communication breakdown with the solicitor.

I appreciate any insights or guidance you can provide. 🏠🔍📅

user1977

1. No.
2. Yes, if you like

Your solicitor should be guiding you through this.

akela1984

user1977 said:

1. No.
2. Yes, if you like

Your solicitor should be guiding you through this.

Thank you for the response. I agree; our solicitor should be guiding us through this. However, we also picked the wrong solicitor who is not keen to do anything. Many times, we were waiting for an answer from him for more than three weeks. So frustrating 

Hoenir

If the vendor has another agenda there's little you can do. 

EssexHebridean

Assuming that the policies are the same north of the border as here, then you should be able to escalate a complaint to someone else in the solicitor's firm - you should have been given details of the "supervising partner" when you got your original terms of retainer, assuming it is not a one-man band. 

Definitely use the selling agents though - that is what they are there for.