Help please with regards to solicitor ignoring my calls and a house sale

Anybodysguess

..as per title. House was sold on the 20th of July (after 3 shambolic attempts) with the new owners having been given the keys and moving in. Later that week I received the invoices from the solicitor with regards to the estate agents and his fee etc. On the 20th of July the solicitor told me that there remained only a few small things that needed sorting out and that everything will take about three weeks.
At the end of the three weeks I rang the solicitors to enquire as to why I hadn't heard anything and why matters had not been settled? The secretary tried to pass me through to him but I didn't get an answer. The secretary said she would leave a message, to which I never received a reply.

A week later, I tried again. He wasn't answering and the secretary said she would leave him a message (the same as before).

It's now five weeks and he still hasn't replied, in spite him having been informed I'd like to know what's going on so as to be able to make plans.  I am both a beneficiary and executor to the house that was sold on the 20th of July

Tbh i'm not very happy about this. He shouldn't have told me three weeks if it was going to take longer and he should have had the decency to respond, which he has not. I'm unsure as to what to do. Approximately six months ago he also sent me a letter informing me of an issue to do with the above, only to explain in the paragraph below (in the same document) that it had been sorted? What was the point of the letter? I'm just sick of it.

bobster2

It's not clear what you are waiting for the solicitor to do. If this is a probate sale, and you are waiting for the solicitor to transfer funds to you either in your capacity as executor or beneficiary - I would recommend asking for advice on the probate discussion board...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/deaths-funerals-probate

Keep_pedalling

Presumably you employed the solicitor to handle the estate rather than just the house sale, and I am afraid this is par for the course and it it is always faster for an executor to hand the task to a solicitor.

EssexHebridean

Agreed that a bit more clarity on what you are waiting for would be helpful. If it is the transfer of funds, then that should usually have happened by now or at the very least a full explanation of why it cannot - ditto any redemption of mortgage - so if either of those things, then it is now time to get out the terms of retainer document that you signed with the solicitor at the beginning of the transaction, and check what their escalation process is. Once you know the name of the person to escalate to, I would have one last attempt at contacting your own solicitor just from a courtesy perspective - do it by email, and mention that on X date at X time and Y date at Y time you left messages asking for a call back, which you are disappointed has not been actioned. Accordingly, if you do not hear back from them by close of business on Z date you will as per their stated process be escalating to... (whoever the responsible partner is). 

Hoenir

Anybodysguess said:

. On the 20th of July the solicitor told me that there remained only a few small things that needed sorting out and that everything will take about three weeks.

What things are you referring too?  The solicitor will happily charge you for their time even there's nothing to say.