Sellers estate agent calling buyers solicitor

kayen

Hello,

I found out the sellers estate agent has been calling my solicitor asking for updates.
- is this accepted practice or are they overstepping? 

babyblade41

its all good, Decent EA's will check in with all solicitors within the chain to keep it together, find out if anyone is holding up the others and find a way to resolve the problem

cymruchris

Do you mean the estate agent of the house you're buying or selling?

I imagine they'll be wanting their fee paying, so will probably be checking in on progress as to when they might expect it.

Nearlyold

Sounds pretty normal from my experience for either party (seller or buyer or their respective agents) to chase things up. Not sure why it'd be an issue unless one side or the other are messing around for whatever reason.

user1977

Perfectly normal. As I'm sure your solicitor knows.

Hoenir

Estate Agents often have inhouse administration staff to facilitate property transactions. Ultimately benefits everyone by being kept properly informed. Having someone neutral helps defuse the emotion that can arise. 

NameUnavailable

Yes - it's called 'sales progression'. Not something all EA's seem to do these days, just the better ones.

kayen

I understand the EA wants to know things are progressing to ensure their sale goes through but why don't they just ask me?  

As the buyer I don't have an 'agent'  and also have a vested interest that the seller is also 'getting on with things' as they have an onward purchase.   So, in a parallel context it should be ok for me contact the sellers solicitor for updates as well?

user1977

kayen said:

I understand the EA wants to know things are progressing to ensure their sale goes through but why don't they just ask me?

Because generally the solicitors know better than you what's going on? And might be more likely to talk to the agent.

As the buyer I don't have an 'agent'  and also have a vested interest that the seller is also 'getting on with things' as they have an onward purchase.   So, in a parallel context it should be ok for me contact the sellers solicitor for updates as well?

No, solicitors aren't allowed to talk to other solicitors' clients. You talk to your own solicitor if you want an update.

NameUnavailable

kayen said:

I understand the EA wants to know things are progressing to ensure their sale goes through but why don't they just ask me?  

As the buyer I don't have an 'agent'  and also have a vested interest that the seller is also 'getting on with things' as they have an onward purchase.   So, in a parallel context it should be ok for me contact the sellers solicitor for updates as well?

The EA is doing their job. They could ask you stuff but they probably prefer dealing with the solicitors rather than buyers who may or may not know what's going on, may or may not be familiar with the process of buying/selling, etc. etc., and the solicitor is unlikely to mislead them if there is some hitch.

You should be getting updates from your solicitors.

Hoenir

NameUnavailable said:

Yes - it's called 'sales progression'. Not something all EA's seem to do these days, just the better ones.

All has never been the case. I've always asked before instructing. Meant that I could get on with my day job.