Delay with enquiries - how pushy should I get?

demeggy

Hi all,

I'll keep this brief;

Seller's solicitors has 20 enquiries raised;

- half were questions regarding access and right of way to an adjoining private road
- the remaining were a mixture of contractual changes for the solicitor to make and a few certificates relating to Gas Safety etc.

It's been 6 weeks.

My solicitor has chased the sellers solicitor frequently, my sales estate agent has chased the sellers solicitor almost daily (the onward estate agent has more or less vanished).

We've been told on 3 or 4 occassions that the replies would be with us 'this afternoon', but they never materialise. It's worth noting the sellers solicitor has an awful reputation, both in online reviews and within local real estate (I suspect they cheaped out on who they chose).

So my question is; how pushy do I get at this point, because I am on the verge of visiting the seller directly and having a friendly chat.

Hoenir

demeggy said:

We've been told on 3 or 4 occassions that the replies would be with us 'this afternoon', but they never materialise. It's worth noting the sellers solicitor has an awful reputation, both in online reviews and within local real estate (I suspect they cheaped out on who they chose).

Sellers solicitor works for their client not you. 

What's the position further up the chain? 

Tiglet2

demeggy said:

Hi all,

I'll keep this brief;

Seller's solicitors has 20 enquiries raised;

- half were questions regarding access and right of way to an adjoining private road
- the remaining were a mixture of contractual changes for the solicitor to make and a few certificates relating to Gas Safety etc.

It's been 6 weeks.

My solicitor has chased the sellers solicitor frequently, my sales estate agent has chased the sellers solicitor almost daily (the onward estate agent has more or less vanished).

We've been told on 3 or 4 occassions that the replies would be with us 'this afternoon', but they never materialise. It's worth noting the sellers solicitor has an awful reputation, both in online reviews and within local real estate (I suspect they cheaped out on who they chose).

So my question is; how pushy do I get at this point, because I am on the verge of visiting the seller directly and having a friendly chat.

6 weeks from what?  

demeggy

6 weeks from the point the enquiries were first raised, and regarding the sellers solicitor working for them, true, but if I was the customer, I'd be livid at this point that they weren't acting on simple responses.

Everybody in the chain is ready, we're awaiting these enquiries to be replied to in order to arrange exchange and completion dates.

My buyer's already threatened to pull out once due to an egregious land registry issue that took a ridiculous amount of time to raise (and insanely quick time to resolve).

Tiglet2

demeggy said:

6 weeks from the point the enquiries were first raised, and regarding the sellers solicitor working for them, true, but if I was the customer, I'd be livid at this point that they weren't acting on simple responses.

Everybody in the chain is ready, we're awaiting these enquiries to be replied to in order to arrange exchange and completion dates.

My buyer's already threatened to pull out once due to an egregious land registry issue that took a ridiculous amount of time to raise (and insanely quick time to resolve).

According to your opening post, "half were questions regarding access and right of way to an adjoining private road."  If rights have not been granted and are not specified in the deeds, then this won't be a simple response.

demeggy

Tiglet2 said:

demeggy said:

6 weeks from the point the enquiries were first raised, and regarding the sellers solicitor working for them, true, but if I was the customer, I'd be livid at this point that they weren't acting on simple responses.

Everybody in the chain is ready, we're awaiting these enquiries to be replied to in order to arrange exchange and completion dates.

My buyer's already threatened to pull out once due to an egregious land registry issue that took a ridiculous amount of time to raise (and insanely quick time to resolve).

According to your opening post, "half were questions regarding access and right of way to an adjoining private road."  If rights have not been granted and are not specified in the deeds, then this won't be a simple response.

True, but an update from the solicitor so that we know that they're being looked into would be sufficient. If anything, that would be more important, so that we're aware there may be significant delays to manage the expectations of everyone in the chain. All we keep getting is 'they'll be done with you by this afternoon', and then they never arrive.

FlorayG

If the seller is with PCS Legal god help you. I engaged them for a purchase and in the end after 4 MONTHS sacked them, reported them to the ombudsman and engaged a local solicitor who started over again and completed my purchase in 6 weeks. Speak with the seller and the estate agent and make sure they are aware that nothing is happening from their solicitor. If they are not 'pushy' people they may be unwilling to give their solicitor grief and you may need to encourage them somewhat. Best of luck - some of these online 'solicitors' are dire (although I've used a different online one previously and they were great, so it does depend on who you get, just because they are online doesn't automatically mean they are useless)

demeggy

FlorayG said:

If the seller is with PCS Legal god help you. I engaged them for a purchase and in the end after 4 MONTHS sacked them, reported them to the ombudsman and engaged a local solicitor who started over again and completed my purchase in 6 weeks. Speak with the seller and the estate agent and make sure they are aware that nothing is happening from their solicitor. If they are not 'pushy' people they may be unwilling to give their solicitor grief and you may need to encourage them somewhat. Best of luck - some of these online 'solicitors' are dire (although I've used a different online one previously and they were great, so it does depend on who you get, just because they are online doesn't automatically mean they are useless)

Oof - that sounds painful. Thankfully my solicitors have been fantastic so far. Glad it worked out for you.

As if by magic, the replies JUST arrived with my solicitor. They haven't been reviewed yet, but at least they're through. Thanks for your input all!

Pandasand777

I'm glad to see this has been resolved for you but for future reference, I would ask the estate agent to contact the seller directly and tell them you'll be withdrawing from the purchase if you don't get a response. 6 weeks is too long to wait. I'd expect maybe 3 weeks to allow for the sellers solicitor to look at the enquiries, send them to the seller, get replies back and respond to your solicitor. It does take time but not 6 weeks. A lot of the solicitors that estate agents recommend are effectively call centres and have a lot of different names for what is actually the same firm. They're never much good in my experience. 

BarelySentientAI

Pandasand777 said:

for future reference, I would ask the estate agent to contact the seller directly and tell them you'll be withdrawing from the purchase if you don't get a response. 6 weeks is too long to wait. I'd expect maybe 3 weeks to allow for the sellers solicitor to look at the enquiries, send them to the seller, get replies back and respond to your solicitor. 

For future reference, applying random self-imposed deadlines such as 3 weeks for any enquiry or you withdraw is likely to frustrate you as a purchaser and make a lot of your attempts fall through.